Directions:

From Hwy 9 just south of downtown Breckenridge, turn east onto Boreas Pass Road for one mile. Turn right into the Sawmill Museum and the parking lot. However, when the trail is busy, (September weekends), there is a parking area further down the road and you need to hike a short trail up to the trailhead.

Hike Description:

Fall is my favorite time of year, I think it goes back to childhood, the slight chill in the air and the leaves changing and falling brings me right back to Halloween, pumpkin patches, and cider donuts. In that vein, I typically go a little crazy at the end of September to mid-October and hunt for fall color hikes as much as I possibly can. A few years ago I heard that Aspen Alley near Breckenridge was one of the best fall color hikes in the Front Range, if not all of Colorado. Well, I had to go check it out and yes, it’s amazing for what it is, a fall colors hike.

The Aspen Alley trail is a short mile and a quarter trail that starts at the Breckenridge Sawmill Museum and climbs up a small hill to Boreas Pass Road. The first mile of the trail is entirely in an aspen grove. It is beautiful. These are full grown large aspens and there is not a break in the grove until you reach the top of the hill and the trail flattens out. It’s beautiful. 

Within the first few switchbacks there are some mining ruins (typical for this area) and some nice viewpoints. The views a bit further up the trail of the Tenmile Range including the Breckenridge Ski Resort are also pretty epic. The switchbacks keep you moving up the hillside and also keep you within the aspen grove. At the top of the hill a curve takes you away from the aspens, with one more great view and leads you to the forested quarter mile trail that hooks up with Boreas Pass Road. This is the end of the trail and the turnaround point, on the way back down you get to experience the entire aspen grove again making this a 2.5 mile hike that is almost entirely amongst aspens.

I was a bit unlucky and got to the trail about a week past peak. At first the trees were almost bare, but a little higher along the trail…the color showed up…and it was glorious…