A patch of prairie grass alongside the road near I-90.

This year I’ve headed out to Wisconsin for fall colors.  The Sierras where set up to be disappointing this year early on.  Last winter had a low snowfall and the summer was hot.  One photographer in the Sierras in April commented that the snow pack was something that more resembled July’s.  As such, the trees were rather stressed this year and started changing early.  Some sites changing as early as late August. To top that off, in mid september there was some snow.

My normal trip is the first two weeks of October.  It was clear that I’d miss much of it.  And I didn’t look forward to prospects of having to do a long trip back to the Bay Area if the passes get closed from early snow (again). Of note, many passes have been closed.  Tioga, my normal route there, closed the night I would have headed up.

You can read the fall color reports in the Sierras at Carol Leigh’s CalPhoto fall color reports.

I didn’t relish the prospects in California, so I went home to visit my parents and spend some time in the Wisconsin fall colors (Travel Wisconsin’s Fall Color Report).

Staying with my parents means that I’ve got to work on their time schedule – that means trips on weekends only unless I can walk there (there are some spots in Madison I can get to easily). But the weekend we head out and go places.

The first weekend was hot and humid.  It was in the mid 80s with humidity in the 60-80 range varying by location.  We drove up to Steven’s Creek and found a nice grove of maples to photograph.

This week it has cooled off significantly.  Highs in the low 60s with lows at night in the mid 40s.  This weekends we’re thinking of heading up to Lake Pepin.  It should be a good trip.

Its also nice to see other colors and trees.  The Sierras are known for their aspens – but they are lacking on maples, oaks, birch, etc…

On the flip side, most of the Sierras are National Forest.  One can easily stop anywhere, go walk and be on public land.  To get to the national forests in Wisconsin, one has to go north a significant ways.  Instead, its state and county parks and roadside stops.

That first weekend I forgot my memory card for the D200 and the power was only at 10% and I also forgot my charger.  These things have been rectified.  I did, however, get 2 rolls of Velvia 50 (old emulsion – thats right, there is a new Velvia 50).  I found a reasonable lab in Madison that does same day E6 processing and have it sitting here now.

I also got much of my old film (and embarrassingly large 13 rolls that had been sitting in my fridge for the past year(!?)).  Film from last year’s fall color is now processed.  The lab I used to be able to drive to in 10 minutes for next day E6 is now an hour and a half away and not open on weekends – not something I can drop off with a slight detour to/from work.