Plenty of color closer to home.

SO, Wednesday I drove to the other side of the county in search of fall colors. This morning I drove down the hill to go to physical therapy and realized that the color I missed out at the Grand Canyon was all around me. After therapy, I took out my iPhone and snapped some pictures along the last four miles on the way up the hill. We had just had a brief rain storm and the sun was trying to emerge from behind the clouds. As a result, some of the photos are a bit subdued. Still they are indicative of the blaze of color spread across the hillsides. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Later in the day, Terry and I took Ms. Kitteh to the vets. On the way home, we stopped at several other spots to take more shots. There was more sunlight and we tried to choose areas that were brightly lit. Still, the photos don't do the colors justice. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Fall Colors Have Arrived--maybe.Or, maybe they've come and gone.

I drove out to Leonard Harrison State Park on Wednesday to get a look at what the fall colors might be like along that section of the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. It was overcast and hazy so that caused some of the colors to be subdued but there were also vast swaths of green that were NOT caused by pine trees and many, many trees already defoliated. Was I too early or too late to catch the colors at their peak? I may have to return this weekend to see.

View to the north from overlook at Leonard Harrison SP.

View to the west from overlook at Leonard Harrison SP.

View to the south from overlook at Leonard Harrison SP.

I wasn't the only one out leaf peeping. The parking lot had several dozen cars including at least one from Ontario, Missouri (an RV), New York and New Jersey. There were lots of motorcyclists too. That's not too surprising as Route 6 appears to be a favorite path for bikers. Even the ride into the park on Route 660 is a pleasant experience--especially, I imagine on a bike. It's a meandering, rolling road that is just pleasant to travel on.

Other sources of color

Other than the leaves on the trees, there was additional color out there yesterday.

At The Muck, wild asters leaned out into the trail to the blind trying to get as much of the late season sunshine as they could.

Wild Asters at The Muck

At Hills Creek Lake, the lack of any breeze presented perfect conditions for the green algae to mass along the shoreline in swirls of many shades.

Swirls of Algae at Hills Creek Lake

And then, as if to mock my driving around in search of autumn colors, the sunset proved to be spectacular.

Sunset at the Aerie