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The northeastern part of North America may have a better variety of fall colors, but when the shapes and contrasts of mountains and spruces are added to the fall colors, the Rocky Mountain scenes can’t be matched anywhere. If you’ve hiked some distance to see this, you’ll be a little out of breath because of the elevation, but what a great benefit for your eyes when you have to sit down for minute to catch up on your oxygen.

When a mountain peak extends above treeline anywhere in the world, the bare rocks take on so much more drama when partly covered with snow. And when those peaks are surrounded by fall colors, the drama takes your breath away.

On topographic maps, when the lines come close together in many places, the landforms become spectacular! The San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado have oodles of topo lines that are very close together, and that means cliffs and lots of bare rock at high elevations.

Sometimes when dense clouds are darkening the sky, but the sky has a small opening far to the west at sundown, the sun peeks beneath the clouds to get one last look at the mountains before continuing on over the horizon. And if you’re lucky and in the right spot with a camera then, you can capture a wonderful image.

Sometimes the rocks just have to poke their heads up out of the ground to get some attention. They’re not seen in this image, but we were surprised to see Canada Geese roosting on top of some of these gorgeous rocks.

Cold penetrates to your marrow as you view this scene and you wonder if you can make it home before darkness falls.

This work has been exhibited at the Blue Exhibition, Decode Gallery, Tucson, Arizona, June 7-28, 2025. See Exhibitions.