The canary-yellow burst of autumn is now the proud star of the Colorado landscape. Great swathes of glittering aspen blanket entire mountain faces like sheets of gold. They string together arid alpine mountain passes with the glossy cerulean lakes down below. Tourists and nature lovers gawk at the ancient, gorgeous sight of this kaleidoscopic change in nature.
The window of time is frustratingly short; almost a tease, a vision of a more glorious Earth belonging to a more deserved, more prescient species. This is an interesting time of year. We have survived the summer heat of the dry plains in the city; now we are richly rewarded with the third act of nature's paintbrush as it drips its concentrated yellow pigment onto the mountain forests. But only for a while. Afterwards, in a sudden ecological about-face, these trees shake off the autumn, and bow down to snow, and cold, and gray.
Whoa, I think I just channeled Carl Sagan there.
I've been driving around the Front Range and middle part of the state for the past couple weeks. Here is one picture.... more later (and in color!).
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