Kachina Natural Bridge, Fall Colors

Kachina Natural Bridge, fall colors, from the Loop Road overlook.

It's mid October on the Colorado Plateau. Here in southeast Utah, Four Corners Country, the high country aspen fall colors are now gone. Now it's down to the lower elevations for the last of the colors. The cottonwood trees in the valley bottoms, in the canyon bottoms.

This is Kachina Bridge at Natural Bridges National Monument. The massive Cedar Mesa Sandstone walls are framed from below by the cottonwood and willow colors.

Photo location: Natural Bridges National Monument, San Juan County, Utah.

Prints and photo products are available on my Fine Art America sales website:
http://stephen-krieg.pixels.com/

© Copyright Stephen J. Krieg

Fish and Fall Colors, Abajo Peak

Aspen fall colors and Blue Spruce, Abajo Peak Road.

October, the perfect month. Warm days, chilly nights, fall foliage colors. Here I am still in southeast Utah, enjoying the scenery, clean air, small town atmosphere, wide open spaces.

Rainbow Trout, perfect pan frying size, too.

Not only that but I recently bought my fishing license, after being away from it for decades. Following a tip from a local, I was soon catching my limit of four trout from a local lake. They are in the 9 to 12 inch range, perfect for pan frying.

Aspen at peak fall colors, Abajo Peak area.

 So having once again caught my limit that morning, I drove up Abajo Peak Road to see how the aspen colors had progressed in the past week. Pretty magnificent, at peak colors.

Aspen fall foliage backlit by the midmorning sunlight.

From up near the summit of Abajo Peak, I noted how the uppermost aspen clones, the ones that had turned the earliest, were now done, their leaves dropped. Now it was time for the lower elevation forest groups to show off their peak colors.

Looking southeast from Abajo Peak.

Photo location: Abajo Mountains, near Monticello, Utah.

Prints and photo products are available on my Fine Art America sales website:
http://stephen-krieg.pixels.com/

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Southwest Colorado Fall Colors

Colorado Blue Spruce trees in aspen stand, September 24.

I stopped in at the Sunshine Campground not far south of Telluride, Colorado on the Uncompahgre National Forest. I wasn't camping, I was looking for new views of aspen fall colors.

Quaking Aspen leaves at peak color, southwest Colorado.

Aspen leaves against a dark green background of spruce trees makes them look like they are shimmering.

There had been a dusting of early snow on the highest peaks.

 Photo location: San Juan Mountain Range, southwest Colorado.


© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Aspen Colors From Abajo Peak

Fall colors nearing their peak on the lower slopes of the Abajo Mountains, September 25.

The Abajo Mountains are a small mountain range near Monticello and Blanding in southeast Utah.

It's a small mountain range because in geologic terms it's a laccolith -- a spot in the Earth's crust where magma was forced to the surface without breaking the surface. No lava flow. More like a group of skin blisters that hardened in place.

The tallest peak is Abajo Peak, 11,330 feet in elevation at its summit. It's often called Blue Mountain by the locals, or even "the Mountain". It's public land, on the Manti-La Sal National Forest.

The aspen colors have been nearing their peak in the high country of Utah and Colorado. So on a sunny Sunday morning I drove up to the summit of Abajo Peak for a look around from above.

And in this photograph you can see how much elevation affects vegetation, in this case aspen forests. Notice how the aspen stands (clones, actually) at the upper elevations are at their peak fall color, while the lower slopes are still mostly green, just beginning to turn colors.

Photo location: Abajo Peak, Manti-La Sal National Forest, San Juan County, southeast Utah.

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Fall Colors in Colorado

Historic Trout Lake Trestle, near Trout Lake, Colorado.

I was up in the San Juan mountain range in southwest Colorado again. Another high country fall season, another compelling reason to get back up there and experience it again.

For me the autumn colors of the aspen stands are the crowning glory of fall there. But there are many more subtle shades of color down low to the earth. Shrubs, forbs, grasses. Yellows, reds and browns set against the deep greens of the conifer trees.

For this photograph, I had been driving the forest road between Trout Lake and Lizard Head Pass. It pretty much follows the route of the historic railroad that ran there in the late 1800's. So it's an easy drive for any vehicle, since trains can't handle steep grades.

In this photo, I stopped to photograph the Trout Lake Trestle, with the mountain brook tumbling beneath it and one of the first snows of fall on the distant peaks.

Photo location: Uncompahgre National Forest south of Telluride, San Miguel County, Colorado.

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Harvest Moon Over Cedar Mesa

Rise of the September Harvest Moon over White Mesa in southeast Utah. (Click on image for larger version).

For this month's Full Moon I had set up my tripod at Salvation Knoll on Utah Highway 95, between Blanding and Natural Bridges National Monument.

Salvation Knoll is a high point beneath towering red cliffs along the highway (at 7,110 feet) that affords sweeping views down across Cedar Mesa and even into southwest Colorado and northern Arizona.

The weather was favorable: clear and calm. In fact a bit more than favorable, in that some haze in the air would likely give the rising moon some color. Which it did.

Photo location: San Juan County, southeast Utah.

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Utah Sunset: Monticello

The town of Monticello in southeast Utah sits at 7,000 feet and at the base of the Abajo Mountains. Small town atmosphere, clean air, and lots of outdoor recreation nearby on millions of acres of public land. Here is a recent sunset series from the edge of town.

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg