About

The story of the Fall Color Tours is a long one. The start takes us back to 2007. A group of Jeep owners here in Colorado chatted online and decided to get together to take a ride in the mountains to see the bright yellow foliage that the aspen trees display in September. The drivers agreed to meet in Georgetown and take a drive up over Guanella Pass. In the past this had been a graded gravel road with many stands of aspen along its route. But in 2007 the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) had been paving the pass. The resulting traffic blockages had lasted hours. In a last-minute decision the 7 drivers decided to drive up to the former townsite of Waldorf instead. The convoy included the Ladwig’s CJ2A, the Hoffman’s CJ2A, the Wanburg’s CJ2A, Mike’s CJ3B, the Fryer’s CJ3A, Bruce Walker’s CJ2A, and the Picard’s M38. As we headed up the mountain, Darren Wanburg discovered that he had not filled his gas tank and ran out of gas. Mike Picard gave him 5 gallons from his spare gas can so he could go back to town and fill up, with the idea that he would catch up to us later. He never joined back up with us.

The remaining 6 drivers, with passengers, continued up to Waldorf, hoping to see some brilliant yellow foliage. Unfortunately, a storm had been through the area 2 days before and blown most of the leaves down to the ground. But the trail was a challenge, and the mountain views were grand so the remaining 6 Jeeps carried their people up to Waldorf and back to Georgetown without any significant problems. Back in Georgetown we all decided to grab a late lunch at a local eatery. While sitting around the table talking about the morning’s adventure, the Picard’s looked at each other and agreed that they had far more aspen, and far better color around their home in the upper Arkansas River valley, than anything they had seen that day. They proposed to the group that next year, 2008, that everyone could come up to their home near Nathrop to go drive the roads and trails in the San Isabel National Forest. We all decided to make it a weekend event with folks camping in the yard or renting rooms in local hotels or B&B’s.

In 2008 we organized the first Fall Color Tours hosted at the Thirsty Dirt Ranch. We had 9 Jeeps and one Russian motorcycle. We had folks arrive on Thursday and Friday. We did short rides on Friday, and a big ride on Saturday. Sunday also had a short ride. We all enjoyed a great feast on Saturday night which everyone contributed to. That began the tradition of the potluck dinner that continued up until 2020 with the Covid-19 epidemic.

In 2009 we had 10 Jeeps in the group. In 2011 we went from just a weekend to a full week of rides. In 2013 we had 13 Jeeps. In 2016 I took on another guide and we offered two tours each day, Monday through Thursday. In 2017 we started taking registrations. In 2018 we were up to 68 Jeeps and over 140 people. That was the end of the open invitations to join the tours. In 2019 I limited the Jeeps to 50, and added the waiver to the registration forms. That kept the event fun for me because it was reasonably sized and easier to manage.

In 2020 the Covid epidemic hit and we cut out the potluck dinner. We debated cancelling the tours based on Government guidance but thought that since we had an outdoor event where people could stay apart, we should be safe. It turned out to be true. No cases of Covid were reported among the participants. In the last few years, we’ve added a shower house for our guests to use. I have a bank of radios that folks can borrow day by day. We’ve added new guides and a radio man to our staff to help our guests. And we’ve begun offering jobs to Alternates to help with maintenance of the facilities that all of us use.

We have people and Jeeps come from all over the United States, and from other countries too. In 2024 we had 28 states represented. We’ve had a couple from Sweden, and in another year a couple from Canada participated. We consistently have at least 20 states represented at each event. Typically, between 1/4 and 1/3 of the Jeeps and People who come are first time attendees. We call them newbies since they are new to our event. The rest of the attendees are experienced in what we do and how we do it. This is definitely a family-oriented event. We encourage young folks to learn how to drive a Jeep while they are here during FCT. We’ve even had a marriage occur because two people met during FCT and the two got engaged.