Fall Colors 2022

[SteveR]

The alpine larch of the Canadian Rockies are late changing color this year, with only hints of what's to come on a hike to a prime larch zone last week.
This isolated stand was the best of them:

Autumn hues of a different kind:

Nonetheless, it was a perfect day in the mountains:

 

[Yvonne]

I'm hoping to see some colorful larches in the Enchantments October 4-7

 

[Yvonne]

a little bit of color in Mount Rainier NP

 

[kwc]

A little bit of color in the southern Adirondacks today … mostly down low along the streams.

 

[Janice]

We've really lucked out with the timing of our Colorado trip. Aspens are beautiful in the Indian Peaks, and we head to Crested Butte tomorrow. So excited for Maroon Bells!

 

[SteveR]

Larch in their glory on Monday, on a short traverse taking in two cirques in the Highwood Pass area of Alberta:

Great aspen colors on a Tuesday afternoon ride in the foothills:

 

[Yvonne]

We're just starting with larch madness here in Washington

 

[Yvonne]

A few shots from North Cascades NP before everything was engulfed in thick smoke.

the first golden larches

 

[Titans]

Nice color in the San Juan Mountains today, 10,000 ft.

 

[SteveR]

Love those North Cascades colors! Camped and hiked there a bit in summer, many years ago. And the high elevation Colorado aspen are always spectacular. Our aspen are concentrated in the lower elevation parkland and foothills. Have never been to Colorado in the fall, but we did luck out once and drove over Boulder Mountain in Utah when the aspen were full-on. That was amazing!
Wednesday was peak larch in our area of the Canadian Rockies! Needles were already dropping in the sporadic gusts of wind, but should hold on for a bit as there are no storms in the forecast anytime soon.

 

[Yvonne]

I'm so excited for Larch Madness next week in the Enchantments!!! Your larch pictures are awesome

 

[kwc]

I wasn’t sure if I should post these in Fall Colors or Reflections … but here are some photos from our paddling earlier today. South Adirondacks, West Branch of the Sacandaga River. Water was higher than it usually is at this time of year due to some recent heavy rains.

















These are just taken with my iPhone … Jackie’s photos will be much better with her camera. I’ll have to post them later.

 

[Reef&Ruins]

I'm so excited for Larch Madness next week in the Enchantments!!! Your larch pictures are awesome

You and 4879789 people from Seattle!
Good luck... and know that I am super envious as I have never had a chance to do that. Wrong time of the teaching term for me.

 

[Yvonne]

You and 4879789 people from Seattle!
Good luck... and know that I am super envious as I have never had a chance to do that. Wrong time of the teaching term for me.

At least I will be one of the only few that got a backpacking permit. There were over 48,000 applicants this year, so I feel really lucky to get that permit on my first attempt

 

[Reef&Ruins]

That's some great luck! Maybe I should ask you to send me your lucky rabbit foot or 4 leaf clover! Hahahahaha.

 

[SteveR]

You and 4879789 people from Seattle!
Good luck... and know that I am super envious as I have never had a chance to do that. Wrong time of the teaching term for me.

I'm so excited for Larch Madness next week in the Enchantments!!! Your larch pictures are awesome

Today and Sunday will be peak larch madness around here, especially with the great fall weather. There is something special about the alpine larch in fall with the way that it suffuses everything with a golden glow, under the (hopefully!) clear and crisp mountain skies. Having said that- in the coming days we are going to be enjoying the much less busy foothills aspen scene instead.

 

[Janice]

Stunning! I recognize this - we loved Maple Pass loop in the summer years ago, but I had no idea the autumn colors would be so vibrant!

 

[Janice]

Just returned from a phenomenal trip to Colorado. We hit the jackpot with peak aspen color in Maroon Bells - Sept 28-29. Here are some of my zillions of photos with both aspen and willow in full glory. (Way too many photos - can't narrow down any more...) I used the word "stunning" over and over again!

On West Maroon, we didn't see much color until after the pass (heading toward Aspen), and we saw lots of willows before getting down lower where the aspen were.




It was so interesting to sometimes see big patches of aspen and willows and other times see bare spots caused by avalanches or rock slides.


















Maroon Lake








The next day we hiked beautiful East Maroon. For many glorious hours, we saw aspen close-up and way off in the distance. Stunning all day long!


In the woods, there were beautiful leaves on the trail after an early morning rain.


In addition to lots of glorious gold, we saw bits of bright red here and there as well.


Loved how shiny this one was from the rain.


















Late in the day, the aspen were still going strong - even though we were fading a bit, particularly when the rain started.


The rain stopped, and we finished after sunset. Even our last 1/2 mile down to Judd Falls TH was gorgeous. Crescent moon was watching over everything.


We were so happy - and so lucky with our timing. What an incredible two days we had!

 

[Yvonne]

Stunning! I recognize this - we loved Maple Pass loop in the summer years ago, but I had no idea the autumn colors would be so vibrant!

It's one of these MUST-SEE fall hikes here because of the vibrant colors. I lucked out that I picked the right time to go. When I initially booked my trip, I had no idea that it was a fall-color destination. Parking usually fills up around 9 in the morning mid-week, but I was there early enough and had no issues.

 

[kwc]

Some colors from NW Maine … colors are really popping up here right now.