A week ago I made a quick drive north of Saint Paul to one of my favorite Minnesota state parks, Wild River. Located along the St. Croix River, the park seems to always have some glorious fall colors. On arriving before dawn, I made sure to be by the river as the sun rose over the Wisconsin bluffs to the east. As quickly as the sun cleared the bluffs, the clouds moved in and the light changed. After an hour of cloudy and gray skies, I wandered up onto the hillside and the main area of the park. While walking down the hiking path the sunlight broke through the clouds for about five minutes. Through the golden leaves on the trees, the woods were bathed in a luminous light that was ever so brief. The clouds moved back in, the winds picked up causing the leaves to scatter along the path, and eventually the rain began.
autumn
Fall is in the air
The winds have been from the south, bringing warm and summer-like temperatures into Minnesota. But the days are shorter and nature is anticipating the change of seasons into fall. Some of the trees have started the change in colors – a glorious outburst to the beauty of nature and autumn. I was riding my bicycle on the Gateway Trail yesterday. The sunshine was warm and I was breaking a sweat but the air didn’t have the fresh green smell of summer. The path was littered with dried leaves that had already fallen, and they crackled as my bike tires ran over them — reminding me of being a child and using clothespins to attach playing cards to my bike so they would snap through the spokes. The sound was delightful and I found myself swerving to ride through the leaves on the trail. Change is in the air.
The right place at the right light
Sometimes everything comes together wonderfully, and so it was last weekend. About seven miles away is a regional park right in the city, but to walk along the trails is like being miles away from the cacophony and bustle of urban life. I drove to the park before dawn and enjoyed the sunrise accompanied by the ducks, geese, and even some trumpeter swans. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the warmth of the early morning light washed across the shoreline of Sucker Lake. Protected from the wind, the reflection of the colors glowed in the lake’s surface, only to ripple when the ducks flew in. It was the perfect beginning to a fall day.
Autumn treeline
Last week was peak fall color in many areas of central and southern Minnesota. This year’s color has been much more vibrant – perhaps due to our copious amounts of rain in June, the lack of extreme heat in the summer months, and the delay of a killing frost. I spent the morning at William O’Brien State Park, nestled beside the St. Croix River. The park has a riverside trail that meanders alongside the St. Croix, and it also has an “upper” section with a prairie, an oak savanna, meadows and forests. This area was brilliant in color; the treeline was ablaze and the prairie grasses were golden. The sure signs of fall were the empty bluebird houses. These will remain vacant now throughout the winter with its snow yet to come, until we pass into spring and its burst of green.
A change in the seasons and in life
We are in the glorious midst of fall – the change of seasons from summer to winter. One day we have bright sunshine and the next day is cool and cloudy, and throughout them all the colors of our landscape continue to change. So too I’m reminded of the changes in our lives. It was a year ago that my father passed away and that was a change I was not prepared for. But I’ve come to realize that change is the one constant in life. With three deaths in the family, a change in jobs, a kitchen remodel, and a different car, I sometimes wonder if I recognize my life anymore. But I’ve learned something with each change, and I know that the best way to honor my father is to live the values that he helped to instill in me. He laid the basis for my sense of adventure and my joy in being outdoors in nature – two of the traits I enjoy so much in my photography. As I was photographing this slough the air would be still, and then the wind would come up. It caused the water to ripple across the surface and the cattails to dance in front of me. The movement and the colors of the trees were all a glorious celebration of change.
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