FALL, LIKE A VAN GOGH PAINTING
Three fleeting weeks in the Colorado mountains
THE VELMONT EDIT
Fall might be the most underrated season in the Rockies.
For most of the year, Vail and Beaver Creek are known either in green or covered in white. But somewhere between the last days of summer and the first snow, the mountains turn gold.
Aspen cover the hillsides in yellow and amber. Leaves move with the slightest breeze The river reflects the changing landscape, and familiar roads suddenly feel completely different.
Everywhere you look, the scenery feels almost surreal, less like a landscape and more like stepping into a painting.
And the, almost as quickly as it arrived, it disappears,
THE PERFECT IN-BETWEEN
There is a certain freedom to fall in the mountains.
The sun is still warm enough for a long afternoon outside, but the air has changed. Mornings call for a sweater, the breeze coming off the mountains feels cooler, and by evening, sitting somewhere with a glass of wine and a little warmth sounds exactly right.
You can hike beneath the aspens in the morning, walk along Gore Creek in the afternoon, or spend hours wandering through Vail or Beaver Creek Village with nowhere in particular to be.
Take the scenic road simply because it is beautiful. Stop when you see something worth stopping for. Sit by the river longer than you planned.
There are no powder days to chase and no packed summer itinerary.
Just beautiful weather, open trails and the rare luxury of letting the mountains set the pace.
THREE WEEKS OF GOLD
Part of the magic is knowing it will not last.
Colorado does not give you months to experience this version of the mountains. The most spectacular colors usually arrive around late September into early October, and the window can feel impossibly short.
One week, the hillsides are still green.
Then suddenly, they are glowing.
There is a particular sound to walking beneath the aspens as their leaves move overhead and another to stepping over the ones already covering the trail. The air smells cool, earthy and clean. The light becomes softer. Even familiar places seem different under all that color.
And just when the valley reaches its most beautiful, the season begins to change again.
When the mountains Bloom
For a few short weeks, the mountains put on a completely different show.
Fields burst into shades of purple, yellow, red, and blue. Trails become gardens, and every corner seems worthy of another photograph.
It’s impossible to rush through it.
Nor should you.
BEFORE THE FIRST SNOW
Then comes a morning when you look toward the mountains and notice white.
The first snow has arrived.
Not enough to erase autumn, but enough to settle across the peaks while the valley below is still covered in yellow.
This may be the most beautiful moment of the entire season.
Golden aspens stand against snow-dusted mountains. Fallen leaves line the river while winter begins forming above them. You can walk through autumn and look up at winter.
For a short while, neither season has completely won.
Then the nights become colder. More snow arrives. The final leaves let go, fireplaces begin to glow around the villages, and Vail and Beaver Creek quietly prepare for winter.
Soon, the mountains will be white.
But if you happen to be there during those few weeks in between, you get to see Colorado caught in the middle of becoming something else.
Gold and white. Autumn below, winter above.
Almost unreal.
In summary
