A couple of weeks ago I drove up into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains above Santa Fe, several times in fact, on lazy afternoon drives or to hike. The first time I headed up out of curiosity, as I could see the aspens turning yellow in the distance from my house. Driving the winding road up, I eventually came to the Big Tesuque Campground, where I took the first two photos (the first one from a road side pull off about a quarter mile above the campground, looking south, the second just off of the campground parking lot). The leaves were golden, with hints of orange and red, and the pines mixed in with the aspens gave the landscape some interesting contrast.
About a week later, after my first trip into the mountains, I decided to hike the Aspen Valley Trail, which is located a little further up the road from the Big Tesuque Campground. The trail starts at approximately 9,600 feet elevation, ending up at a little over 12,000 - about a 5.8 mile slog to the top and back down. Most of the aspens (and color) are located in the first third/half of the way up or so. I took these shots in that first stretch of the trail, the first on the way up...
...the second as I was working my way back down to the parking lot.
The whole area was ablaze with autumn color, and I'm already looking forward to exploring more of the area next fall...
First two photos (Big Tesuque) - Nikon D7000, Nikkor 10-24 DX
Last two photos (Aspen Valley Trail) - Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX
Prints can be ordered here
No comments:
Post a Comment