A light dusting on vibrant fall colors

WOW, today was amazing with bright colors and snow topped mountains. Powder Mountain and Snowbasin are both reporting measurable amounts of snow.

Here's some photos I took while chasing the sun around the valley.

Take a Drive or Bicycle Ride on the Old Snowbasin Road - Evening and Morning

Evening view (above and below) yesterday. I have been known to spend a little time in Photoshop, but these pictures did not require a single touch up!

Below, on my way back up this morning, I had to stop to catch this shot of a small group of homes just off Hwy 39 looking toward Snowbasin.

Morning views of Snowbasin and Pineveiw Reservoir below.

Ogden Valley and Avon Pass

The calm before the storm! Jim and Bryan Halay joined me on a trip through the Ogden Valley and on to Avon. With the wind forecasted for this evening, this may be a short lived color season. Let's all hope the color can hang on because if you add this color to some nice snow capped mountains...we are all in for a real treat!!


©Bill Singleton

©Bill Singleton

©Bill Singleton

It is a beautiful time in Eden see this great view of Wolf Creek

Near Powder Mountain Utah

Happy Hikers

Mother Nature is about to change fall up a bit with a predicted 30 plus degree drop in daytime temperatures by this Wednesday. The weather folks are also predicting snow as low as the benches! With this info in mind we took advantage of a beautiful Sunday, recorded the PGA Tour of Champions (way to go Phil for beating Tiger), and took a very long and hard hike from Ogden to Snowbasin - one vertical mile. The Beus trail is challenging but worth the lung burn! We cheated a bit by hiking down to the Needles Lodge at Snowbasin where we boarded the gondola for a ride down.

XTERRA Off-road Triathlon Started on Picturesque Pineview Reservoir

Jan and I kayaked across Pineveview Reservoir to volunteer for the swimming safety patrol of the XTERRA National Championship. We were treated to the beginning of red, red, red across the hills - maples are turning fast.

Kayakers receive final instructions from Rich Koski, below. What a perfect day for the event!

Terry and her daughter, Danielle, watched for wayward swimmers.

On the way back home.

Snowbasin Maples

Melodie and Terry hiked the Maples camp ground trail by Snowbasin yesterday. The maples have began the transition into a bright red and to aspens are just starting to change with just a hint of yellow. What perfect weather we had!

The Hills are Alive

Get ready! With storm and cold temps headed our way next week, this weekend could be peak for the reds. Don't delay because you never know what Mom Nature has in mind for us. Best pick for a hike - anywhere. Personally, I'm hiking Beus Canyon from Ogden to Snowbasin on Sunday. This picture was taken this morning from the summitt of the Trappers Loop road.

The Grand Tour Adventure!

With the temperature in the high 70's and my 91 year old mother in law in town, my husband and I determined it would be the perfect weekend to do the Fall Color Grand Tour up through Logan Canyon, extend through the north end of Bear Lake, back down the east side of the lake; returning to Ogden Valley over Monte Cristo.

Our first stop to stretch our legs was at Rick's Spring, about halfway through Logan Canyon. The view across from the road side pullout revealed a glimmer of golden aspens amongst the pines.....
The spectacular view at the Summit just before we crested to the aqua blue waters of Bear Lake, displayed a patchwork of golden aspen and the deep green pines....

Traveling north along the west side of Bear Lake, I captured these flaming red oaks as we sped along at 55 mph!

Looking to the west of Bear Lake, the beautiful patchwork of red oaks, mixed with the sage brush and pines, and a hint of gold aspens in the higher elevations......

A closer look at a patch of scrub oak against the sagebrush and pines......

At the north end of Bear Lake we came across a flock of sandhill cranes grazing in a freshly cut wheatfield........

By early afternoon, Mother Nature put on a show with localized clouds and showers........

Heading south along the more arid east side of Bear Lake, one lone patch of scrub oak can be found amongst the dry sage and pinon pines.......

Heading out of the Bear Lake valley and over the summit into Randolph, Mother Nature once again reveals a snippit of a rainbow (prevelant due to periodic monsoon rains during this time of year.)

By the time we reached the Monte Cristo area, darkness had come upon us, and we could faintly see the contrast of the gold aspens amongst the pines in the higher elevations.........we were however delayed momentarily in our journey, by a herd of free-range sheep, accompanied only by watchful sheep dogs......the perfect ending to our grand tour adventure!

