Elk Bugling and Leaf Peeping in Trinidad, CO

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Engage all of your senses to experience the beauty of Trinidad in the fall.

Don’t pass up the opportunity to visit the Trinidad area during one of everyone’s favorite times of year!  Take a stroll downtown and enjoy the cool, fall weather by perusing one of our unique little shops, grabbing a bite to eat or packing a lunch for your drive on Colorado Highway 12!

Now is the perfect time of year for leaf peeping!  The quaking Aspen are in all their golden glory and you may still find some of the brilliant reds and oranges of the scrub oak and the other colors in the fall palette. Don’t miss the photo ops available on this autumn drive!

While you are traveling the Highway Legends Scenic Byway any time from dusk to dawn, stop and listen. You may be one of the fortunate folks who hears the majestic bugle of the elk.

During the mating season, which runs from September to as late in the year as early November, bull elk stage a spectacular play. The rutting call of the bulls can be heard echoing across the meadows and reverberating off the hills and outcroppings.

The typical bugle of the bull elk is a surprising, distinctive sound that begins deep and resonant, and becomes a high pitched squeal before ending in a succession of grunts. You may hear one or more bulls bugling, answering the others' calls with their own, sometimes overlapping each other.

Imagine standing on the same ground where our native first peoples of America stood, hearing those same primeval echoes of nature filling the autumn air. The experience will astound you.