Northern Colorado fall foliage fans, you are in for a good aspen viewing and here is when you can expect peak to arrive. Dan West, Colorado State Forest Service entomologist based in Fort Collins, flies the entire state to check on forest health. That's how he earned the nickname 'Mr.
Aspen.' Here is his fall foliage forecast for Northern Colorado. And here are the best drives and hikes to see the aspen changing.
West told the Coloradoan on Sept. 12 peak viewing in the Rocky Mountain, Steamboat and Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest should start occurring about the third week in September and last into early October. He said the cooler evenings will start producing deep orange color in certain stands in addition to the yellow-gold color.
He said from the air, he can see the oranges in the aspen stands that are regenerating from the 2020 Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires but that those aspen are still small in size. : One of the more popular and closest aspen viewing drives to Fort Collins includes a loop consisting of Buckhorn Road (Larimer County Road 44H), Pingree Park Road (Larimer County Road 63), Colorado Highway 14, Larimer County Road 27 (Stove Prairie Road) and Rist Canyon Road (Larimer County Road 52E). : The Cameron Peak Fire burned many aspen in the stretch from Rustic to Cameron Pass area along Colorado Highway 14, but aspen viewing picks up once you are west of Cameron Pass in the Gould area and all the way to North Park.
The Colorado State Forest State .