Last night, there was a very colorful sunset and I hoped for similar conditions at sunrise this morning at Great Falls park.  I wasn’t disappointed as the sky lit up just before sunrise while adding a little color to the Potomac River.

After the sunrise show was over, I moved closer to river, coming across a small swirling pool of water. An exposure of 4 seconds captured the patterns on the water.

The leaves on the trees at the park have started to turn gold and brown and many have been knocked off the trees by rain and wind this week.  However, the early morning light from the sun adds some color back to the trees and casts a nice glow on the rocks in the river.

While the leaves at Great Falls have stated to fade, my front yard has captured a nice collection of colorful leaves.  Seems a shame to have to rake…..

I took a hike around Mason Neck State Park at the end of the day.  Walking on the Kanes Creek trail I came across this great leaf and with the acorns nearby, the scene was a good representation of the season.

There was still a lot of green in the woods but also some very nice fall color near the shoreline.

A stand of bare trees in the wetlands with a background of fall color made a good subject for a long exposure pan abstract.

As the sun set behind the clouds hanging near the horizon, I framed the scene with a foreground of a row of sticks used to hold netting.

Last week in West Virginia, the fall color was spreading fast but here in Virginia, it appears to  be a much more slow roll out of color by Mother Nature. Today, a trip to Shenandoah National Park discovered pockets of fall color but the predominate color here remains green.

Still, there are some pretty scenes here and the park was not too busy today.  I was expecting a big crowd on a great sunny day but it looks like everyone is waiting for the peak color to arrive before visiting.

The National Park Service is now predicting the peak to occur here on the last weekend of October.  That’s later than normal but more opportunity to continue the fall color photography.

The trees in this view from Blackwater Falls State Park near Davis, WV, show that the fall colors are in gear with many trees already at peak.  In the northern Virginia area, the trees are still petty green and it looks like mid to late October before we see the big color change here.

While I was in Blackwater Falls, I visited some of the falls the park is famous for.  The second of the Elakala Falls on Shays Run is pictured below.  I tried to capture some of the surrounding fall color although much of the foliage here is rhododendrum.

The photograph below is the first Elakala Falls, which can be seen on the trail from the Blackwater Lodge.  Shays Run  flows into the Blackwater River which runs through Blackwater Canyon.

The Pendleton Point Overlook gives a nice view of Blackwater Canyon and the river below.  You can certainly see a differentiation between the color on the side of the mountain that receives the morning sun, along with the ridge line, and the side that doesn’t which is still covered in mostly green.

On Saturday evening I drove up to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park to see if the trees had started their change to fall color.  It was still very green in the mountains but you can see the change has begun and likely will be in full swing by next weekend.

Heading out of the park, I stopped at the Gooney Run overlook to watch the sun disappear. I took the picture below as darkness started to settle in on the Shenandoah Valley below.

Just a very nice morning today in this area, nice temps and a clear blue sky.  I drove to Huntley Meadows to check out the wildlife.  There were already a number of photographers there shooting photos of a large group of Great Egrets in the park. I came across the Sandpiper above and grabbed a shot before it took flight.  I believe this particular bird is called a Solitary Sandpiper.

Just moments after this bird flew off, I spotted a beaver swimming towards me, soon followed by a second beaver.  They both stopped near the boardwalk to enjoy a nice breakfast and did not  seem to care at all about their proximity to me or other visitors.

Leaving the beavers to walk farther in the park, I came across the spider web below.  The fairly large web was lit up by the bright morning sun, as long as you were looking at just the right angle.

On the way out of the park, I stopped to photograph a Great Egret as it scanned the water for its next meal.  There was a good number of Great Egrets here today, along with a smaller number of Great Blue Herons.