Fall colors off the beaten path in Colorado: 6 off-highway drives

To witness some of Colorado’s best fall color displays, you have to get off the busy highways. Where the roads start to rumble, spirits come alive in vast, golden arrays. These are some of the finest off-highway destinations in the state.

Alpine Loop: First, pick your base camp: Lake City, Ouray or Silverton. Then decide if you’ve got the vehicle and driving know-how or if you’ll need to book an experienced guide. A high-clearance, four-wheel drive is especially necessary for the passes rising above 12,000 feet: Cinnamon and Engineer. The loop covers 63 miles of Rocky Mountain fantasy.

Boreas Pass: From 1872 to 1938, this was known as America’s highest narrow-gauge railroad. Cresting over the Continental Divide from Breckenridge, the fairly gentle railroad bed now serves leaf peepers who get an education of that locomotive era. The section house is at the top, where you’re likely to feel the notorious wind that railroaders felt.

Guanella Pass: The road from Georgetown is heavily trafficked by Denverites who don’t need a special rig to cover its 22 winding miles. The paved pass climbs through creek-fed aspen forests and meadows, up above treeline where 14,000-foot peaks soar in view. Guanella Pass is flanked by mounts Bierstadt and Blue Sky.

Kebler Pass: A sturdy passenger car will do for this dirt road out of Crested Butte. The tunnel of towering, mature aspen occasionally clears for views of the area’s legendary rock. That includes The Dyke, the much-photographed formation scraping the sky above hills known to turn gold and red.

Last Dollar Road: Where mining supplies once were carried, now sightseers roam the bone-rattling path between Ridgway and Telluride. It’s a tour of the senses spanning 21 miles — a tour through beauty that defined “True Grit.” The road travels historic ranch land against the jagged San Juan Mountains.

Tincup Pass: The high-clearance, four-wheel drive covers the Sawatch Range tundra for about 13 miles between ghost towns: Tincup on the Gunnison County side, St. Elmo on the Chaffee County side. Bask in the aspen-splashed slopes and try to imagine the days of miners around here. One was Jim Taylor, who was said to have stashed his gold in a tin cup.