Autumn in Wyoming: Aspen Alley, Bugling Elk in Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks, & Fly Fishing
Take a Fall Colors Road Trip on Aspen Alley
The western slopes of the Sierra Madre range offers an explosion of color each fall. Pack a lunch and spend your day listening to the rustle of leaves and smelling the promise of snow on Aspen Alley. Located on the Deep Creek Road off Wyoming Highway 70 (the Battle Highway), west of the Continental Divide between Baggs and Encampment, this stand of quakers is unusual. Often aspen trees are short, with twisted trunks and branches, but here they are tall, stately, and upward of 50 feet tall. Their branches bush at the top of the trees interlocking over the narrow dirt road to form a canopy. In early summer sunlight glints through the green leaves, but in September it shimmers with a golden-red glow as it filters through a sunshade formed by the quaker leaves. To view the aspens at their peak each fall, time your trip for the last two weeks in September. Bear in mind this turning of the leaves happens at the hand of Mother Nature so there is no precise way to predict the best time to see the fall colors.
Listen to the Elk bugle during the fall rutting season in Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park
The sound of a bull elk bugling at dawn or dusk is a memorable experience in either Grand Teton or Yellowstone National Parks. As early as the middle of August the elk begin their rut, or breading season, which will last through September. Their bugle is a loud pitched noise unlike anything you have heard, that quickly breaks the stillness of the crisp autumn air. The bull elk bugle for two reasons; to gather their harem of cow elk letting them know how fit and available they are and to make their presence known to other bulls as a warning or a challenge. Often the bulls will crash their antlers together and push each other in a sparring match to establish dominance to win the ladies. The best places to hear the elk bugle in Grand Teton National Park are the Bradley-Taggart trailhead, White Grass Meadow and Granite Canyon. In Yellowstone National Park you can hear them around Mammoth Hot Springs and the Madison River.
Fall Fishing
Fishing in Wyoming is like finding paradise on earth, and one of the best times to fish Wyoming is in the fall. With cooling water temperatures the fish are more active and increase their feeding activity, the cooler air temperature decreases the number of fisherman out on the water, which combine for on epic fishing experience. With some of the best blue-ribbon fishing waters, along with many lakes and reservoirs, a Fall Fishing trip to Wyoming is sure to be one for the records. Just a reminder when fishing the waters of Wyoming, you much purchase the appropriate fishing license through the Wyoming Game & Fish.
Photos: Wyoming Tourism
For more information, visit TravelWyoming.com.
