This is my entry into the Season Hunt challenge - Fall Landscapes
Living in the Sonoran desert of Arizona means a different kind of Fall than you would experience in most places but we do get fall here. Yes the desert goes through seasonal changes too, they are more subtle than the leaves changing color in the high country just a couple of hours north of here and if you blink too long you might miss it.
After the scorching summer heat, the desert turns a golden brown and waits for the rains of late winter/early spring to rejuvenate the landscape and bring new life.
The bright green bark of the Palo Verde tree is replaced with a duller dingier green to match the surrounding golds and browns.
Midwest transplants like ourselves can only endure this apocalyptic scenery for so long, the changing leaves and the colors of Fall bring longing to our hearts. Fortunately, our daughter lives about two hours north of us in Flagstaff, Arizona. At an altitude of roughly 7500 feet, those of us in the Phoenix valley refer to it lovingly as the High Country.
Flagstaff sits at the foot of the San Francisco Peaks surrounded by a forest of Ponderosa pines. About halfway up those peaks is our destination. Thick groves of Aspen trees are shedding the green of summer and taking on the Fall yellows before the snows of winter set in.
Even the ferns on the forest floor exchange their green for bright yellows.
The squirrels are busy, darting through the undergrowth and gathering just a few more seeds and pine nuts to store for winter. Can you find the squirrel above?
I can think of no finer backdrop to take a picture of my beautiful wife and daughter than amongst the yellow ferns and the white trunks of the tall Aspens.
I hope you enjoyed my post. Click here --> Season Hunt challenge if you would like to enter the Fall colors contest too! Oh and for my tree friend 