Fall Colors in New Mexico

October was a busy month for us.  It was our first Balloon Festival and I didn't expect to enjoy it but boy am I a fan now! We went several times and to fireworks twice. I am already looking forward to next year! Then we started house hunting. We are going to be moving about a mile away at the beginning of December. As always we headed out to new places to see what we could see. Some of our last hikes were searching for fall color. We were probably about 3 weeks too late for the best stuff, but for people who have been away from fall for years we managed to find some really beautiful stuff. Next year we will head to Chamas and take the train for excellent color viewing. This year we had to "settle" for this! Some of these photos are from a hike near Agua Sarca about 8 minutes away, some are from a hike in the Sandias after driving 30 minutes up our road (highway 165), and the others are from our day trip to Pecos (1 hour away).

There are a lot of oak, sumac, poplar, birch, cottonwood and aspen trees. The scenery is spectacular here.