Autumn Colors

After I drove the kids to school this morning I drove over to a ridge near my home that looks like it's on fire right now. I got permission from someone who lived at the end of a gravel road to cross his property to climb on the mountain to take some pictures.

This is the valley view from the ridge. Somewhere below the fiery trees is my house and my children's schools.

A friend of mine who is a great photographer told me she likes to take backlit pictures of autumn leaves. This is one of my attempts.

If you look at the angle of the dirt on the lower left of the picture you'll see how steep this is. Being the chicken that I am about heights, I didnt' go much further up. I couldn't decide if the faint trail was safer because we'd had rain last night and so the ground would be soft and help my feet grip or if it would be too soft and I would end up in a mud slide. I also found out why the area is called Slate Canyon. There were chunks of slate everywhere on the ground. I wanted to take some home (collecting rocks to take home has been my inclination since I was little), but I resisted, figuring I had enough to manage with keeping my balance and not smashing my camera.