Kebler Pass
Crested Butte, CO
A 10,000-foot gravel pass west of Crested Butte that runs through one of the largest aspen groves in North America. In late September the entire valley turns gold and orange beneath the Ruby Range and the twin summits of the Anthracite Range. Wide pullouts along the road give clean views of aspen slopes with mountain backdrops.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- golden hour
- Crowds
- Moderate
- Shot Types
- widelandscapetelephoto
- Best Seasons
- summerfall
Is it a good day to go?
7-day outlookMild, dry days with light winds are the most comfortable for a visit.
Forecast by Open-Meteo. Verdicts weigh the forecast against the conditions that suit this spot.
Author's Comments
The last week of September, most years. That is the window, and it moves. I have driven up here on the twenty-fourth to find the color still holding green at the edges, and I have driven up on the twenty-eighth to find the ground already carpeted and the branches half bare. You watch the reports and you go when you can go. What Kebler does that almost nowhere else does is scale. This is not a stand of aspens. This is a valley of them, hillside after hillside, and when the light comes in low from the west the whole basin turns a color I still do not quite have a word for. Gold is close. Molten is closer. The Ruby Range holds the far edge of the frame in cool blue, and the contrast between that blue and the aspen slopes is the photograph. Everyone knows it. Everyone is trying to make it. It is worth trying to make anyway. I prefer the pullouts near the summit for telephoto work. From there you can isolate a single slope, or a single copse against a darker conifer band, and the compression flattens the layers into something closer to a painting than a landscape. For the wide shots, keep driving. The road bends and opens and bends again, and each pullout offers a slightly different composition of ridge and grove and sky. Come early or come late. Midday flattens everything and the color goes waxy. Golden hour here is not a suggestion. It is the entire reason to make the drive.
Gallery
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