A foggy walk in the woods

The weather around here has finally thawed enough for me to comfortably walk outside! I have been out there the past few months, just not so comfortably. A few days ago, a thick fog rolled in. I rushed out to a wooded area where I knew I could get some good, spooky fog photos. The two forest areas I visited did not disappoint! I find it interesting how these photos look like they could have been taken in November. These don't feel like March photos to me. Actually, I think the snow preserved those leaves in exactly the same place they were in November. Our winter came in really fast this year.

Looking up... If you've never tried taking a photo above your head in the woods, give it a shot. It's sometimes surprising to see what's directly above your head.

It was pretty peaceful in the forest. I saw one squirrel and heard loads of seagulls for some reason. 

This one is possibly my favorite photo of the group.

So this is a different forest area. It's actually named "Sherwood Forest". It's so hard to believe that this area can ever look as sparse as this. Not that this is all that sparse, it's just super dense with leaves during the rest of the year.

I call this giant fallen tree "The Snake Tree" and I'm sure you can see why!

I think this is the spookiest of the photos. I didn't feel spooked when I was actually there, but looking at this now, I am.

Anyone know what kind of tree this is? These look like little cherries or berries hanging from the branches. Whatever the little berries were, they were really rough and textured looking.

This is a favorite area of the woods for me. 

The water droplets were still hanging off the tree branches. If you look really closely, you might see some upside down tree shapes in those drops. I kept thinking that it had started to rain again when I was in the woods, because I thought I heard a steady rain. It was probably just the sound of the water that was already there dripping.

You guys might remember this last tree from a previous blog post. I can't even imagine how tall it is. I probably have a photo of this tree during every season, because I like its shape so much. 

Hope you guys enjoyed looking at these photos as much as I enjoyed revisiting them. It's amazing what I don't see until I get home and have a chance to study my photos. I was walking pretty quickly at the time, hoping to get these photos taken before the fog lifted or I got rained on! Luckily, neither of those two things happened. But now that I'm home looking these over, I'm liking what I'm seeing and thinking about maybe using some of these photos for some kind of future project. 

Bright Leaves on a Dark Day

Last Sunday was a dark, rainy day. I took a walk around a lot of tree-lined streets and a few forest areas. It was a good time to be out photographing trees and leaves, because the autumn colors had started to appear. The leaves have changed only recently. I like going out to take pictures after it has rained, because I can capture the raindrops, like in this pic I took of a leaf-covered street.

Looking up from the ground, this is the entrance to one of the forest areas I like to walk.

How beautiful are these wet leaves? I was getting a nice contrast between the leaves and that dark, wet pavement. 

Right as I was entering the forest, I heard some geese. I looked up and just had time to take a photo of them. I like how the geese are soft as the camera focused more on the branches.

Once in the forest, I turned around to take a pic of the path I'd just taken. It seems a little unusual to see this many orange and red leaves on the ground with nothing but leafy green trees above them. I don't think I've taken any pictures like these before. Usually, the leaves that are still on the trees have turned when the ground looks like this. I really like the contrast, though. It's like someone put down a leaf carpet.

Once out of the woods, I was walking along the sidewalk and got more leaves. 

Now into a different forest, which may look similar to the last one. I know the difference from walking these paths so many times, though. I'm recognizing the trees.

It's like the tips of these leaves got cold. 

This forest is super hilly. I've read that kids used to sled down these hills in the woods back in the day. As in 80 or so years ago. Can you imagine? I've walked these paths in winter and it can be interesting when there's ice.

Have you guys ever seen a black Maple tree?

I like the red stems.

I like walking this street. There's something comforting and old-timey about it. This is also a great place to find acorns! 

I hope you enjoyed this little virtual walk! It couldn't feel any more like Autumn out there. 🍁

A walk through the most vibrant of October colors

I have some very colorful fall photos to share from a local forest area. I just checked the date on when I took these and it was October 20. I wanted to check because the leaves have changed and fallen so fast! It didn't seem possible that I'd taken these so recently. I'm already nostalgic for this day. 

This first photo is one of my favorites. The light was perfectly shining through the leaves from every angle. It was like looking through stained glass on a sunny day. I'm also reminded of stained glass when I look at this because of the branches. They look like the dark lines between the pieces of glass. 

As you can see here, this forest is part of the Grootemaat Nature Preserve. The tops of that sign look like little bird houses, although I'm not sure how many birds would be small enough to fit in there! I'm curious about how long this area has been set aside as a nature preserve, but I can't seem to find much history on it.

Pretty much every autumn leaf color possible was represented that day. This is the place to go locally if you'd like to see the best leaf variety. 

You can step into the forest at pretty much any point, although there are some clear trails. It's interesting how this forest area is right next to a fairly busy road, but once you step inside it's like you're in a whole other world.

As you can see, someone marked a general path area with large tree branches. 

This picture was my computer wallpaper up until a few days ago. 

Look at all the little baby maples carpeting the ground!

I've said this in the past, and I'm about to say it again: Doesn't the up-close view of a leaf look like an aerial map? 

I find this photo calming. I'm trying to figure out the background, even though I took the picture! It doesn't look like a forest, but I did take it at the same time as the others. Hmm...

I'm already missing all this color! The next couple blog posts will be a series of photos I took a few days ago. You'll see that the trees look vastly different. The upcoming photos will be as much November as these are October!