Chromatic Colors of Fall

After I had worked out what was causing my lack of camera power, I managed to charge all my batteries fully and on Sunday went for a drive to capture some of the glorious colors in the countryside near home, and just simply enjoy this glorious season. Too quickly the colors start to fade and the beautiful warm hues darken and turn brown.. It was another brisk and blowy day but inside the car that didn't matter, and the sun was shining brightly. Armed with a large coffee from my local bakery I set off.
We have a very pretty park near to Marshall, which I'm not going to identify because it's relatively unknown, and certainly hasn't been discovered by any Meetup hiking groups yet, and that's the way I want it to stay. These groups are getting bigger and bigger, frequenting beautiful hiking trails on a very regular basis, so that now there's little chance of taking a quite walk in the countryside anymore as you're more than likely to bump into a horde of chatting, marching trail blazers. I've nothing against these groups as I belong to some myself, but I wish they'd at least reduce the numbers of the groups. Earlier this year a local mountain closed its trail due to the local animals being overly disturbed. They are now wondering whether to let hikers back in, and if they do, whether to regulate how many go in at a time. I think this is a superb idea and should be applied to many other trails which are now looking overworked and losing their initial charm.
So this little park is one I don't talk about, and today there was hardly anyone else there, just 2 cars, belonging to a couple walking their dogs and a guy fishing. And then just a half hour later it was just me walking around, listening to the birds who were very obviously enjoying this fresh autumnal day.

I spent a good couple of hours enjoying the solitude, the sun warming my back as I bent over to take photos. Plenty of rustling was going on in the undergrowth as little creatures got ready for winter, and I helped a baby turtle cross the track to the pond, not wanting him to suffer if another visitor drove in to join us. But I left the park later having not seen another soul, and wondered how long this place would remain a hidden gem.
I drove down a few country lanes before going home, just to enjoy the colors in the trees, so many yellows, golds, rusts, burnt oranges, flaming reds and maroons, blending in with the greens and browns. I knew bad weather was coming during the week so this could be the last weekend of seeing this beautiful palette of color. Maybe next weekend will see many trees bare after the winds that are blowing their way towards us. But for now I intended to enjoy every moment and savor every sight!