on a country road

If you look carefully right now,  you’ll see rivers of colors flowing down the valleys of the eastern Sierras.  These rivers of color are the high altitude Aspen that change from forests of light green, through brilliant yellows, oranges and reds. This picture was taken off of highway 395, just north of Mono Lake.  The dirt road you see winds up this incredible valley, following the Aspen trail. This transition of fall happens every year around the second week of October.  It is there for those lucky enough to be passing by.   But the opportunity is brief.  The change happens quickly, with any one area making the transition within a week’s time.  We are very fortunate because the flow of change like the flow of the trees themselves, moves from higher altitudes to lower as the temperature drops.

Sometimes you are lucky enough and these wonderful  ephemeral views lie just off of the road where you can stop and just stare.  This picture was taken on 395, just across from Mono Lake, late in the afternoon.  We are not that high up, and didn’t have to work hard for the view.  Just stepped on the brakes and opened the door.  There were a lot of cars slowing or stopping for this view. I am sure that lots of those that are lucky enough to witness this change, decide to make it more than luck, and plan for this annual event.  They bring layers of warm clothes and their cameras, notebooks, paints, eyes, ears and hearts,  and take those country roads, up into the mountains to be a part of this wonder.

I am most lucky to have had a friend invite me along on his Photography workshop, where he and 3 of his colleagues showed me where to look, when to look, and how to look.  They do this every year, just around now.  These pictures are fresh, less than a week old.  But these same trees, less than a week later, are probably leaf-less, having shed their bright coats.

To see more colors, and maybe join them next season, keep checking this site so that when the workshop offer comes, you’ll be able to react.

I want to thank Patrick, Rogan, Mary and Tim for the wonderful experience and Henry, a fellow participant with whom I got to share the wonderful journey.

Sometime you are lucky enough to be at the right place, at the right time.. on some country road…

I wrote this for another site [ iwitnessings.com ] but Patrick encouraged me to publish it here too, since it shows the culmination of the travels, the experiences, and the learning.  I’ll write more about what I learned, here in later blogs.