I had a small window of time in which to visit Colorado in September, 2020, hoping for good fall color in the Aspens. It is always difficult to determine the best area to target for the best fall conditions with all of the variables that affect the fall foliage and the weather and/or other environmental conditions that may impact travel. After much online research and consultations with others, I decided to check out the nearest area, Rio Grande National Forest, to me first, and if that did not look promising, to move on farther north into Colorado.
Since it is a long road trip from my home in Texas to Colorado, I like to make it a two day trip to avoid very long drives. A convenient stop over location for me is Lake Meredith National Recreation Area northeast of Amarilo, TX. While I would like to drive a bit farther on my first day, there are scant camping choices farther north in the Texas panhandle, without driving much longer than I would like.
There are several campgrounds around Lake Meredith, with only one having a few reservable sites. If I expect hot weather, I will reserve a site so that I can have electric for running the air conditioner in my camper. Otherwise, a free campsite is fine, since I can get by with my own water and battery power. The campsite I target, also has nice restrooms and showers, which are available to all campers.
In mid-September the night time temperatures in this area of Texas are cool, so I took a chance on finding a free campsite, which I expected to be in plentiful supply in the middle of a week. Friday and Saturdays are always busy here, but mid-week is usually not crowded.
When I arrived, there were plenty of free campsites available, but many of the reservable sites were filled.
After settling in, I walked the loop around the camping area to stretch my legs, after the long drive. One of the campsites on the opposite side of the loop had a group of 6-8 large deer grazing. The deer seemed wary of my watching them, but they did not run away.
I had only my iPhone with me, so I could not get good close up shots. The image above is a zoomed in iPhone shot, so it is low resolution.
I had a long drive on the second leg of my trip, so I got an early start for the second day of my drive. I was not sure where I would find a spot to camp on the second night, either, so I need plenty of time to search for a suitable overnight spot before dark.
My oldest son and his wife were also planning to meet me somewhere on the third day of my trip. So I first had to not only verify the suitability of the fall color in the Rio Grande National Forest, but secondly to find a suitable campground for all of us, if we decided to stay in this area. Otherwise, they would drive north and I would have to drive to meet them elsewhere.
I arrived near the edge of Rio Grande National Forest about mid-afternoon, so it was looking good for having plenty of daylight for scouting out a campsite. On the discouraging side, I saw much freeze damage (brown, shriveled leaves), caused by an early season storm that came through a few days earlier, on the Aspens between Walsenberg, CO and my destination.
The drive became much slower, when I departed the paved route and went into the forest via Forest Service Road 250, which was rough, even though fairly well maintained. There were also many downed trees from the strong winds that blew through in that early season storm. The fallen trees had mostly been removed from the main portion of the road, but some still hung low overhead or protruded into the roadway and had to be avoided. (I have a long superficial scratch, aka Colorado Pin Stripe, along one side of my vehicle as a result of moving over a little too far, to allow room for an approaching vehicle).
The fall color was spotty, with some good patches, but many trees were still green or just beginning to change. I was not convinced that I would remain here.
After seeing the sign in the photo above, I was also concerned about finding suitable camping areas. There are free, dispersed campsites in unrestricted areas, but these can be small. So even though I might fit into one, my son might not be able to easily get his vehicle and trailer into one of those.
It was also hunting season, so many of the free camping areas were crowded with hunters’ tents, trucks, RV trailers, flat bed trailers, and horse trailers. After much driving around, I finally went back to a dispersed campground off of FSR 247 past Platoro Reservoir that I had passed up earlier, where there was still some open space in the camping area.
This was in a high elevation area and it had become cloudy and colder. I walked around the campsite, checking out possible photograph viewpoints, and began to feel the effects of the altitude. So I decided it best to restrict my physical activity this evening and give my body more time to acclimate before moving around too much.
I believe that the mountain peak on the right side of the image above is Conejos Peak and this campsite is just before FSR 247 crosses the Adams Fork of Conejos River.
With no cell signal, I communicated with my son via messages on my InReach Explorer GPS device, expressing my concern about the suitability of this area for our purposes.
This post is getting lengthy, so I will continue later. Stay tuned to see what evolves.
Ken