Weatherford Canyon Aspens

I was up on the Weatherford Trail again on Sunday, this time looking to photograph some aspen trees in Fall colors and to break my previous hiking distance record. I got a little of both, although Weatherford Canyon is still a few days away from peak color. The aspen groves at the lower elevations were just beginning to turn so there was still a lot of green in the foliage. At the Weatherford and Kachina Trail intersection there were a few trees that had gone full yellow but most were lagging those higher up the canyon. My guess is that this coming weekend and maybe the following one too will be spectacular.

 

Farther up the canyon and looking back towards town you can see that the trees are still stubbornly holding on to the last few days of the summer's light and warmth:

That's the dry lake hills in the middle left with Flagstaff beyond and Oak Creek Canyon way back there in the haze. If you squint hard you can see the diagonal line of the Flagstaff airport just over the right shoulder of dry lake hills.

In the afternoon when the sun had shifted to the west I was able to get some shots of a few trees that had mostly turned (click for larger 800x600 versions):

 

 

I'm especially fond of those photos where the trees are silhouetted against the sun and the leaves take on that bright gold glow. Even though I know that these gorgouse color displays mean that winter's darkness, cold, and lean times for the forest animals are right around the corner I still love Fall. Maybe I'm just projecting my own emotions on to them, but the happy chattering and buzzing of the chickadees and nuthatches seems to say that they do, too.

Comments

[Kathy]

Great photos! I think this is the most beautiful fall I've seen!! The weather is perfect and the wind didn't blow down all the leaves yet! :)

[del]

Yeah, I keep expecting the usual big wind storm to knock all the leaves down. So far so good. Unless these allergies turn out to actually be the flu or something I'll be back up there again Sunday. Last week was a tad too early for peak color. Sunday should be about perfect.