While hiking or driving are popular options for glimpsing the change of the seasons, there are other ways to enjoy autumn colors from a different point of view. Here are our favorites.
All aboard
Autumn is the perfect time to book a scenic rail ride. The Colorado Railroad Museum offers affordable rides through October to catch the changing leaves. Get tickets for the Harvest Haunted Express or a regular scenic ride.
Jump in the car and make a day of it with a trip on the Georgetown Loop. Special events through October include leaf peeping, the Pumpkinfest Express, Trick or Treat Train and Autumnfest.
From the sky
Just after sunrise, you can enjoy 360-degree views of the seasonal splendor from over 500 feet in the air. Fair Winds has been offering hot air balloon rides over Boulder County and Estes for over 10 years: bit.ly/FairWindsBW.
The Colorado Balloon — which you may have spotted floating over Lafayette and Erie — through AeroCruise Balloon Adventure can be booked online.
On four wheels
Based near Golden, Oxotic Supercar Driving Experience has a diverse lineup of exotic cars from McLaren and Porsche to AMG and Aston Martin. The 1.5-hour tour allows you to drive a supercar through Golden Gate Canyon, offering some of the best views of the leaves changing. Stops along the way will enable you to snap pics of the golden color in case you don’t have a passenger along for the ride.
On the banks
Throw in a line on the banks of Boulder Canyon or Big Thompson Canyon to get some up-close views of the seasonal hues. Barker Meadow Reservoir and Gross Reservoir also offer places to catch some fish along with the color-changing landscape.
On a board
You can get a unique view of the fall foliage from kayaks and stand-up paddleboards.
The shores of McIntosh Lake in Longmont are lined with grasses, shrubs and cottonwoods that turn an array of hues for the last paddles of the season. Also in Longmont, Union Reservoir offers colorful paddling through the fall. (Rentals are only available through September, so it’s BYOB.)
On the rails
One of two railbike adventures found in Colorado, Colorado Railbike Adventures will send you pedaling on the historic Denver Boulder Valley Railroad Tracks for a 4.2-mile trip along Coal Creek and past the original depot site. Each bike holds four people as it passes by groves of yellow cottonwoods and through 150 years of Erie coal mining history.
The new 8-mile Longs Peak route is expected to open this fall, passing through large groves of old cottonwoods past the Boulder Valley Mine and the Wise Homestead Open Space.
Get more ideas for family outings from Courtney Johnson