Autumn Exposure
Fall Color in the Colorado Rockies and the New England Hills and a Roundup of Color around the Country
The days are growing shorter high in the Colorado Rockies, the night air bringing a chill. The mountain valleys remain lined with green, the dark forest colors of spruce and fir mixing with patches of light green where aspen have colonized disturbed ground.
Up Henson Creek outside the Victorian mining town of Lake City, a yellow patch shines from the center of a small aspen grove. The early turning is a foretaste of mountain gold that will soon cast its aura across the slopes.
Half a continent away, the reds of autumn are slowly creeping into the mountains of New England. The days have been dry, the nights cool with temperatures dropping into the 40s. The forests will soon be a patchwork of colors as the maples, oaks, dogwoods and birch paint the vistas.
In Colorado, the yellows will dominate. The aspen sense the approach of autumn. Between the branches and leaves, a growth of cork blocks the flow of nutrients. The cholorphylls which fueled the summer growth fade away. A hidden treasure is unveiled - carotenoids - pigments that blend to many hues of yellow, brown and orange.
Outside Telluride on a hike toward Mt. Sneffels, the sun filters through a canopy of golden leaves. Already snow shrouds the distant peaks.
New England is different, ablaze with reds and purples. Cold night air has trapped sugar in the leaves. Anthocyanins, the red pigments that color plums, form from the sugar, creating the magic of the northeastern autumn.
Sugar maples turn a brilliant orange red. Sassafras, dogwood, sweetgum, black tupelo, and oak turn scarlet, flushed with anthocyanins. And the carotenoids which turned Colorado gold are also present, in the birch, hickory, poplar and ash. With the varied species, New England offers up natural pyschedilia.
Mountain gold in the Rockies and natural pyschedelia in New England. When the days are clear and brilliant and suddenly you've needed a sweater every night, go explore. The trees will be putting on a pageant.
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Midwest National Forests
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
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