We camped for four days in late September in Ridgway State Park a short distance from Ouray, just in time for the peak fall color. It seems like each day the aspen were more brilliant yellow, and were plentiful in most areas around Ouray, Silverton and Telluride. We decided one day to take the rugged 4 wheel drive trail from Ouray up to Engineers Pass (nearly 13,000 feet) and down to Lake City. While the landscape vistas were fantastic from this trail, it was white-knuckle in some places. We really enjoyed the photography, however, so it was worth it in the end (since we survived!).