Well it appears we’ve arrived. Where have we arrived you may be asking?. The end of the fall color season in Rocky Mountain National Park is what I’m alluding to this morning. The last tiny vestiges of autumn color has nearly passed and the brown season in RMNP is about to enter stage right.
As of this morning, a weak mountain system is sweeping over Rocky bringing in rain and snow showers, higher winds and some of the coolest temperatures we have seen since the spring. I expect these next days to put the coup de grâce on what remains of the remnants of both the whispers of whats left of the summer season as the whimpers of the remains of what was a spectacular autumn.
While Trail Ridge Road is closed at both the Colorado River Trailhead on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park and Many Parks Curve on the east side with what I would guess to be a zero chance of reopening for the season, Many of the mid level lakes and trails along the Bear Lake Corridor remain mostly snow and ice free. Thats going to change over the next couple of days and I would expect any of the lakes above 9000 ft. to be frozen over with a thin layer of ice moving forward. Its going to be difficult to capture your ‘summer’ like reflection images once the higher lakes freeze.
Moving waterways while gain some ice along the edges, but with temperatures moderating over the back end of the week I would expect them to continue to remain mostly free of ice for the near future. Are long dark nights now and long daytime shadows will make it difficult for the smaller and higher lakes to thaw and break free from ice even if the temperatures moderate at the back end of the week.
As for fall color, the few aspen trees and willows here and there that have a few patches of fall color and leaves will likely be stripped of what remains with the higher winds excpeted the next two days. With a little bit of luck, you may be able to find some smaller ground cover that has some remaining color on it or some leaves of the ground that may be able to be used to compose some small scale macro scenes but I would expect those to become difficult to find by the end of the week.
While we are about to enter the brown season, there will still be some opportunities going forward. For one, the brown season does have some of the most dramatic sunrise and sunsets when conditions allow. The low angle of the sun can really set the sky ablaze. I would expect most of the lakes to start to freeze over now but some of the larger and deeper ones may have some open water if temps remain moderate. Of course somewhere in here we should see our first significant snow of the season in Rocky which always lends itself to some amazing opportunities for landscape photography.
Autumn in 2025 was an amazing season in Rocky Mountain National Park. I started capturing some of my first fall color season shots in mid to late August of this year and have continued to do so almost until November. With a little bit of luck, I may be able to capture a few more images of the lingering fall color over the next week if conditions allow. So while I expect the transition over to the shoulder and or brown season in the next few days, I still expect there to be some good opportunities to document and capture the end of fall season in Rocky.