A Huge Gold and Red Aspen Grove

Our fall colors have been brilliant. I've been flying over my favorite areas regularly, hoping to get photos and footage at different stages of autumn colors.

About 10 days ago, our world looked amazing to me. This photo is from fairly high. You can see the Divide in the distance, a lake to the left of center. Then, to the right of the lake, you can see a smaller hill with a burned top. The burned area extends all the way to the right edge of the photo. That was a fire that caused us to be evacuated a couple of years ago... it was heading for our house.

On happier topics, you can see the western edge of a huge aspen grove in the lower half of the photo. The trails in the grove are among my favorites, especially at this time of year.

This photo is facing in the same direction but from much lower so you cannot see the lake but you can see the Divide. Look at the colors in the aspen grove!

Just a little to the left of the last photo, the aspen grove extends up a hillside. This may be my favorite view.

A red tree close to the center of the above photo caught my attention. It blazes red compared to all the other trees in the grove. I was able to find it while wandering the aspen grove by using the images taken from the air, and I took many closeups of its leaves this autumn.

As of today, that tree was still hanging onto its leaves. However, if the forecasted snow hits, I bet that they'll fall. That's the hard part of autumn to me - it's so beautiful but it ends so fast.

After noticing the red tree, I caught a glimpse of a section of the grove that was particularly vibrant ten days ago. I had lots of fun viewing it from above.

I made a short video from the air of the aspen grove that I hope that you enjoy. It attempts to capture radiant beauty of autumn in the Rockies. If you look closely, you'll see that the aspen trees were blowing in the wind. It really wasn't all that windy but it doesn't take much to set those aspen trees and leaves quaking.