By admin 
Fall colors will set some parts of Colorado aglow about a week early this year with yellow and orange leaves already peeking out in northern patches of the state.
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The sooner-than-expected autumnal hues in some places are yet another symptom of extreme drought. In other spots, the emerging colors mark trees’ natural response to shorter days, a way they begin preparing to protect themselves against freezing as they sense the seasons changing, according to Dan West, Colorado’s longtime forest entomologist.
Even with the first signs of autumn’s arrival in recent days, the best time to venture out for a glimpse of the season’s showstopping palette won’t be for another week, West said.
“Now is the time to think about, let’s get a plan together and let’s go for a drive and go have some fun,” he said.
But be prepared to wait in line to see leaves longer than you would wait in the drive-through for a Starbucks PSL (pumpkin-spiced latte). The Colorado Department of Transportation expects a frenzy of traffic en route to the high country over the next month, particularly on weekends when leaf-peeping is usually most popular.
Construction projects along state highways that crews are racing to complete ahead of winter conditions could make the commute to the mountains even more congested, according to a statement from CDOT.
To help you chart a course for your own leaf-peeping expedition, we talked to the experts about when and where you can expect colors to pop. We’ll help you figure out a tree-lined route that won’t disappoint, but the roadtrip snacks and fall playlist are all on you.
Why are some trees putting on an early show this year?
Some trees in Colorado are genuinely leaning into a new season as they adjust to shorter days, mostly in northern parts of the state right now, West said.
Those trees use a wax layer to cut off contact between a leaf and a branch and to stop replenishing chlorophyll, the substance that gives leaves their green color and that drives photosynthesis. During this stage, the sun burns off the leaf’s green color and exposes the yellow or orange pigment hiding underneath ever since that leaf developed in the spring, West said.
Reds and purples that overtake other trees are produced by sugars that get trapped in a leaf during cool nights, which scientists believe serve as “an antifreeze” for the tree, according to West.
Stress from drought is creating the illusion of fall colors in other regions, West said. From far away, trees lacking enough water often appear yellow in line with the transition to fall. But take a closer look and the edges of leaves on those trees are actually brown and scorched with yellow between the leaf veins that signals the tree needs more water.
Water-stressed trees also are halting the photosynthesis process early because that process requires a lot of water when they already don’t have enough.
“To stave off that loss,” West said, “they are shutting off their photosynthesis processes and just drop their leaves early.”
West said leaves rusting with brown edges are the worst in central Colorado where extreme drought has been a major problem in the mountains.
Water conditions both going into the season and during the season can make or break fall colors, West said, and this year’s minimal snowpack along with surges of warm weather in the spring created challenges for trees early on.
Ideally, temperatures will gradually increase throughout the spring so the snowpack can slowly melt and percolate down through the soil so that a tree can soak up the water, West said. With warm temperature swings this past spring, however, trees struggled to pull up the water. Because of quicker runoff from the snowpack, the water didn’t percolate down through the soil as effectively.
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Going into the summer, that meant trees didn’t have the water supply they needed, which forced them to produce fewer leaves and smaller leaves.
“We’re on a second year of kind of a same pattern where trees are really struggling and they’re shutting down and they’re dropping their leaves early,” West said.
He’s not yet alarmed by trees turning color and dropping their leaves a tad early. But if that pattern continues next year, West said he worries about the health of Colorado’s trees. Three years of hardship for a tree “just makes it super vulnerable for pests and diseases to attack it,” he said.
Even with fewer leaves to take in this year, West still anticipates plenty of colorful scenery dotting Colorado, with waves of yellows and oranges. It’s just not yet clear whether they will glow as vibrantly as in previous years.
“There’s many factors that go into the show that we see every year, but that’s what makes it beautiful,” he said, noting that you can return to the same spot every autumn and find a slightly different view.
When leaves are likely to pop in different regions
Fall colors will make their first splash in northern Colorado and, heading south, trees will progressively shake off their green tones throughout September into mid-October, according to West.
He predicts stands of trees in northern Colorado will reach their peak sometime around mid-September.
Trees in the central mountains and those hugging corridors close to Aspen are likely to become their most brilliant during the third or fourth week of September, West said, though that will depend on whether storms spring up and bring heavy frost.
Meanwhile, by his estimation, groves of trees in southern Colorado and the San Juan Mountains as well as those in the foothills and along the Front Range will hit a high note in late September and early October.
A few tips to time your leaf-peeping just right and avoid trouble
With crowds more likely to clog roadways, trails and overlooks on weekends, weekdays are “the golden time” for leaf-peeping, said Bridget O’Rourke, spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
If you do stick to a weekend, aim for early morning or evening and come prepared with a backup plan should your first option become overrun with other leaf-peepers, O’Rourke said.
Closer to the day of your outing, you can confirm where fall colors are springing up by checking COTREX, or Colorado Trail Explorer, which serves as a website and mobile app that maps out trails across the state. The app has a filter that allows you to search trails based on where trees are bathed in color. (Once on the website, click on the filters button and scroll down until you see “fall colors,” click on that and then hit “show results.”)
It’s also critical to be patient with parking and respectful of the habitat you’re visiting, O’Rourke said. Parking is not allowed off to the side of a trail or anywhere that disturbs the terrain, she said. Drivers who park illegally will be ticketed.
One last tip from West: Don’t forget a flavorful fall drink to sip on while you make your way to one of Colorado’s most vibrant shows.
“Now is the time to recreate and go out and drive,” West said, “and grab your sweetie and a pumpkin-spiced latte.”
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