What are the fall colors in southern Utah like right now?

Laura said:
My experience is that Capitol Reef usually turns before Zion. I was there last November 10 and just about all the color was gone, and since fall came early this year I'm betting there's not much left.
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I agree with Laura about Capitol Reef. The colors usually turn north to south so Zion and St. George usually have color later in the year than Capitol Reef does. Unfortunately, what I've observed in my travels this fall is that the colors have fallen way short of the mark. Lots of green, lots of brown, and lots of leaves falling off early. You can still find color here and there, but overall it's been a pretty disappointing season for foliage.
 
pixie1339 said:
I agree with Laura about Capitol Reef. The colors usually turn north to south so Zion and St. George usually have color later in the year than Capitol Reef does. Unfortunately, what I've observed in my travels this fall is that the colors have fallen way short of the mark. Lots of green, lots of brown, and lots of leaves falling off early. You can still find color here and there, but overall it's been a pretty disappointing season for foliage.
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Actually I'm kinda glad to hear it. I was really bummed thinking I was too late for fall this year, but if it never really happened well then, I didn't really miss it.
 
Laura said:
Actually I'm kinda glad to hear it. I was really bummed thinking I was too late for fall this year, but if it never really happened well then, I didn't really miss it.
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I timed all my trips on what would have been perfect timing on a normal year, so yeah you didn't miss it, they just never really popped.
 
According to my Facebook feed, pretty much anything left of Utah's fall colors have a nice dusting of snow on them. A good inch or so here in my part of the Salt Lake Valley... is it March yet?
 
I just drove down the main canyon in Zion and can say fall is officially over-if it ever got here. Some of the cottonwoods are still green, most have little or no leaves, and the maples are stripped bare. The maples that do have leaves have yellow ones, it's like they never turned red at all. There are a few nice trees left, but not many:

Backlit Tree.jpg
 
It actually worked out okay. After being crushingly disappointed to see all my favorite spots barren I made good time up the Narrows and got farther than I've been before. I got to Wall Street just in time for the wall glow and got some good shots-shots I wouldn't have gotten otherwise because I spend all my time photographing trees! I should have a good trip report to post later.

On a related note, this is a good article on what makes good fall colors:

http://www.noaa.gov/features/02_monitoring/foliage.html
 
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