After my woodland hike, I drove to the old forest fire lookout tower on Tower Ridge Road in the Charles C. Deam Wilderness. There were quite a few visitors and I elected not to climb the tower to get a wide view over the forest. Instead, I hiked along Tower Ridge Road, shooting forest scenes along the roadway.
Today I drove down backroads heading generally in the direction of a state forest and a wilderness area. Along the way I stopped at a stream and shot a few images of the stream and wooded area around it.
Shortly after getting onto a roadway in a state forest, I parked in a pull out to have a look around. I did not plan to stay long, but wanted to see what this area had to offer in the nearby woods.
Even though it was late October, it was a warm day and mosquitos were buzzing around as I walked down an old forest roadway. Usually, mosquitos are not a problem here at this time of the year, so I had not brought insect repellant and frequent swatting and waving off mosquitoes was a distraction.
As I wandered along the faint roadway, it eventually turned into an official hiking trail. I walked quite a way along this trail. As I got deeper into the woods the mosquitoes became less of a problem, making stopping to shoot photos more pleasant.
A good way to enjoy fall color in Indiana is via a simple drive along the tree lined roadways, especially the backroads, where there are few houses or commercial facilities to spoil the views. The roads make good leading lines, but I do worry about having too much road in the images, since the most interesting subject is not the roadway.
It is not always possible to find a safe place to pull over off of the roadways, but where possible, one can get fall forest images right beside the road.
I first saw this old barn and a nearby abandoned house, while in route to another destination. I came back a few days later to photograph these old, rustic buildings.
The image above was selected for Flickr’s Explore Page.