Sunday, October 9, 2011
Since I returned home from my Arizona Strip and Southern Utah trip a day early, I thought it might be a good idea to take a drive up on the Uncompahgre Plateau to see if there were any fall colors left to photograph. Unfortunately, what I found was either the aspen trees were still green, or they had changed colors and the leaves had already fallen off. It seemed like there was no in-between up there. It was a very strange fall season this year, so it appears that I am not going to be taking any good fall color photos this year. I guess I will have to try again next year. Here’s a few photos from my drive up on Divide Road.
After climbing up to Divide Road from Jacks Canyon and Unaweap Canyon I soon entered the Uncompahgre National Forest.
Uncompahgre National Forest by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
Divide Road on top of the Uncompahgre Plateau.
Divide Road by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
Not a great photo, but I found this scene interesting. It looks like all the trees here are growing away from the one in the middle.
Outwards by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
An aspen forest with very little color on top.
Aspen Trunks by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
Clouds above the Uncompahgre. Also some of the aspen forests I hoped had changed color.
Aspen Forests by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
There was some melting snow as I got higher on the plateau that caused the road to get muddy in places.
Melting Snow by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
After reaching Cottonwood Pass, I turned left and took 25 Mesa Road back down to Delta and then I took the highway back home to Grand Junction. While I may not have found any spectacular fall colors this trip, at least I had a nice afternoon drive before going back to work.