What a Difference a Week Makes

Same trail as last Sunday but the colors had changed substantially. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most intense colors the maples last week were a 4 or 5, today they were a 6 or 7. There were a lot more maples in full blazing red and deep orange. No change from the oaks yet but soon.

All the rain in the last two days plus the forcasted cold evening temperatures to come should make next weekend prime for color - stay tuned.

THE LOGAN REPORT

What a great day for a hike - sunny and crisp! We drove up Logan Canyon (take HWY 89 from Utah State Univ) to Tony Grove - beautiful little lake (the drive is only 40 minutes from USU). On our hike to White Pine Lake, we saw that the aspen are just starting to turn yellow. A few red maples are visible up high.
Lunch with a view at White Pine Lake (about 3.8 miles in). We did a little fly fishing (a good excuse to hang out for awhile). Although we saw several trout jumping, none of them chose to dine on our dry flies.
As you can see by the tree mixture here, it won't be long before the colors explode!

Hot Air Balloon Ride for Make a Wish

Wolf Creek Resort arranged Hot Air Balloon rides this morning to fulfill a dream request to Make A Wish Foundation. Steve Roberts would be proud of everyone involved for bring joy to others and for adding even more color to our beautiful valley. What a wonderful way to view the fall colors!

My photos don't do this justice. Does anyone have a photo frm this morning to share?

There's usually a moose around these parts

We took a short hike out the backdoor the other day. Searching for new signs of fall color changes, and we found them.

I wonder what it is that makes that first tree start to turn colors before the others do. Pretty soon the hill will be purple!! <--my favorite color

Photography by Bryan J. Smith, OgdenValleyMagazine.com

http://twitter.com/OgdenValley

The Trees They Are A Changin!

Last week the change was subtle, this week it’s full blown red. Pictures don’t do justice to how pretty the mountains are right now. The contrasts are amazing. The mountain grasses are taking on a bronze hue as the maples are moving from green to red. Next it will be changes in the oaks followed closely by the aspens. In two weeks it should be a multi-color show. I love this time of year! Best hike or mountain bike for color this week end should be Green Pond or the Skyline Trail-both have lots of maples.

Ogden Valley Business Assocation Enjoys a Crisp September Evening

Local business owners spent the evening at an OVBA general monthly meeting while enjoying great entrees from Texas Pride Barbecue on the grounds of the Rendezvous Lodge in the Village at Huntsville Square. Now that's the way to do business! Photograph by Jeff Hyde

It's ALL FALL at the Ogden Nature Center

If you are interested in fall colors, join us at the Ogden Nature Center next Wednesday, September 23 at 3:30 pm for our weekly Wild Wednesday program -- FALL INTO AUTUMN! You'll learn about how animals and plants adapt to a changing environment with less sunlight and cooler temperatures. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for senior, $2 for children and FREE if you are already a member of the Nature Center. Also, our preschool discovery days are all about LEAVES AND TREES this month and next. To see our full calendar of events, visit www.ogdennaturecenter.org.

Monsoon Drama

I was headed over Trappers Loop from Mountain Green last night and snapped this photo of the changing colors with a very dramatic background. The summer monsoon rains arrived this week and left us with great aromas, rainbows, and amazing clouds. Every day is a surprise in autumn!

Double Rainbow

I hope the moisture from today's rain will help keep the leaves on the trees for an extra week or two. Mother Nature did deliver a beautiful double rainbow to Eden and to Powder Mountain.

The first trees to turn in northern Utah are the maples. As we hiked on Sunday we found trees that were just starting to turn mixed with those that were full of color. We hiked the Green Pond trail. The trailhead is located on the connecting road to Snowbasin off of Trappers Loop (Hwy 167). If you just go to the pond it's a quick hike with moderate elevation gain - great for a family outing.

Finding Fall

Labor Day is a signal to many that the summer has ended and autumn has arrived. The kids go back to school, gardens are harvested, and darkness comes earlier each evening. In northern Utah fall is a wonderful season, especially when Indian Summer visits. This weekend was perfect in the Ogden Valley with cool temperatures in the morning and comfortable afternoons. It was fun biking to the events at The Taste of Ogden Valley!