This is a time of year when I really miss living in the Black Hills. When October rolls around the pines and spruce are dominated by the colors coming from the aspen, birch, and oak trees.  Especially when I was in college in Spearfish the trees that weren't spruce or other evergreen types of trees would create a gorgeous patchwork of greens, yellows, oranges, and reds.

We have trees on our side of the state but not many. A few places show off their colors like Newton Hills State Park, but without the hills to make those colors visible it just isn't the same.

The best view I recall was coming around the bend high above Deadwood on my way to work while in college. The hill on the other side of the gulch the colors exploded in a wide panorama as you drove down the 4-lane highway into town. It was as distracting as posting a snap while driving.

Those colors aren't the same as they were back in 1999 when I would drive into Deadwood. The Grizzly Gulch Fire of 2002 burned all of those trees and that drive looks very different now. But at least I have Instagram to remember those colors by.


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