Autumn has always been one of my favorite times of the year. I remember when I was a little kid and my family would all get together on a weekend to rake the leaves from grandma’s yard into huge piles. My little brother and I would run and dive head-first straight into the piles. It made for more work for the adults, but great memories for us.

I haven’t jumped into any leaf piles lately, but I have been making more autumn memories. This time of year in the Black Hills is one of the prettiest, as the sumac and poison ivy turn bright red and the trees yellow and orange.

This past weekend we went for a drive through Spearfish Canyon to check out the fall colors. Although there is still a lot of green, fall is definitely starting to creep into the canyon.  The area between Spearfish Canyon Lodge and Cheyenne Crossing is showing the most yellow and orange, but the entire area is just on the verge of exploding into it’s fiery colors.

In addition to Spearfish Canyon, there are many other parts of the Black Hills that put on quite the fall colors show. In fact, Forbes Traveler and Yahoo Travel recently featured the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, near Custer, as one of the 15 prettiest drives in the country for fall foliage!

The majority of the Black Hills are covered by ponderosa and spruce trees, which will stay a dark green color year round. But, it’s the aspen, birch and oak trees that really get the attention during this time of year.  Throw in a few lingering wild flowers, along with the natural beauty of the area’s rocky cliffs and granite spires, and the Black Hills during fall really are tough to beat.

The Farmer’s Almanac says that warm days and cool nights tend to produce some of the brightest fall colors. With high temperatures in the 80’s predicted for this week and lows in the 50’s, I’m hoping for a great fall in the Black Hills.  I’ll hope to see you on the road.