Fall in the Borderlands

Since returning from Hawaii in late September, I have enjoyed beautiful fall weather on the west coast.  It seems to me that in many ways autumn is the best season for photography.  The light is softer than in spring and summer, but more things are growing...or fading...than in winter.  This pic was taken at my townhouse, on a morning when the sun rose brightly but a fog bank loomed just to the west.  The resulting combination of sunlight and background was surreal.

This is the northern end of a southerly surge moving up the San Mateo county coast near Half Moon Bay.  Coastal warm spells in California, Oregon, and Washington frequently end when the pressure pattern allows a fog bank to race northward up the coast.  The fog bank can cover the thousand mile plus distance from Pismo Beach to northwest Washington in as little as two days!

Halloween night I stayed at Crescent City's only oceanfront motel.  Here's the driftwood strewn beach just before sunset.

The Crescent City lighthouse.

I first visited Lithia Park in Ashland OR this past August, and was enchanted.  Ashland Creek flows through a lush forest only a few blocks from the heart of the city.  Ashland lies on the border between a wet and semiarid climate, and everything from ponderosa pines to Douglas first to cedars grows in the park.  The creek sings a merry tune as it rambles through the forest.  In August, I examined the vegetation and concluded that the park would be fabulous in the fall.  Bingo!  You can even take impressionist photos of the fall colors shimmering in the creek water.

Beautiful light.  Blow up the pic for the best effect.

Fall colors reflected in the ripples of a lake in the park.

The forest floor in the fall. 

A fine blend of colors.  Still in Lithia Park.

Red explosion!  In most of southern Oregon the fall colors are mostly brown and yellow.  But in Lithia Park there is a variety of brilliant color that rivals the forests of New England.  It's quite spectacular.

And the atmosphere of the park is wonderful.  People strolling or jogging; kids playing; folks chilling on benches.  It's simply a fine place to be.  And the fall colors are fabulous.

Mount Shasta put on a show today.  It trapped passing moisture and sculpted it into spectacular cap clouds.  And the volcano was cloaked with a fine coat of new snow from last weeks' storms.

Ducks hanging out at the Klamath Wildlife Refuge.

Passing by the little town of Adin, in northeast Cali, I found a relic of the past...a wigwam burner.  When I was a kid these were seen all over the northwest; scrap lumber was incinerated therein.  They produced a lot of smoke, of course, and were banned at least 40 years ago.  But this one remains, unused and rusting slowly in the dry climate.

In Northeastern California a few aspen trees are still putting on a nice fall show.