Umtanum Creek Canyon — Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021

I took what turned out to be an afternoon walk in Umtanum Canyon on this very cool, dreary day.  I walked up to the big buttress on the south side of the canyon between the first & second crossings of the creek.  I took some loppers with me and cut back some of the vegetation that was crowding the trail & causing people to start to beat in alternative trails.  Hopefully they will keep to the main trail in these spots now, but we'll see.  I was hoping that all the aspen suckers would be putting on a good show of yellow, but they didn't seem much different from when I was here two and a half weeks ago.  I am wondering if many of them just go from green to brown.  Most of the leaves of the cottonwoods & aspen and many of the shrubs were gone, but the grasses were golden and the willows were still putting on a good show.   I didn't see any wildlife or other hikers.