It's fall y'all

A Peeping Preview

Dear readers, I hope you are having a spooktacular October so far. If you haven’t had the opportunity to leaf peep yet in the state of Colorado, never fear, there’s still a little time. If you’re a new paid subscriber I encourage you to check out last year’s top picks for my favorite spots to find gold here.

Today I thought I’d highlight a favorite spot of mine that seems hidden, but is actually hiding in plain sight:

This little cabin is off of Molas Pass which is found high in the San Juan National Forest, within the county and mountain range bearing the same name. Motorists can reach the 10,970-foot summit of Molas Pass between Silverton and Durango on Highway 550. The road is paved and open year-round unless bad weather forces closures. If you are driving towards Durango this little cabin is on a dirt road off to your left hand side before you reach Molas Lake and Campground. If you hit Molas Campground you’ve gone too far. While the cabin is spectacular in the fall, I have been in the summer as well for sunset when it was just as gorgeous:

I have actually used the surrounding aspens as well to frame the cabin with a few of the leaves out of focus and the cabin in focus. For the particular shot below I used my Nikon D3400 with a 70-300mm which I have since sold (as of December 2020 I now shoot with a Sony A7iii with a 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS lens). You can capture a spectacular photo with just your cell phone here, but if you have a long range lens then you can capture more of the cabin detail.

You might notice a road that leads directly to the cabin. While you can drive up to the cabin, be mindful of photographers and having your car in the way. There is nothing worse than trying to photograph a beautiful scene and having to photoshop a car out!

My husband, daughter and I actually parked at the top and walked to the cabin and then walked in and around the area to capture a different variety of shots. If you have the time, I highly recommend spending at least an hour or so here to explore. You’ll likely see cars pulled over on the side of the road (there is plenty of parking off the pass and a designated pull-off) which will let you know you are in the right spot!

If you’re driving down to the southwest corner of Colorado the colors are at peak peeping now. The surrounding mountains even got a dusting of snow which will add a nice contrast to photos. When we went to Last Dollar Road this past weekend, the surrounding trees were a mix of green and yellow so I bet there’s still another week left until Telluride is at peak. I’ll be sending out a paid subscriber newsletter tomorrow with my findings so far so you can plan a weekend getaway ASAP! If you are looking to stay near this cabin you may want to check Molas Pass Campground for availability or you can look into a day-use permit to paddle board on the lake, which would make for an amazing adventure as well!

I hope you’ve had a chance to get out and enjoy the fall colors. If not, enjoy this virtual tour of Southwest Colorado I put together last year when the colors were really showing off. Even though the aspens change every year, each time the seasons turn there’s always something new to discover and I am happy to take you along with me.

If you need some posing or photography tips for your fall photos, don’t miss this article I wrote last year here. You may only have one chance to get out and enjoy the colors this fall so make sure you get the most out of your photographs as well!