Saying good bye to the Fall Aspens

Mike and I took the Blue Mule out on one last trip on Oct 3.  Jack and Barbara brought their jeep along as well.  The aspen were great.  It was a beautiful fall day.

Aspen Ridge, Oct 3, 2013

A week later, we drove up to Cottonwood Pass (in the truck) to see the snow and the last of the aspen along South Cottonwood Creek.  It's getting chilly, and winter keeps lashing at the 14'ers.

South Cottonwood Creek, Oct 12, 2013

Cottonwood Pass, Oct 12, 2013
looking into Taylor Park

-- m38MuM

Cottonwoods and Aspens

The last big tour for the CFFC 2013 Fall Color Tour was up South Cottonwood Creek. The group first headed to Buena Vista the back way via Mt. Princeton Hot Springs and Rodeo Road.

In Buena Vista, they topped off their gas tanks and then headed west along Cottonwood Creek. Taking the south fork, they went up past Cottonwood Lake.

Motoring up past the golden aspen

At the end of the road, they stopped to check out the old mining activity. It's always a favorite place to climb around in.

On the way back down, they detoured onto a road that Mike had heard about from a buddy at work. This took them up to another mine and a neat, old cabin. There were some spectacular views up there.

Great panaroma views

Jeeps all lined up in the saddle of the mountain

Aspen covered hillside

That evening we had our Fall Color Tour potluck at the Thirsty Dirt Ranch. Steve made his famous elk chilli and apple pie, while everyone else supplemented that with the likes of a spiral ham, garlic bread, fruit salads, corn bread, deer burgers, chips and salsa, berry pie. No went to bed hungry!

Pictures thanks to m38Mike.

-- m38MuM

Moose on the loose at the pass

Moseying on up South Cottonwood

Yesterday's CFFC Fall Color Tour took the group to South Cottonwood Creek to Cottonwood Lake and the mines beyond. Then the group went up North Cottonwood Creek to Cottonwood Pass.

The weather was wonderful... blue sky all day. Too bad there was a haze from the fires in Washington State that affected the view, but up close and personal, the pictures look like the group had lots of fun.

I heard a few tales of "in-the-field" repairs, but for the most part, everyone ran pretty well, even at 12,000 feet. The combined knowledge base and collection of spare parts among the 11 jeeps did the trick!

Cottonwood Creek

Winding up to the pass

Cottonwood Pass and the Continental Divide

Moose up at Cottonwood Pass

These photos are a few from jpet and ricco79, both contributors to the CJ2A forum. More of their photos can be found at the Fall Color Tour's CJ2A forum.

- Ellen