Color Tour

The color in northern Michigan is near or at the peak, depending on where you are looking.  We have taken a couple drives the last couple days to see the color and were not disappointed.  Along the way we stopped at a scenic spot in the Florey’s Ranch Estates, the Mayfield Pond Park in Mayfield, Brown Bridge Pond, now simply the Boardman River, and the Skegamog Lake Wildlife Area. Here are a few photos along the way.

All the photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Here we have a wonderful vista including our very own Duck Lake and the Horton Creek valley.  There is no way to capture all the splendor in a single photo, so these panoramas help give a sense of the wide expanse of color.

On to Mayfield.  I loved the curve of the track along with the color.  I wonder what’s around the bend.

There is an old mill pond in the park.  The reflections caught my eye.

Here is the Boardman River going through what used to be the Brown Bridge Pond.  The dams were removed some years ago, returning the river to a river.  It is easy to see where the pond was, along the low flat area either side of the river.  There are stumps of once-submerged trees scattered in the grasses growing in the former pond bottom.

This clump of maple tree grew out of the same trunk. This was along a trail to Skegamog Lake.

So, as you can see, the colors were amazing.  One of the interesting findings was that not all of the red and burgundy colors were from maples, but from oaks.  The many of the oak leaves this year are very pretty whereas in years past they fade from yellow to brown pretty quickly.

So, get out there before all the color fades away.  Just a quick drive down a country road will be enough to lift your spirits.

Mark