Finally Fall: My Visit to the Mequon Nature Preserve

I don't know about you, but it seemed like it took forever for fall to officially come to Southeastern Wisconsin.  Usually, by early October, our trees are completely painted in fall color.  But it took until the third weekend of this month to be able to get photos of the gorgeous red, yellow and orange leaves.  To do this, I decided to venture out to the Mequon Nature Preserve, a 400-acre park north of Milwaukee that has six nature trails, an observation tower, an education center, and ecologically-friendly wetlands.

Not only do they have large parcels of forest, but they also have a nursery for the cultivation of new trees.

I was pleasantly surprised by all of the autumn color in the trees, especially the vibrant orange leaves.

The Preserve hosts educational field trips where schools can come in and learn about the environment including hikes through the trails.  And there is no fee for the visit.

I decided to try something new with the forest photographs, mostly because I had seen other photographers doing it.  I raised by camera and shot up into the trees wherever I saw color.

I love how some of these came out with the contrast between the blue sky, the autumn colors and the remaining green trees. 

I also like how the trees look almost like watercolor paintings (at least I hope they do)!

The Mequon Nature Preserve is a really nice place to take a quiet, leisurely, relaxing hike in the middle of Milwaukee, and a great place for children to learn about the environment.  I will definitely go back!

 

Into The Woods: Retzer Nature Center

Last Sunday, I joined a group of friends for a walk through Retzer Nature Center, a state trail located in Waukesha.  I have been there a few times in the past to take photos, but it was great to see the park through the eyes of some friends who hadn't been there yet. 

One of our favorite places in the park was the path into the woods shown below.

This part of the park had a great old tree with different angled branches that looked like something from a stage set.

Another first for me was seeing the vistas you can only get to by climbing hills in the trail that I had always avoided.  But the scenery was beautiful.

My main goal was to get different compositions than I had shot before.  Using this approach made me see things on the trails I had never seen before.

I kind of liked walking Retzer's trails in late summer since the last time I was there was mid-fall and most of the leaves had turned.  This has given me a great set of photos from this region from throughout the year.

Traipsing Through the Trees at Retzer Nature Center

Another Alphabe-Thursday is here, and as you can see from the title, we are on the letter "T".  Yesterday, I headed out to Retzer Nature Center in Waukesha, Wisconsin, because I knew this would be a great place to capture some more of the changing leaves in my part of the state before they all fall away. 

I have already seen some bare trees in my neighborhood that had vibrant-colored leaves on them just a few days ago, so I'm glad I took these photos when I did.  The Retzer Nature Center is a great park located northwest of the city center with 3 distinct walking trails, an ecological building and even a planetarium.

Although it was an overcast day, I took advantage of the (still) warm weather to hike all three trails, and saw some great color.

I took the above photo while wandering down what I thought was a trail, but was actually a roadway for the center's maintenance crew.  So I probably got a picture that wasn't really allowed.  The rest of the photos were taken on the trails.

It was a very nice day to take photos and get a good workout as well.  The Retzer Nature Center is open all-year round, and is a relaxing way to spend part of your day.