Fall is coming

I went up to RMNP yesterday and stopped along the way.  The cool wind was blowing and the fall flowers are blooming.  Yellows and purples.  The aspens are just beginning to show the yellowing of the golden brilliance they will eventually become.  There was an Abert's squirrel loping across the road and I got a picture but it's not the best.  I picked about 5lbs of apples from a wild apple tree I'd been watching all summer.  The elk have separated into bulls and their harems.  One twelve pointer I saw was spending most of his time keeping his 'girls' away from other bulls.  He bugled frequently- letting everyone know his status.

Abert's Squirrel (he's solid dark black-brown)

Hard to tell here but they're just beginning to turn yellow.

Two cows and their calves.

Bugling.  To me it's always such a wimpy sound for such a magnificent animal.

A huge rack on this guy.