Sunday, October 7, 2018

Visiting Colorado--Fall Mountain Scenes

Aspens in color, Rocky Mountains

It is fall in the Rockies. The aspen leaves are turning colors. As I write this in early October, Trail Ridge Road at the top of Rocky Mountain National Park is closed due to snow. It should reopen, but, clearly, it is winter now at 11,000 feet. Where I live, at 5,000 feet, we have not yet had a frost. As cold temperatures move down the mountains, aspen and other deciduous trees will change color and then lose their leaves at successively lower elevations. Lots of opportunity to enjoy the spectacle.




Look!
Rocky Mountain road

yellow aspens, Rocky Mountain fall


yellow aspen on the mountain side, Colorado




Rocky Mountains, yellow and red trees

If you look down, some wildflowers are still blooming

coreopsis
coreopsis (Coreopsis)
goldenrod, Solidago
goldenrod (Solidago)
yarrow, Achillea millefolium
yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Seeds are neat too:

seed pods, fireweed
seed pods of fireweed (Chamaenerion)
The plants on the ground turned color, not just the trees:

Rocky Mountains, fall

colored leaves along stream

And soon, snow will add white to the pictures

Rocky Mountains, colored leaves and snow
Snow was falling, muting the colors
Rocky Mountains in new snow
Snow on the conifers, not much higher up the mountain

It will still be beautiful in snow, just different. Enjoy the ever-changing face of nature.

Kathy Keeler, A Wandering Botanist

1 comment:

  1. great place! i love colorado there are a lot of pretty cool places! i've recently returned from my road trip across US and i liked it so much!

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