Autumn's Glow in the Pacific Northwest

I don't know if it's the recent plethora of gorgeous fall color shots on social media, but we seem to be having an extraordinary year for fall color here in the Pacific Northwest. 

While in the lowlands there are brilliant gold bigleaf maple and various ornamental Japanese maples, the real stars are the native vine maples, huckleberry shrubs, mountain ash, and golden larches at higher elevations in the mountains. And they've been putting on a great show.

The last two weekends I've hiked at elevations between about 3,800 feet and 5,600 feet around Snoqualmie Pass southeast of Seattle and been treated to some spectacular displays. It has been ahhhhsome. 

Vine maple (Acer circinatum)

October is my favorite month, in large part because of the festive feeling of so much color, as if the trees and shrubs were dressing up for a party. Let it glow!

I've not done much post-processing to amp up the colors, which is the game these days. But really, you just have to be out there yourself.

These shots are from a few different hikes recently. Maybe you'll think I'm being sour grapes, but I'm going to leave you to search for hikes on the WTA website for Washington and Trails.com for Oregon rather than calling them out here. I want you to get out, too, but some hikes are so overused now that I'm going to give it a rest for a bit.

Have you gotten out and seen some awesome fall color too?

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! 

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