Aspen Trees, San Juan Mountains, Telluride, Colorado

This grove of aspen trees flourishes near the town of Telluride on Turkey Creek Mesa. The San Juan Mountains provide ideal growing conditions for some of the most extensive groves of robust, healthy aspen trees in the Colorado Rockies. With plenty of terrain between 8,000 and 10,000 feet and dependable late-summer moisture provided by the monsoon, aspen trees in these mountains may reach diameters of nearly three feet. While aspen occur at high elevations in every western state, they achieve their greatest success in the Colorado Rockies. The small trees seen in this black & white photograph have not yet attained heroic proportions. This black & white vertical photograph was captured with a 6×7 format camera.