Fall Foliage

Maroon Bells

Chris KriofskeLeave a comment

We returned to Colorado for the first time in a decade. One highlight of our trip was a visit to Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, which is located in the White River National Forest.

It’s easiest to get to this remote locale by a shuttle bus near Aspen; we booked our tickets for the bus two months in advance given that we’d be there close to peak fall foliage.

For near-optimal viewing conditions (and to avoid large crowds), our bus was at 7:30 on a Thursday morning. Even for late September, it was so cold that there was some frost on our rental car; I’d also wished I brought mittens along for my freezing fingers.

It was all worth it. So named for their shape, the two peaks that make up Maroon Bells were gorgeous, especially against all the yellows of the surrounding aspen trees.

Rather than attempt a more strenuous hike deeper into the woods, we stuck to the basic “scenic” path, a loop whose furthest point is the bridge pictured above.

Viewed from that bridge, the tableau is straight out of a painting.

I could stare at this view in person all day (and luckily, the temperatures rose considerably throughout the morning.)

I’m sure this would’ve looked perfectly lovely without the changing leaf colors, but still–this was a treat to see.

The two peaks are the park’s main attraction, but other mountain ranges are visible in most directions.

We lucked out with such bold, blue skies.

Back towards the loop’s beginning later in the morning, the foliage practically popped against the tall pines and the rocks and dirt of the mountains.

The trail back to the starting point, around 10 AM. A full day of possibilities awaited us.

Autumn Color 2022

Chris KriofskeLeave a comment

Continuing a tradition, here is a selection of color shot in and around Boston during my favorite time of year. Above is the Charles River Esplanade as seen from the Longfellow Bridge. This is a few days before Daylight Savings Time ended; as of today, I’m doubtful much foliage is left.

A burst of yellow on the Esplanade with the Arthur Fiedler statue in the right background.

The Boston Public Garden one brisk morning this past week.

The Garden’s easily one of my favorite spots in town. When I took this photo, I noted how it was a reminder as to why, after moving here decades ago, I stayed.

Across the Charles and over to JFK Park near Harvard Square on an idyllic Saturday morning.

In late September I first noticed how unusually… robust the color was this year. Chalk it up to the summer drought, the subsequent rain, global warming or chance. Either way, I made time for a visit to Mt. Auburn Cemetery on the Cambridge/Watertown border, a place I didn’t make it to last year.

My mom has asked me, “Why go to a cemetery to take pictures?” Here’s one reason…

…and another. Mt. Auburn often feels as much of an arboretum as it does a cemetery.

We conclude on Millennium Park in West Roxbury – a ten minute walk from home and thus a park I’ve spent more time in than nearly any other in the area.

The trees were noticeably sparser than they were just five days before I took this one. Luckily, flashes of that rare autumnal red remained.

Autumn Color

Chris KriofskeLeave a comment

Autumn is my favorite time of year, mostly for the changing leaves and a brief respite of coziness and relative warmth before it gets too cold to do much outdoors except for getting from one place to another.

The foliage isn’t as robust as in past years, thanks to an ongoing lack of rain over the warmer months.

Fortunately, that does not mean no color at all.

The park near my house in early October is not without at least one burst of red.

Those three trees in the background never fail to transform at least one small section of the park’s landscape every Autumn.

However, for the most part, a burnt, somewhat dingy orange predominates this year.

Granted, this hue is more or less the norm for the tall trees at the edge of my backyard.

On one of my periodic, two-to-three mile neighborhood walks, I spotted this brilliant yellow, made even more striking by the blue of the house next to it.

To see ample colors in one place, however, I had to visit Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

On the third Sunday in October, I spent an afternoon there, seeking out as many seasonal shades I could find.

Walking around Mt. Auburn, I was not disappointed. Robust reds, bright oranges, sparkling yellows were all around.

I’m not a religious man, but parks, cemeteries, woods–any kind of green space is the sort of place my soul thrives in.

I remember driving out to Kettle Moraine North in Wisconsin with my parents when I was four or five, collecting pretty fallen leaves to place into a construction paper album.

I held onto that album for most of my childhood, no matter how brown and crinkly the leaves turned.

For those few bright red maple trees I see around Boston, I think fondly of the street I grew up on, which was lined with them. There was a particularly big one in front of our house–I can recall the impossibly massive piles of leaves my dad would rake from everything that fell onto the front yard, the sidewalk, even the street.

Within weeks, the trees will once again be bare. However, I’m genuinely optimistic for the first time in four years. The trees will bud again come April or May, hopefully stronger than ever before as we begin to heal and nourish our collective soul.