Breckenridge, Colorado fall foliage

Boreas Pass Road. From the south end of town, Boreas Pass Road (County Road 10) climbs through tunnels of golden aspen to more than 11,400 feet at the Continental Divide, following the route of an old railroad. The views look back across the Blue River valley to the Tenmile Range, and Bakers Tank, an old railroad water tank, is one of the most photographed stops. Over the top, the road comes down near Como on US 285, a short drive from Kenosha Pass.

Aspen Alley. Just off Boreas Pass Road above town, this 2.4-mile trail runs through a dense aspen grove, with a lower trailhead at the Sawmill Museum.

French Gulch and the Sallie Barber Mine. East of town, French Gulch has gold aspens around a restored mine site from the 1880s, an easy walk with a lot of history along the way.

Sapphire Point Overlook. Off Swan Mountain Road between Breckenridge and Frisco, a short walk leads to a wide view over Lake Dillon and the peaks of Summit County, ringed by aspen and pine.

In town. The paved Blue River Trail runs right through downtown, and Main Street’s historic buildings are framed by the aspens on the slopes above. For a longer day, the loop over Boreas Pass to Fairplay and back over Hoosier Pass is about 55 miles of aspen and old mining country.

Breckenridge is a former gold-mining town in Summit County, founded in 1859, with a historic district of Victorian-era buildings along Main Street. It sits at about 9,600 feet at the foot of the Tenmile Range, and Breckenridge Ski Resort spreads across the peaks just west of town. Vail is a short drive northwest over Vail Pass.

Breckenridge.com is the site of Breckenridge Ski Resort, with lodging, dining, and things to do on the mountain.

Still mostly green? None of the destinations we track within 150 miles of Breckenridge typically peaks much earlier. Look for higher ground nearby: in this part of the country, color tends to arrive about 3 to 4 days earlier for every 1,000 feet you climb.

Already past peak? Vail, CO (21 miles away, lower down) typically peaks about 5 days later, and Aspen, CO (46 miles away, lower down) typically peaks about 6 days later.

Nearly all the color here is quaking aspen. The groves grow in patches among dark lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, and subalpine fir, and because a grove is often a single clone joined by its roots, a whole patch can turn gold at once, a week or more ahead of the patch next to it. Willows along the Blue River add a lower band of yellow.