Fall Colors

I thought I had missed the colors on the peaks this year, but luckily, most of the aspens are still in full golden display when we went up to the peaks today. A lot of people were busy taking picture, a nice day for being outdoors.

Aspen Leaves

Fashionable Leopard Print

Traditional Gold

Soaking up the Rays

Aspen leaves - Near Sunset Crater.

I really like aspen trees. With beautiful white trunks; their leaves shimmers with slightest breeze, and turns golden in Fall, that really transforms the mountainside.

Fall is Here

Location - San Francisco Peaks.
At 41 degree, and wind gusting, it was a cold day up near the peaks. But it was worth the drive up, as more aspens have changed to golden hue - but some bigger trees are still green.

Camera - Pentax DL, 40mm pancake.

Fall is near

With fresh snow on top of San Francisco Peaks, I was hoping the aspens would have more dramatic colors. But just not quite there yet. Maybe, just one more week.

Location - San Francisco Peaks
Camera - Nikon D70 with 80-200mm.

Aspen on Cinder

Location - Bonito Lava Flow

Camera - Nikon D80, 70mm

First post with the Nikon D80.
Decided to treat myself and upgrade from D70 to D80. Being phased out, there are some nice deals on-line for the D80. So far, I really like the larger LCD and view finder, it makes it much easier as I am getting older, :(

Some what smaller than the D70, it still feels really nice in my hands. Some of the buttons are in different position, but it should be easy to get use to it. I am keeping the D70, as it isn't worth the money I'll get out of selling it. But I will have to sell my Olympus E500 - Ebay bound.

Winter Forest in B&W

Location - San Francisco Peaks, Flagstaff, AZ.
Camera - Pentax DL, 18mm

Tree Collection

Aspen in the summer - San Francisco Peaks

Pentax DL w/55mm f1.4 Ricoh screw mount.

Aspen in the summer - San Francisco Peaks, with Sarah.
Pentax DL w/55mm f1.4 Ricoh screw mount

Lone Pine - Grand Canyon Nation Park, East Rim.
Nikon D70

Maple in Arista Winery - Russian River Valley
Nikon D70

A slight twist - Petrified wood, Petrified Forest National Monument

Nikon D70

Gnarly Juniper - Walnut Canyon National Monument
Nikon D70

Tiny pine tree - growing out of crack of a giant boulder - Walnut Canyon National Monument
Nikon D70

Another juniper tree, hanging on for dear life - Walnut Canyon National Monument
Nikon D70

Giant red wood - Muir Wood National Monument.
Nikon D70

And my favorite.

While most of the aspens in town have shed their leaves already, a few still maintained their vibrant yellow.

Took this today around the house. Warmified with Picasa2.

Visit to the Peaks

Friday and Saturday have been cold and windy. Finally, Sunday turned out to be a very nice day. With in-laws in town, we visited the peaks to see if we can catch the changing of colors of the aspens. Surprising, most of them are still fairly green, with few areas that are yellow and some are brown.


Reaching for the sky.

Since it wasn't very windy, we decided to take the sky ride up to the peaks. From 9,500 ft to 11,500 ft!


It was actually a very long ride up, we were 30-40 ft up in the air. Since I'm afraid of height, it wasn't a very pleasant ride, :(, but I managed. The worst part is when it stops, then it start to wobble in mid-air..... This is a picture from the top. I did it!

Yup, had to use this facility.

Some very tall aspens by the lift.