Fall in the Rockies Part Deux

We have just returned from Church, and outside the wind is howling, driving sheets of rain sideways. When I look up tomorrow, Fall will be gone.  And what a Fall it has been.  Gorgeous, pleasant days, cool, perfect nights, and magnificent sunsets through most of September and October.  Makes it hard to watch winter come.  So I thought I would revisit a couple of our fall activities, starting with a personal day I took a few weekends ago to see fall colors.

I know, you are thinking, 'hey, didn't he just post about that?' Yes, I did, but I just can't help myself.

Color gives me faith in God. There may be some perfectly logical, scientific/darwinian reason for leaves to turn molten gold and fire red as they face the ice of winter.  But to me, the brilliant colors in each of those perfectly structured leaves is God's way of saying he will not forget us, that he will be there when the dark days come. Who sees fall leaves and does not feel joy? What purpose can this explosion of color possibly serve, really, other than to testify of God's love?

Because of that, Fall is an event for me.  Ask my wife.  I get incredibly antsy as that time of year approaches, and the back of my mind is constantly thinking about how to get out in it.  Such was my state of mind a few weekends ago, when I abandoned all sense of responsibility and drove over Alpine Loop behind Mount Timpanogos, then up through Wasatch Mountain State Park, and over Guardsman pass into Big Cottonwood Canyon.   Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did the trip.

As I took the photo above, a bull elk was bugling and thrashing about in the forest out there somewhere. It echoed off the rock walls and seemed to travel for miles.

For me, Wasatch Mountain Park (the panorama above and the three photos below), near Midway, was an undiscovered gem.  I drove around it for hours before heading up to Guardsman's Pass.

There is something magical about wandering into an aspen forest in the fall.  Everyone should have the experience of just soaking it in for a few unregimented hours. 

Lucky boy that I am, I had that chance one morning this Fall. I wandered for hours.  And I will remember that for a long time -- at least until the spring flowers come.