fall leaves – little thoughts

While in Flagstaff at the end of October, we took a day to hike around the aspens. I don’t think I’d seen the aspens in the fall before, and I was amazed at how brilliantly gold they were.

We hiked the Lamar Haines Memorial loop up towards Snow Bowl, and found it to be both beautiful and easy enough for the kids. (Actually, it was so easy that Limerick lost interest in it for part of the time… he isn’t happy unless the trail is letting him clamber over logs or boulders!) About midway along the loop there are some old buildings remaining from the Lamar Haines homestead, which Rondel especially enjoyed exploring, as well as a few lean-to style tree forts. Rondel could have stayed in the forest all day building with the loose branches.

One of the most unexpectedly beautiful aspects of the trail was the way the sunlight would catch the aspen leaves as they swirled down from the highest branches in the wind, like golden snowflakes settling softly to the ground.

While it would be difficult to visit this trail on a day trip, at least while the kids are still so little and struggle with long car rides, it is definitely a good hike for catching a glimpse of the aspens in autumn, and is easy enough for even the most casual hiker (though I don’t think the trail is quite smooth enough throughout the entire loop for a stroller, it is close). Hiking in the last weekend of October, we found that many of the aspens had already dropped their leaves – but as is evident from the pictures above, many of them were still in full golden array. My guess is that you could go any time from mid-October to early November and still see the fall colors.

How to get there: From Flagstaff, take highway 180 north to Snowbowl Road. Turn right onto Snowbowl Road and follow it for about 4 miles until you reach a pull-off on your right. There is no designated parking, just a short inlet with space on both sides. The trailhead is quite close to the main road, and is marked by a gate and two signs so you can easily confirm you’re in the right spot!

When we hiked part of the See Canyon trail this summer, I noticed a lot of maples along the trail – and maples mean red leaves in the fall, so I made a mental note to revisit the trail if possible. We went back on October 19, which was probably on the early end of the colorful season, but the trail was still absolutely beautiful and we were all excited to see the changing colors.

The maples weren’t the only color, either – the oaks were a stunning brilliant yellow, not yet turned to their more subdued brown.

I collected a handful of leaves as we hiked and brought them home to preserve. Do you have a favorite way to preserve leaves? My mom has a few that have lasted over twenty years, and when you hang them on the windows the light shines through them. They’ve been some of my favorite decorations my whole life – but none of us remember how exactly she preserved them! I dipped this set in beeswax, and while they definitely aren’t the same as my mom’s, they feel and look quite nice, I could easily use them in a wreath or centerpiece since there is no excess edging as there would be with something like contact paper, and the kids can touch and play with them if they want. It was really simple to do, as well – I just melted the beeswax in a double boiler, dipped the leaves in so both sides were coated, let them drip dry for a few seconds, then set them on wax paper to cool.

Since the trail didn’t change from our hike in August, all my thoughts (and directions!) from then still apply 🙂 We did, however, go down the standard See Canyon Trail for a short while on this hike, instead of trekking all the way up to the spring, and that was a beautiful area of the forest as well. Aubade took another nap but at least this time we brought the hiking backpack, and Limerick got a bit cold but he was ok using my jacket. All in all, I still love this hike and would go back again in a heartbeat when the kids have the endurance to manage the whole canyon!