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Great Lakes, Great Rivers

Red oak (Quercus rubra), Mississippi headwaters (9/17/22

Alena Nicholas, who reported for several years from the San Bernardino Mountains before leaving California, has been traveling along the Canadian border visiting great lakes and great rivers.

Her travels through Minnesota, this past week, occurred just as frost coated foliage, encouraging color change. So, we asked Alena to send some snaps and impressions.

The red oak leaf (Quercus rubra) pictured above is an exotic in California, but a native resident and appreciated fall color provider in north midwest woods for its scarlet leaves.

Mississippi headwaters, MN (9/17/22) Alena Nicholas
A forest of fall colors, Minnesota (9/17/22) Alena Nicholas

Alena followed rivers that feed the Mississippi at its headwaters, visiting the towns of Thief River Falls and Red Lake Falls where clear, meandering shallow streams have not yet picked up the sediment that makes The Big Muddy famous.

In Minnesota’s forests, oak, maple and cottonwood are decorating branches with spots of red, orange and gold.

An occasional Tree of Heaven blares its satanic red. This is an invasive tree that is changing our forests, as reported previously within: The Devil’s Work.

  • Minnesota (1,132′) – Just Starting (0-10%)
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Secret Sedona

Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, AZ (11/1/21) Mark Harding

A lot of the superlatives said about Sedona, Arizona begin with “S” … secret, spiritual, spicy, sacred, starry and that’s just for “starters.”

So, when color spotter Mark Harding said he’d just returned from there and wondered if we would post them, our reply was, “Send them.”

We’re glad he did.

Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, AZ (11/1/21) Mark Harding

Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, AZ (11/1/21) Mark Harding

Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, AZ (11/1/21) Mark Harding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sedona isn’t what you imagine when Arizona comes to mind. It’s high desert with pine forests, canyons, red rock, water and wonder.

  • Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, AZ (4,350′) – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, You Almost Missed It.

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In Awe of Where We Live

Black cottonwood, Gardnerville, NV (10/20/21) Pierre Redmond

Hometown pride is gonna shine through when you happen to wake up to this scene and just want to tell the world about it. So, we can forgive Pierre Redmond for exclaiming, “I’m in awe of where we live!” He has reason.

Gardnerville is virtually in the afternoon shadow of Heavenly Mountain Resort, a hop, skip and a jump from the California border. So, while this website isn’t named NevadaFallColor, we’re happy to show just how beautiful our neighbor can be, particularly when a double rainbow shines overhead.

  • Gardnerville, NV (4,751′) – Peak (75 – 100%), GO NOW!
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Colorful Colorado

Colorful Colorado, Owl Creek Pass (10/21) Elliot McGucken

There are 41 entry points to the state of Colorado, each of them is marked with a sign reading, “Welcome to Colorful Colorado.”

The signs were first created in 1950. Then in 1989 the state tourism office and Colorado Department of Transportation held a contest to redesign the sign.

A colorful sign including a Rockies-themed skyline was chosen without the motto, but the public missed the saying. So, the original signs were reinstalled.

Today, as old-fashioned as they may be, the Welcome to Colorful Colorado signs have become a fixture and apt description of what a traveler is about to see. Colorado is colorful, particularly in autumn.

Color spotters Elliot McGucken and Philip Reedy visited Colorado this past month and sent these colorful impressions of their visits.

Red Mountain, SR 135, Gunnison, CO (10/3/21) Philip Reedy
Fishing the East River, Gothic, CO (10/3/21) Philip Reedy

Reedy had always wanted to see Colorado in autumn, so when he finished his visit to the Black Hills, he drove to Gunnison, Colorado and began looking for fall color, bemoaning, “Unfortunately, there is no “coloradofallcolor.com” website to provide guidance, so I did a lot of googling and Crested Butte seemed to be a favorite spot. We were not disappointed.”

