Sunday Sep 13, 2009 at 15:06

September at Bear Lake

September at Bear Lake (click image for larger view)

Can’t believe it’s already September. This weekend last year Alice and I camped up at Moraine Park in Rocky Mountain National Park, and headed to Bear Lake for dawn. We were greeted by a dense bank of fog that slowly lifted as the sun rose (you can see this here).

We decided to head back this morning to see how the aspen around the lake were coming on. I had the sense that things were moving slightly faster this year in terms of colour (see image above).

Of course, the red trees in the photograph are not aspen, but rather are dead pine trees, killed mostly probably by mountain pine beetle. I’m sure some folks might say “avoid dead vegetation” in your images, but the sad fact is, that is going to be increasingly hard to do in Colorado over the coming years, due in large part to the beetle problem.

The aspen stand at the north side of the lake is developing well colour-wise, although some trees have lost their leaves already and a few have dulled colours and are showing some black mould patches – possibly due to early frost or damp conditions?

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Stephen · Sunday, September 13, 2009, 15:06 · Permalink

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