Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield: October 2012

You know foliage season is winding down when the section of Wadsworth between C-470 and my neighborhood is lined with bright golden trees.  And with freezing temperatures in the forecast over the next few nights, I had the nagging feeling my opportunities to shoot any more of it were winding down.  So after dinner I made the short trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield to see what I could see.

What I could see was, not surprisingly, gorgeous.  The already vibrant colors were just enhanced by the warm light of the setting sun.

I'd never actually walked these trails before.  Yet another example of how there's beautiful scenery practically right outside my door.

A cloud tried to steal some of my rapidly fading light, so I defiantly took a picture of it.  Take that, cloud!

Serendipity struck again like it had with the train along the Rattlesnake Gulch Trail a couple of days ago when the wind picked up, blowing leaves off the trees in bunches.  I don't think Photoshop has an automatic option to add swirling leaves to pictures yet, so I just kept clicking hoping to get something interesting.

Couldn't include just one shot of blowing leaves.  You just don't get that every day.

I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me in the low light when the dirt path appeared to have a purplish tinge.  Then I remembered that the Color Me Rad 5K was held here this past Saturday, during which they apparently splatter the runners with paint bombs.  Whatever works, I suppose.

One more flying leaf!

Even when the wind died down, the view back down the path was still pretty nice.

The sun disappearing over the hogback was my cue to pack up and head back home.  But that was certainly a better way to spend an hour on a Wednesday evening than a lot of other options I can think of!