A week previously, Steve Arita had missed peak there, but Reedy was there at the right moment with “mountainsides covered with aspens ranging from bare trees to yellow to orange to green. There are various dirt roads leading out of the town and up into the mountains, so we just picked a likely looking one and headed out.”

As for McGucken, his vibrant images tell of the breadth and power of the Rocky Mountains and their beauty when dressed in autumn colors. I couldn’t help not including one of his from Utah, as well.

Cabin, SR 135, Gunnison, CO (10/3/21) Philip Reedy

And Reedy, well he can’t resist photographing a rancher’s cabin. This one’s along the Gunnison River on the road to Crested Butte.

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Boyd Bicycles Boise

Elm, Boise (9/28/21) Ryan Boyd

That’s Ryan Boyd’s son bicycling Boise where elm are lighting up Idaho’s capital city with gorgeous peak autumn color. What could be better than the Boyd boy on a bike in Boise? Not much, actually, cause he rides his bike well, the color is beautiful and alliteration is fun.

Ryan is a regular contributor to California Fall Color, often concentrating on urban forests and the beauty they bring to communities. He asked whether we’d like to see autumn in Idaho, even though it was from Boise instead of one of the state’s great national forests or parks. Sure ‘nough. Bring it on.

Of note, Idaho’s rabbitbrush looks a lot healthier than ours. Sierra rabbitbrush seems to be living through a difficult autumn.

  • Boise (2,730′) – Peak (75 – 100%) GO NOW!
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Orange and Black Hills

Spearfish Falls at Dawn, Black Hills, SD (9/27/21) Philip Reedy

South Dakota’s Black Hills are most famous as the home of four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

They are, of course, the four faces on Mt. Rushmore which is located in the Black Hills. But, if Philip Reedy has any influence, the Black Hills will also be famous for being orange.

Fall colors peak very predictably during the last week of September each year, Reedy wrote when he sent these photos, adding that “The Spearfish Visitors Bureau publishes a weekly color update, but nothing as complete as CaliforniaFallColor.com. They reported the color at 95% of peak on September 28 and I think these pictures will confirm that.

Spearfish Canyon, Black Hills, SD (9/30/21) Philip Reedy

“While most of the best colors are found along the 14-mile drive through Spearfish Canyon from the town of Spearfish in the north to Savoy in the south, great color can be found throughout the area, particularly along the many streams that flow from the hills such as Rapid Creek and Box Elder Creek. Between Savoy and Rapid City there are many beautiful aspen groves lining the pastures.

“There are roads weaving throughout the hills, and sometimes the best views are found by just cruising down a random byway. 

“One of the great things about the area is the lack of tourists in autumn.  There are no large cities close to the Black Hills, and after Labor Day, the throngs heading down I-90 toward Yellowstone have gone back home, leaving the area uncrowded,” Reedy reported.

Phil was there on assignment for American Fly Fishing and his photos of himself fishing attest to the beauty of the scene and his mastery of remotely shot self-portraits in a natural setting.

Nemo General Store Residents (10/1/21) Philip Reedy

At the Nemo General Store on the edge of the Paradise Valley dates back to the 1800s. Californian William Randolph Hearst, Jr once owned land nearby and logged it for his Homestead Mine in the 1870s. The store’s present owner is a cat lover and dozens of them are found lounging everywhere around the property, providing Reedy with an affluence of feline subjects for his fall photography.

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Glory, Glory Colorado

Gunsight Bridge, CO (9/21/21) Steve Arita

Autumnal change appears to be a week late, just about everywhere.

Gothic, CO (9/21/21) Steve Arita

Steve Arita spent three days in Crested Butte, Colorado this week and hoped to find Kebler Pass in full Glory. “Unfortunately, that was not the case,” Steve reported.

Uh, really Steve!? Colorado looks about as good as anything we’ve seen so far, this autumn.

Steve wrote that the only significant color to be seen was near the town of Gothic, six miles north of Crested Butte near a town called Gunsight.

