Photographing Fall Colors in Crested Butte and The Crystal Mill
Fall in Colorado
Fall in Colorado is one of the most photogenic places for landscape photographers! Living in the U.S. Southwest I have been lucky to be so close to the amazing change of colors that the trees go through every year! The best time of year to photograph fall colors in Colorado varies depending on the location you are at within Colorado. Overall the end of September and start of October are the best times of year for photographing and seeing fall colors in Colorado.
Fall In Crested Butte
Crested Butte is an amazing area to see and photograph the fall colors that Colorado has to offer! The best time of year to visit and see the peak fall colors can vary from year to year but generally the last week of September is the best time of year to go. The weeks before and after can also be very pretty though. I recommend keeping a close eye online at forecasts and conditions if you really want to capture peak colors and have the flexibility to visit whenever. This most recent year I visited the Crested Butte area to photograph some awesome locations and colors!
An Epic Fall Hike Near Crested Butte - Dark Canyon Trail
This trail is found off of Kebler Pass and plenty of parking is available at Horse Ranch Park. Getting to the trailhead is easy, there is a dirt road, but a vehicle without 4wd if it has a little clearance can easily make it. There is a full loop that travels through beautiful aspens and offers amazing views of surrounding mountains. For the sake of time and getting some epic photos from a specific viewpoint I started out on the trail and headed the the left at the fork near the beginning. I didn’t do the full loop but still got some amazing views and photos of the view shown in the pictures on this blog. The hike to the viewpoint is about 2 miles each way with about 700ft of elevation gain. It has some awesome views throughout the forest and at the final viewpoint! The best time of day to photograph from the viewpoint would be sunset since the sky is changing colors and there is a nice glow coming though off the mountains in the distance. A wide angle lens works best but a small range of zoom offers some great images as well!
Driving Kebler Pass
Once done hiking there is still plenty more to explore and see off of Kebler Pass! This road is considered one of the best fall drives in all of Colorado. As mentioned earlier, driving Kebler Pass does not require a 4x4 vehicle but a little clearance is recommended. The drive is beautiful and it winds through tons of golden Aspens! There are a ton of turnoffs to stop and take pictures or wander around the Aspen trees. There are also a lot of great dispersed camping sites in the area. Photographing Aspens and finding a good composition can be overwhelming when there is so much around so I would give yourself some time to explore this road. A little past halfway down there is a turnoff for the lost lakes which has some great hiking, views, and camping as well!
Mount Crested Butte and Road 317
I headed just up through the town of Crested Butte onto Road 317 the next morning for sunrise. I only stopped at a pull-off a short way up the road to capture some epic photos of the morning light glowing off of Mount Crested Butte, Gothic Mountain, and the East River. The road continues on and offers some amazing Aspen and mountain views but I only drove a short ways up it.
Driving To and Photographing The Crystal Mill
If you have the time and a capable vehicle The Crystal Mill is just a few hours up the road! I drove back through the amazing views of Kebler Pass from Crested Butte and up towards Marble. I had done some research online about the road to The Crystal Mill and knew it was a challenging one but it seemed ok and I was told with my stock SR5 4runner I would be fine. I did make it out and back without any issues but I will say the road was sketchy and not for the faint of heart. There were about 2 places where I was worried about bottoming out but I never did, my other major concern was the sharp rocks and getting a flat tire which also never happened. If you do decide to drive this road do your research and go at your own risk. There is always the option to walk from the town of Marble but if you drive it you can’t turn around.
The actual Crystal Mill itself was an amazing sight to see and photograph, especially with peak fall colors all around! I used a few focal length but would recommend anything from a 20mm-35mm. I also got some cool close up shots using my 28-70mm lens. The best time of day to photograph the Crystal Mill is just around an hour or two before sunset unless you are trying to get some epic pink clouds! Right before sunset at golden hour the light is a bit softer and even and the sun isn’t glaring in the shot.
Conclusion - Fall in Colorado
Overall, the trip to photograph fall in Colorado and the Crested Butte area was awesome! It was a ton of fun to check out and explore some new places. Keeping this in mind, there is so much more fall foliage to see and photograph across the state of Colorado! Make sure to do your research and have fun photographing the fall colors!
