So you have the car loaded up with jackets and snacks. Binoculars are in hand, as is a fully charged battery for the camera. You’re ready to make the drive over Grand Mesa to witness the fall fashion show of Mother Nature.
Do you need a program for the models that are participating — the trees, shrubs and bushes that will don an array of yellows and oranges and reds, which never go out of style?
For the first of two Color Sundays today, we’ve prepared a field guide for you, with the help of Christie La Due, a forester with the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, so you know what you’re looking at. We’ve also included a list of events on and near the mesa.
Oak brush
• Yellow to orange to bright red
• It may be a tad early to catch the color shift. La Due said leaves won’t turn until late September or early October.Serviceberry and snowberry bushes
• Yellow
• These shrubs will begin turning before oak brush.Aspen
• Yellow
• Sudden aspen decline, a condition caused by bark beetles and wood-boring insects, could take some luster off the day. Leaves of trees affected by the disease are not as bright, or they have fallen already. La Due said trees have begun to turn, but even more should be on display on Sept. 27.• Today and Sept. 27: Powderhorn Ski Resort — lift rides from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., $8 adults, $5 age 12 and younger; live music with Starr and Martin Band; bump ’n’ jump; children’s art corral; hiking and disc golf; season pass photos. For information, call 268-5735.
• Sept. 27: Grand Mesa Visitor Center: Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl will be on hand.
Also, events from Mesa to Cedaredge; details to be released.Vaccinium
• Bright red
• This woody forb should be quite visible now on the forest floor.Chokecherry bushes
• Yellow to red
• These bushes should turn in October.
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