Red Mountain Pass, Colorado in Autumn

While visiting Colorado’s San Juan Mountains in early October 2008, I traveled southward on Hwy. 550 over Red Mountain Pass. A short way south of the pass, I spotted some golden-hued aspen trees on an embankment, perhaps 50 feet above the highway.

I parked my SUV as far off the highway as I could and scrambled up the embankment, and was rewarded with a view of Bear Mountain and the Animas River valley I simply could not have captured from the highway. It’s my pleasure to share that view with you.

Bear Mountain and the Animas River Valley

To see this photo in a larger view, click here.

— Gerald Blank