Last Light over the Colorado River

 

One of the highlights of my trip to the southwest this past May was spending the night at this unforgettable overlook of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument.  I absolutely loved my time in this monument.  I spent a few days there and only scratched the surface of what there is to see. The monument claims to have "thousands of miles of dirt roads". I believe it... and I can tell you, some of them are VERY rugged and super fun to explore. And some of them lead to unbelievable places like this overlook. It's very much a place you need to be prepared to explore, though. In my 3 days there I only saw 5 or 6 other vehicles. I can't wait to go back and explore it some more. 

Colorful Maples

 

It's been kind of a weird fall color season so far. When comparing to photos from previous years, the maple trees overall would be at their peak color by now. That is not the case this year. While there are some very colorful maples to be found here and there, it seems the majority of them are still quite green. And, while driving some forest roads this past weekend, I was surprised to see quite a few leaves on the ground already with the majority of the trees (when viewed from beneath the forest canopy) still green.  This made me wonder if the tops of the trees have already changed and are losing their leaves while the bottom 2/3 of the trees are still green. At any rate, no matter what stage the color progression is at, there is always a lot of beauty to be found!

One season ends, another begins

 

A beautiful end to a beautiful summer season. This photo was made about 10 days ago, just as the maple leaves were beginning to turn. We are transitioning fully into fall now, with cooler nights and days and more and more leaves turning and dropping each day. I love each season but I especially love fall.  There is so much beauty to be found everywhere. 

Fascinating Fungi

 

I found this Fascinating Fungi about 20 feet up in a tree while out looking for fall colors earlier this week. I was super intrigued by the patterns in the underside. Something new to discover almost every day! 

Aurora Storm over the Border Lands

 

Boy, am I glad I went out for a second round of photographing the auroras tonight!  After 1:00 AM the lights had died way down and I kind of thought they were done for the night.  But, it was such a serenely calm night that I decided to just sit by the water for a while and enjoy the peacefulness. Around 2:00 AM the lights started to pick up again and between 2:30 and 4:00 AM the auroras were just spectacular! Even the intense full moon was no match for the lights. Moonlight will often wash out the view of the aurora but not on this night. I haven't looked through all of my images yet... I need some sleep first... but of the ones I did look through, so far this one is my favorite. 

Aurora and Full Moonlight

 

This is going on right now!  The aurora is currently at "STORM" level... and yes, there is a full moon, but you can still see plenty of activity in the sky. One nice thing about a full moon is that it illuminates the foreground quite a bit, where normally you would see only dark, black shadows. This photo was made at 11:17 PM. I'm heading back out for more...

September Ruffed Grouse

It seems to be a pretty good year for Ruffed Grouse. I've seen quite a few of them the past couple of weekends. I saw this group on a local logging road and another one that was in a tree surrounded by beautiful yellow leaves. Seeing them in a tree is always a treat, as they spent the vast majority of their time on the ground.  

Beaver Pond, North Side of Gunflint Lake

 

One of the largest beaver ponds I've ever seen, on the Ontario side of Gunflint Lake. I love exploring the forest roads in Ontario. So many cool places to discover. On this day I had spent all afternoon driving to this location on some very rugged logging roads and was rewarded with these beautiful clouds lit up from the setting sun.