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Every day we can see the changing colors of the aspen trees on the Sangre de Christo mountains behind our house. On Saturday Candice, Louise (who was here to visit us), Frisco and I went up towards the ski basin to take a close look.

For the last few weeks the mountains behind our home have dramatically changed color from green over green-yellow to yellow and now to a redish yellow. This is a clear sign that we are marching towards winter and that the aspen belt around the Sangre de Cristos mountains is preparing to lose its leaves.

Apparently this spectacular event draws thousands of hikers up into the mountains to enjoy the beautiful fall colors. This weekend Louise (who came to visit us from Australia), Candice (who happens to be my wife), Frisco (who is the most spoiled dog in the universe) and I take part in the annual event.
We drive up the road to the ski basin and decide to stop at the “Aspen View” hiking area. The fact that there are a few million cars parked in the lot makes us believe that we found “THE” spot. And did we find the spot. Even if there are all those cars in the lot, we don’t see masses on the trail.

Because this event is something different, it deserves different treatment. I’ll place all the “people” pictures upfront and let the aspen-color-pictures speak for themselves after that. I’m sorry that this page takes longer to load than usual, but I believe the pictures are worth it. Click on them, to get them even larger.

About 1 hour into the walk, we arrive at a nice place to overlook the Santa Fe area and take the opportunity for a small rest

Candice and Louise at Aspen views I did mention that Louise came with us on this trip, who really enjoyed the views and time in the fresh air

Candice and Louise - ‘Do I leak?’ This was quite funny: Louise’ water bottle had leaked earlier on and left a … “spot” … on her pants. Candice thought the same had happened to her water supply and asked Lou to check out her bottom - take somebody with a camera and the scene out of context and this is what you end up with.

Others want to capture the changing colors as well Others had the same idea and enjoyed the colorful Saturday in their way

For the rest of this entry I decided to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Aspen views on Sangre de Cristo mountains

Aspen views on Sangre de Cristo mountains

Aspen views on Sangre de Cristo mountains

Aspen views on Sangre de Cristo mountains

Aspen views at Sangre de Cristo mountains

Aspen views at Sangre de Cristo mountains

Aspen views at Sangre de Cristo mountains

Aspen views at Sangre de Cristo mountains

The one below is the one that Candice thinks should appear on the cover of the “Santa Fean” magazine (if the art director happens to see this, my phone number is …

Aspen views at Sangre de Cristo mountains

Aspen views at Sangre de Cristo mountains

And for whatever reason this is my favorite (it has this painted appearance which makes it quite pleasing to look at):

Aspen views at Sangre de Cristo mountains

And if you live in the area and have not gone up to the mountains to see this spectacle - what are you waiting for????