If you’re a Boulder leaf-peeper, fall’s already the most wonderful time of the year. This October, however, adventurers will have even more options: Almost all 151 miles of Boulder’s Open Space & Mountain Parks (OSMP) trails, which suffered close to $7 million in damage during the 2013 floods, will be open again at last. We recommend celebrating OSMP’s four years of restoration work—and volunteers’ thousands of hours of trail maintenance—with a late autumn stroll on the iconic Chautauqua Trail, where the city’s golden cottonwoods and scarlet maples will be on full display. The beloved 1.2-mile out-and-back’s $675,000 face-lift was completed in August; additions include a wheelchair-accessible section extending from the trailhead and two more viewing outcrops beneath the First Flatiron. The overlooks may be new, but those panoramas of the foothills will be as rewarding—and colorful—as always.

This article was originally published in 5280 October 2017.
Haley Gray
Haley Gray
Haley Gray is a Boulder-based freelance journalist. Her work has appeared in 5280, Roads and Kingdoms, Boulder Magazine, and the Albuquerque Journal.