Starting toward home, I moved to the very southern part of Wyoming, to a town called Saratoga. This is a small town, population around 1700, that has several hot springs, so was named after Saratoga, NY which is famous for its hot springs. There were two important reasons for stopping here. First is Saratoga Lake that appeared to be pretty scenic and is said to be a good spot for birds. Also, the Snowy Range Scenic Byway starts here and heads east into the mountains. I was hoping to find some fall color along this highway.
Saratoga Lake was a good place for viewing sunsets, made much darker by smoke from some of Colorado's wildfires just south of the state line.
There were lots of birds around the lake, but I'll show only a couple types that I haven't posted recently.
 |
| Brown Thrasher |
 |
| Northern Flicker |
|
|
The Snowy Range Scenic Byway was a pleasant drive with quite a bit of fall color.
Along the highway, I stopped at several beautiful alpine lakes. The first required driving a few miles on a rough side road, and I never learned its name.
The others are located near the summit and had nice mountain views as a backdrop.
 |
| Lake Marie |
 |
| Mirror Lake |
As it was getting late, and I had driven the entire route before, I turned around at this point and went back to Saratoga.
On my last day in Wyoming, I drove over the Sierra Madre Range toward Colorado. This was a very nice drive with lots of fall color and very little traffic. Unfortunately, driving the motor home did not allow the flexibility to stop at some of the better spots or to get the best angle for photos. I had to settle for what I could get from the highway, sometimes not even stopping while aiming out the window.
I'm back in Montrose now, hoping to get out soon and take photos of our fall color. Some say it will be a poor year due to drought, but I'm going to try anyway.
Great post . loved the sunsets, birds, and fall foliage . .
ReplyDelete