Norwood, CO (10/2/2019)

My friend, Butch, had told me several times about his camping/fishing trips to Miramonte Reservoir in San Miguel County.  I wanted to check out Fall foliage in that area, and since I had never been there Butch came along to make sure I didn't get lost. 

A direct route from Montrose to the lake over the Uncompahgre Plateau would be about 65 miles, but there is no such route.  In fact, all the roads on the plateau are unpaved, winding and slow.  Therefore, the fast route is south to Ridgway, west to Placerville, north to Norwood, and finally south to the Dan Noble State Wildlife Area, roughly 85 miles.  Once there, we drove several roads that generally wound around the most prominent mountain, called Lone Cone.  It was a beautiful day, unfortunately without the clouds that add so much to landscape photos.

Along the way there were lots of Gambel oaks and smaller bushes that showed good color.  Those undesirable "scrub oaks" display a dark reddish color, while service berries are more of an orange or bronze color.  One ranch stood out for its private lake and a great view of the San Juan Mountains in the distance.

Farther along, there were good views of Wilson Peak and Mount Wilson, both "fourteeners" in the San Miguel Range.

As we left the main road and began circling around Lone Cone mountain, large stands of aspen trees came into view.  Truthfully, it was more than I had expected, and the good light was making the leaves sparkle.  I think there were more of the orange or reddish leaves than we normally find in the aspens.  It was a good show.

Making our way through a thick stand of trees, we noticed a man on an ATV pulled over to the side of the road, looking up into a tree.  A small bear had crossed the road in front of the ATV, then shinnied up a tree.  The bear obviously wanted to come down and get away from us, but each time he tried, he changed his mind and scampered back up.  We were cautiously looking around in case Mama Bear should come for the kid.

Back on the road again, the great light and  color show continued.

Eventually, we came to the end of that road where an old cabin was located.

After back-tracking to the main road, we finally made our way to the reservoir with its nice view of Lone Cone.  You can see some of the campers parked on the banks.