Illilouette Gorge

The sugar maple is peaking now, its bright blaze of surreal orange dominating that part of the old village like a column of flame. The native maples are getting brighter, too (the Fern Spring corner has a new, pale light now), though many are still entirely green. Oaks aren't yet very colorful; some are just browning. Cottonwoods are mostly still green along the river; even up higher, the aspen are just begining to color. Dogbane is one of the brightest natives in the Valley now.
I made a trip up Illilouette Gorge to the base of the waterfall yesterday; a bouldery scramble. Don't try this unless you're up for considerable steep clambering. Some light rain slicked the rocks a bit, but it was nice to be out where no one else was, across the canyon from the busy Mist/Muir Trail. Sagebrush, Brickellia, and plenty of Douglas-fir. Band-tailed pigeons overhead, a canyon wren in the rocks. One primate looking at a waterfall.