Two years ago around this time, I drove across four New England states searching for fall foliage. Red was the colour I was looking for. It may surprise you, we don’t have red here in Alberta, no real Maples here. We might have some red from certain trees or shrubs, but not on a large scale as in Eastern Canada.
But what we have is gold, different shades of gold. Red can make the landscape more adorable, but gold is purity. Here’s the scenery in the past two days by the Bow River in my usual birding sites:
The scenes of a golden fall near the Pond, where layers of autumn foliage and evergreens make up the ripples of a boreal forest:
Even the path under my feet is golden:
I know, nothing gold can stay. Even as I type, a Winter Storm Warning is in effect. We’ll have snow overnight, and “Hazardous winter conditions are expected”. So when this post is up on Monday, all the gold will likely be white, which makes these photos all the more precious. They could be the last of the fall memories of 2017.
But then again, if we can have winter in the fall, we can have summer in December. At least, that’s what I’m dreaming of…
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My New England Road Trip Starts Here
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All that gold is gorgeous! Against the sky, against the water, with the green conifers. Stunning! I hope you didn’t get a lot of snow and I hope it melts quickly!
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Well today we get a taste of winter. Our first snow storm but now subsided. Tomorrow will be another fall day. 🙂
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I like the picture of the leaves up close right at the end – it all looks so perfect from afar, and then you get this picture of what is to come as a contrast.
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Denise,
I took these pics quickly yesterday, knowing they won’t last long. The yellow leaves on the ground is beautiful too, but lots of work if you have a deciduous tree in your lot.
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Lovely! I miss the smell of fall leaves- your post makes me want to get out on a trail… 🙂
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Anne Clare,
You’re right, fall is a wonderful time for hiking. Not with the snow though. 🙂
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Lol, no. Did you get much? We hardly get any in our area any more, and as a Midwesterner by birth I miss it. (Until I have to drive in it :p )
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O yes we get snow, lots of it in the winter when the temperatures can reach -20F. Can’t imagine I’d miss snow.
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Lol- yeah, I don’t miss it MUCH. Where my husband and I grew up, winter still provided enough good weather (though cold!) that we’d bundle up and get outside in the snow. I miss the brightness. In our current locale winter just means gray and rain- it gets dreary. But I suppose if we moved back to snow country we’d miss the mild temps 😉
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Oh, that gold is gorgeous against the blue blue skies. We have a few deciduous trees here that go from green to brown to leaf-litter. And faster when October’s temperatures are in the 90-100F range. But so far, we have a tiny cooling trend, for which we are all thankful. Keep those wondrous fall colors coming, Arti!
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nikkipolani,
These trees are indeed gorgeous and they are right ‘in my own backyard’ so to speak, as I live on the edge of a boreal forest, a provincial park. So I’m very fortunate I know to witness the four seasons so readily.
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So beautiful. That’s so interesting about not having red in your area. Wow! Winter storm warnings already? Yikes. I enjoyed every photo.
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Ellen,
Very early for snow this year. I hope the winter won’t be too fierce. But then again, this storm lasts just one day, but midweek it’s going to be in the mid teens again. So maybe the gold will stay a while.
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What beautiful gold. There’s not any hint of fall here yet, and we’re all longing for some relief from the heat and humidity. It would be lovely to be able to take wing and fly up there to see some of your beauty in person, but since that’s not going to happen, I’ll enjoy the photos, and rejoice that you, at least, have a delicious season just now.
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Yes Linda, I’m fortunate to be able to experience a beautiful, golden fall every year, minus the reds. We have a snow storm today but it’s going to be fall weather again later this week. So this gold just might stay a bit longer.
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Oh glorious golden fall foliage! So lovely there. Colorado has the yellow/gold displays also (similar to your area) from Aspens, Cottonwoods and willows.
I grew up in the northeastern US and the reds, burgundy hues and pinks from the hardwoods are quite a show!
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Yes, Heather, I think CO and AB are very similar in climate, although we get much colder in the winter. But we share the Rockies so our vegetations are similar, beautiful Aspens and of course, we have lots of Poplars as well. Plus the Coniferous here in my neck of the woods.
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Stunning. Seriously. We have no gold here. Just brown as in California DEAD from drought.
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Ti,
I thought CA is warm and lovely in the falls, never knew that leaves go from green to brown then dead. But I guess the golden leaves belong to colder climate like what we have way up here. Our consolation. 🙂
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I’m late to the party here. Stressful days that I’m trying to pretend are normal! But seeing this beautiful gold makes me much happier. We have precious little color here in Michigan, surprisingly. Perhaps because it’s been so unseasonably warm, but even in the north it’s still pretty green. So this is a bonus treat!
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Jeanie,
I’m glad to offer any form of relief for you. Yes, the woods indeed are lovely this time of the year, but they don’t stay this way for long. I’ll head out later to look for some birds. Didn’t see any when I took these pics. Maybe they have all flown south already.
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Beautiful photos and colours! Can’t believe your trip to New England was already 2 years ago.
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Gold is purity, indeed!
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We had a sky that colour gold this afternoon very surreal.
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We’ve had some snow for a couple of days but now it’s back to very warm temps.
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