Lockett Meadow is spectacular in fall for its golden aspen trees. Although the dirt road leading you to the trailhead is said to be accessible by regular cars, please do not try it unless you are experienced in off-road driving. Not only is the road bumpy and narrow, but also most sections are beside the cliff. After assessing my driving skill, I decided to carpool with an experienced driver to get there. Last year by October all aspen trees in lower elevations changed colors, but this year we hiked to about 10,000 feet in order to view the golden aspen trees. I hope it is not resulted from global warming. Some older people said that it takes longer and longer to wait for the change of tree colors. And some scientists predicted if nothing is done, by 2050 the fall colors in New England would not reach the peak until November.

Aspen Clouds

When I looked at the aspen trees from the ground, I felt that they look like yellow clouds. Thus, in Photoshop I softened the edges of the leafs to produce the "cloudy" effect. They look fantastic in print, but the JPEG compression on this page does not do them justice even though I doubled the file size. If you live in Phoenix, I can show you the prints and they look much better.

Two or One?

I am not sure whether there were two trees with two different colors, or there was one tree only with different interior and exterior colors. Nonetheless, the altered image on the right is fascinating.   

Chong Ho Yu 2009