After Work Adventures | Tuesday, September 29, 2026
This afternoon I left from work and headed up to Vega State Park for a second chance to to see if I could find some nice fall colors on the Grand Mesa this season. You know, it’s kind of funny that I’d never actually been to Vega State Park until I passed through while following the route of the Dominguez – Escalante Expedition earlier this month, and now I’ve been here twice in the last two weeks! I planned to hike the Aspen Nature Trail along the southern end of Vega Reservoir since there was still a lot of green in the trees when I was here about a week and a half ago and I was hoping that they might have started to change color by now…
Welcome to Vega State Park!
Unfortunately, the colors in the park were not looking too good this afternoon. Not only was there still a lot of green, many of the aspen trees did not appear very healthy after the dry summer we have had. I guess I will have to try again next year.
I finished hiking the Aspen Nature Trail and then followed the road back to the trailhead.
The colors were a little bit better along the road on the south side of the reservoir.
Campbell Mountain and a very empty Vega Reservoir.
Since the colors in the park were not that great, I decided to take a drive up Park Creek Road to see if there were any better colors up that way. Luckily, there were a few nice patches of fall colors along Park Creek and Leon Creek.
Aspen Hillside
Park Creek Colors
Park Creek Road
Leon Creek Colors
Golden
Grand Mesa Fall Colors
After returning to Vega State Park there was still a little time before sunset, so I quickly hiked the West End Trail from the Visitor Center to the Vega Dam and back, and then headed home for the evening.