Don’t you love names like that? Crested Butte, Gunsight, Gothic.

  • Crested Butte, CO (8,909′) – Patchy (10 – 50%)

The University of Colorado’s original Fight Song was to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. It went …

Colorado’s Varsity comes a marching on the field,

Colorado’s Varsity comes a marching on the field,

Colorado’s Varsity comes a marching on the field,

Colorado’s Bound to win!

Glory, Glory Colorado,

Glory, Glory Colorado,

Glory, Glory Colorado,

Hurrah to the Silver and Gold!

It takes a CU alumnus to know this or care. Go Buffs!
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The Bighorns

The Bighorn Mountains, WY (9/26/21) Philip Reedy

Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains are sacred land to the Crow people who have lived there for millennia. It’s easy to see why they so loved and worshiped this land.

In autumn, ancient aspen carry heavy loads of red, orange and golden leaves, as captured by Philip Reedy on a recent visit to Wyoming. He photographed these during his route north from Evanston to the Tetons, passing through Bridger-Teton NF and in the Bighorn mountains just west of Buffalo, WY. 

Between Evanston and Jackson, mountainsides were covered with aspen and crimson mountain maple.  Inside Grand Teton National Park, golden cottonwood populated the valley while cadmium yellow aspen clung to the mountainsides.

Snake River, Morning (9/25/21) Philip Reedy
Bison, Grand Teton NP (9/24/21) Philip Reedy
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The Bronx

Van Courtlandt Park, The Bronx, NYC (11/9/20) Gene Obermuller

Coming from the third-most densely populated county in the United States and a place not known for foliage, these images of The Bronx may be surprising.

East Coast color spotter Eugene Obermuller took them while out on a bike ride through Van Courtlandt Park in northwest New York City.

Today, the Bronx is mostly concrete, but at one time, of course, it was open, forested land. The Bronx gets its name from Swedish-born Jonas Bronck who established the first European settlement in the area, as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639.

Previously inhabited by the native Siwanoy band of Lenape Indians (known as the Delawares), it was called Keskeskeck. Dutch settlers bought tracts of land from local tribes and Bronck accumulated 500 acres between the Harlem River and Aquahung (later the Bronx River) to establish Bronck’s Land.

On Bronck’s Land, farms spread and manses were raised. One, built by mercatilist Fredrick Van Courtlandt in 1748 remains as a historical museum and as one of the nation’s finest best examples of Georgian architecture.

If the metaphorical tree that grows in Brooklyn flourishes even in the midst of the inner city, then Van Courtlandt Park is The Bronx equivalent. Only, it’s real.

Score Peak color for one of the boroughs of New York City on an unusual visit to a forested corner of the home of the Yankees.

  • The Bronx, NY (169′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
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Goin’ to Carolina

Carolina Country (10/30/20) Alena Nicholas

Like California, Alena Nicholas reports, color in the Carolinas changes by elevation. Since relocating there from Southern California, Alena has watched fall color descend, as it does here. Only, she found that as it does, it passes sights not common here.

In her search for fall color, Alena has explored the Tar Heel state’s (so called, because of its pine forest that produced pitch-based products) inlets, hills, swamps, and lighthouses, discovering bright spots of autumn near wild horses, verdant marshes, alligators and lighthouses.

Carolina Courser (10/31/20) Alena Nicholas

While touring the Outer Banks near Virginia, Alena found wild horses roaming the beaches, sand dunes, forests and homesites.

The Carolina lighthouses she toured were surrounded by autumn grasses. They’re now mostly maintained just as scenic landmarks, she explained, irrelevant in an age of GPS navigation, but increasingly relevant at a time when inspirational places have never been more necessary.

Like the west coast, Carolina autumn sunrises and sunsets are colorful, but unlike California, there are plenty of alligators lurking around the coastal “Low Country”. 

Carolina Color (11/3/20) Alena Nicholas