Vine Maple Canopy

A beautiful fall day for a walk in the woods!

The Red Leaf

I've commented in previous posts about the fall Vine Maple color in Gifford Pinchot.  I couldn't help noticing that the leaves deep in the forest were a bright yellow,  while the leaves at the edge of the forest or in clearings turned red.  Of course for every rule, there is an exception, and this red leaf (Big Leaf Maple?) was pretty exceptional in my opinion!  Yellow leaves as far as you could look in any direction, and then this one red show off! Just doing his own thing. A true nonconformist.

A Yellow Wood

I mentioned in my previous post, Looking for Red, that the Vine Maples I've been seeing this fall in Gifford Pinchot National Forest are turning red where they are getting more light on the edges of forests or in clearings, and turning yellow deep in the woods where there's less light. Here is an example of yellow, on a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, which threads its way through Gifford Pinchot. 

Looking for Red

I was on a quest for red leaves this past week, driving up to Indian Heaven Wilderness in search of some red huckleberry leaves. No luck there, because snow set in before the leaves could turn. But in the lower elevations the vine maples, which tend to hide in the understory of fir and hemlock forests, are all exceptionally bright this year!  Yellow, deep in the forest, and red along the edge where they get more sunlight. This little guy is growing right on the edge of the forest, all by himself, in order to stand out better I suppose.