,

Colorful Colorado

Colorful Colorado, Owl Creek Pass (10/21) Elliot McGucken
  • Colorful Colorado, Wilson Peak, Telluride (10/21) Elliot McGucken
  • Colorful Colorado, Mount Sneffels (10/21) Elliot McGucken

There are 41 entry points to the state of Colorado, each of them is marked with a sign reading, “Welcome to Colorful Colorado.”

The signs were first created in 1950. Then in 1989 the state tourism office and Colorado Department of Transportation held a contest to redesign the sign.

A colorful sign including a Rockies-themed skyline was chosen without the motto, but the public missed the saying. So, the original signs were reinstalled.

Today, as old-fashioned as they may be, the Welcome to Colorful Colorado signs have become a fixture and apt description of what a traveler is about to see. Colorado is colorful, particularly in autumn.

Color spotters Elliot McGucken and Philip Reedy visited Colorado this past month and sent these colorful impressions of their visits.

  • North of Crested Butte, CO (10/3/21) Philip Reedy
  • North of Crested Butte, CO (10/3/21) Philip Reedy
Red Mountain, SR 135, Gunnison, CO (10/3/21) Philip Reedy
Fishing the East River, Gothic, CO (10/3/21) Philip Reedy

Reedy had always wanted to see Colorado in autumn, so when he finished his visit to the Black Hills, he drove to Gunnison, Colorado and began looking for fall color, bemoaning, “Unfortunately, there is no “coloradofallcolor.com” website to provide guidance, so I did a lot of googling and Crested Butte seemed to be a favorite spot. We were not disappointed.”

A week previously, Steve Arita had missed peak there, but Reedy was there at the right moment with “mountainsides covered with aspens ranging from bare trees to yellow to orange to green. There are various dirt roads leading out of the town and up into the mountains, so we just picked a likely looking one and headed out.”

  • Dancing Aspen, Ophir, CO (10/21) Elliot McGucken
  • Owl Creek Pass,CO (10/21) Elliot McGucken
  • Wilson Peak, CO (10/21) Elliot McGucken
  • Virgin River, Watchman, Zion NP, Utah (10/21) Elliot McGucken
  • Wilson Peak, Telluride (10/21) Elliot McGucken

As for McGucken, his vibrant images tell of the breadth and power of the Rocky Mountains and their beauty when dressed in autumn colors. I couldn’t help not including one of his from Utah, as well.

Cabin, SR 135, Gunnison, CO (10/3/21) Philip Reedy

And Reedy, well he can’t resist photographing a rancher’s cabin. This one’s along the Gunnison River on the road to Crested Butte.

/by