View allAll Photos Tagged frontrange
The Peak to Peak Highway, from Nederland to Rocky Mountain National Park, is a splendid drive in the fall. While high peaks retain some of the first snowfalls, conifers and aspen present a collage of colors.
In this frame, the bluish trees are blue spruce and the dark green trees are lodgepole pine. The bright colors mark clones of aspen.
See more at www.rootsstudiophoto.com
Along the side of Highway 36 south of Lyons, Colorado Loukonen Farms continues its October tradition with its 1946 International pick up truck loaded down with pumpkins. The farm is owned by John Loukonen, a fourth generation Boulder County resident and descendant of some of the county's original homesteaders.
See more at www.rootsstudiophoto.com
I've driven by this abandoned homestead on the Colorado plains on numerous occasions. On a cold November morning, the same structure emerged from the like a ghost of decades past while the distant sunrise provided a backdrop of soft morning light.
See more at www.rootsstudiophoto.com
In the waning daylight of summer, the sun breaks through a stormy sky to illuminate the red sandstone formations above the Flatiron Reservoir in Larimer County, Colorado.
The temperatures plummeted during a recent Arctic storm (a.k.a. "extreme temperature fluctuation," or about a 60F+ sudden drop). It happened at a time when deciduous and coniferous trees had not yet "hardened off" for the cold wintertime temperatures.
When such an extreme weather event occurs in Colorado, as it did both in October 2019 and again in late October 2020, these leaves have an unusual, colorful "freeze-dried" appearance. Some leaves actually turn black. Trees can be badly-damaged or die from such events, with south facing trunks splitting open from ice expansion within the trees.
Also, conifers' needles may "blow out" when the internal ice accumulates and bursts the needles open. The needles then have a bleached appearance. This color change usually happens about 10 days after the extreme event.
It's difficult to witness and experience the loss of many trees and bushes at once. Those plants that survive may continue to struggle, never recovering fully.