It's fall, y'all!

It is officially fall here in New Mexico - my favorite time of year! As is tradition, we headed up to the Santa Fe Ski basin to admire the aspen trees in their full golden glory. The best trail for stunning views of the aspen groves in full color is the Aspen Vista trail. It's super busy this time of year, no surprise, so we headed up early on a cool, misty fall morning. Seeing the golden aspens framed by the mountain mist was sure a beautiful sight!

Roxie admiring the view.

At the beginning of the hike, we got caught in a bit of rain and brief hail, but my humans were prepared and packed my little pink jacket to keep me warm on the trail. As long as we kept trucking up the trail, I was warm enough to enjoy the beautiful scenery!

My human mama explained to me why the aspen leaves turn yellow in the fall. Aspen leaves are vibrant green in the summer because the leaves are dominated by chlorophyll. When the weather starts to cool, the leaves begin to become dormant for the upcoming winter, and the chlorophyll leaves the leaf, leaving behind carotenoids which cause the yellow, and sometimes orange, color. The carotenoids will color the leaf until it falls off for the winter, causing this beautiful display of yellow and orange during autumn.

 

 Some of the aspens were so golden they appeared to be made of light!

Roxie was having way too much fun running through the trees!

What a wonderful, misty autumn morning in the mountains! I sure love fall!

-Rosie