10/25/09 Fall Foliage: 2009

Fall foliage outside the courthouse in Toulon, IL

The past two years I've made a substantial effort as the fall season begins to hunt down some of the best fall foliage in my locality wherever I may be. Last fall, I was still attending college at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, IL so I was unable to be mobile unlike this year. You can find last years fall foliage on campus here. This year, I found myself back in my hometown of Kewanee, IL and decided to use this opportunity to seek out the best colors in nearly a 50-mile radius of Kewanee, IL. This year with the addition of a few Canon lenses I decided to really go all out on fall pictures. It kind of felt like a storm chase trying to hunt down fall colors instead of tornadoes in a way. Stops included: Johnson Sauk Trail State Park on Rt 78, Black Hawk East Campus in Kewanee, IL, Bradford, IL, Lacon, IL along the Illinois River, along I-74 in Peoria, IL, Brimfield, IL, and Toulon, IL. So here's more than a handful of my fall pictures below:

"Halloween orange" along W Division St. in Kewanee, IL

Deep red leaf off a Red Maple (macro-lens)

Fall scene in Kewanee, IL

Looking vertically as the disappearance of
the green chlorophyll begins

A golden-yellow appearance from this Sugar Maple

Ivy leaves showing their autumn color on a dreary fall afternoon

Yellow maple as the sun rises in the east

Some Pampas grass in the backyard

A Burning Bush in the backyard
after a heavy rain event

"Past peek" conditions seen here (macro-lens)

The setting sun on some leaves with a lowered sun-angle

Simply amazing detail seen here on this fall tree

Fall sunset with "streaking cirrus" from a departing storm system

Classic Silver Maple showing off all its colors

Yellow(s) from another Maple tree (macro-lens)

Typical Halloween pumpkin...

A golden path...if only there was some gold bars waiting for you on the other side in this economy...

More up-close fall leaves (macro-lens)

Red Maple stretching toward the heavens

Maple syrup anyone?

Close-up of a Sugar Maple (macro-lens)

A cloudy day showing off the yellow
pigments in this Sugar Maple

Johnson Sauk Trail State Park

Green(s) changing to Yellow(s)

Foliage outside our pasture

Here are some photos taken from the new Canon T1i as I'll be transitioning into this DSLR camera from my older Canon Rebel Xti from here on out. So far it was well worth the investment...

Sugar Maple found in a park in Bradford, IL

Marina with fall colors in the foreground along the Illinois River

Brillant Red Maple found in Peoria, IL

 Cool stuff!

Stretching the "wing span"...

A fall reflection from this lake near Brimfield, IL

Seagull in-flight along the Illinois River in Lacon, IL

A house with a wooden bridge as its entrance...interesting

Close-up of another seagull along the river

Foliage along in Stark County

Seagull in-flight...

As fall colors have peaked in this area we get to look forward to another change in season that will soon be upon us. For some information on this you can check out my thoughts on the upcoming 2009-10 winter season here.