Fall colors in the Pinal Mountains
Took a drive into the Pinal Mountains to see the fall colors. Maybe not the NorthEast, there still was lots of color from maple, walnut and aspen trees.
The drive up is a bit of a chore, as it is about 12 miles of gravel road, some of it quite rough. But the car did fine and we first made it to Ice House Canyon trail for a short hike. In the 1800’s ice was drug all the way from here to the restaurants in Globe, some 12 miles away, hence the name. After that we viewed Signal Peak and Ferndell before we headed back down the mountain.
Also managed to get a nice picture of an Albert or Tufted Ear squirrel, with a mouth full of nuts. These squirrels live in a narrow range in the Pinals, and only in Pondera pines.
Quite a view on the way up
Lots of towering Century plants in this area
The top of a century plant
Some colors on Ice House trail
No, the camera is not tilting, it is a steep trail
Color along the way to Signal Peak
An Albert Squirrel in the tree
¡ ay — que colores, don john y doña romola !
(freetranslation.com = “cool post, honorable john & romola”)
nice shot of aspens & maples along the ice house canyon trail, and very cool that you managed to get a shot of an abert’s squirrel.
on my trips to the pinals i’ve seen coues whitetailed deer, black bear, and merriam’s turkeys!
while you’re still here in AZ you might want to plan day-trip to go check out fall color up on top of Mt. Graham (los pinaleños) over by safford… and see if you can photograph one of the <200 Mt. Graham Red Squirrels — one of the rarest of all animals on the entire planet. ~pw
Good shots of the color in the area. Great shot of the Abert’s squirrel. I saw one when the
wife and I went up on friday but wasn’t quick enough to get a shot. Like Paul, I would like to check out the color on Mount Graham or even Cave Creek canyon area around Portal. Hope you enjoy your travels here in AZ….. TRBell