In 2020, my wife and I planned to visit New Mexico in the fall to see the national parks and other scenic areas, plus attend the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. That fell apart with Covid. Last year, we made it to New Mexico in the spring, but that did not cover the balloons. We returned in October to go to the Fiesta with her sisters.

Having gone that far, I did not want to return home immediately. It seemed a good idea to me that we stay on for another week or more to visit the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, with the bonus that it would be fall color season. We got lucky that our timing turned out to be pretty close to the peak. We started this part of our trip with two days in Telluride.

On one of those days, we drove south to take in a couple of alpine lakes. As we made our way along the road, there were great views all around us. One of them was in this spot with sunlit trees in full color below the nearby peak.

Our trip continued to Ridgeway, Ouray, Aspen, and Great Sand Dunes, but this was one of my favorite shots.