On the shoulder of Kebler Pass, about seven miles west of Crested Butte, a giant lounges in the Colorado high country.
The Kebler Pass aspen stand covers the equivalent of just over 100 football fields, with over 47,000 aspen trees, populus tremuloides, connected by a single, subterranean root system called a rhizome. The trees are all clones of one another, have similar branching patterns and turn a brilliant gold in unison when fall settles in on the high peaks of the Sawatch Range, creating an enormous, glowing swatch that outshines the surrounding forest’s other muted colors.
“It’s absolutely spectacular,” said Will Roush, the executive director of Wilderness Workshop, a Carbondale, Colorado-based environmental advocacy organization. “There’s no prettier place to be in the fall when they’re turning gold, thousands of trees at a time.”
Aspen stands are Roush’s favorite forest to spend time in—their magnitude and ecological diversity serve as a motivating reminder of his work. “Being in a grove of pure aspens speaks to my soul.”