October Brings Even More Color to Color Country

The Morning Sun Silhouettes these Golden Aspens

We had just driven a few miles out of Cedar Breaks National Monument when we came upon a beautiful stand of quaking aspens. Now, we had seen aspen trees before. We had even seen some of them in their yellowish plumage on the road from Cedar City to Cedar Breaks earlier this morning.

Reds and Ambers Tinge the Stand (Photo by Qin Zhu)

But here, just a bit below 10,000 feet, the yellow and gold leaves were tinted with oranges and reds that stood out against the sapphire blue sky, and the deep, verdant green of the conifers.

I guess it was surprising to me, because I had associated Utah with desert and at best, dwarf pinyon pine forests. But here were these trees of silver and gold -- riots of color in their own way -- painting the already colorful landscape. What a place it was for a picnic...

We would actually get one other chance to mingle with these beautiful trees, later on as we drove through Dixie Forest . But that comes down the road a bit.

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