Fall Colors from Carthage

The beauty of the leaves changing colors has always made me happy! It's still fairly early in the season here in the middle of the US but I was happy to see the colors beginning to show. 

Roaring River State Park - Fire Tower Trail

The sign at the trail head said 3.7 and approximately 3 hours to hike it. We didn't start until close to 3pm so that created a bit of anxiety!

 The leaves were just beginning to show signs of changing.

 The shades of green in the forest always make me smile!

It was a really nice, well-maintained trail. Not too steep but there were several sharp inclines.

Lots of cool rock formations and I spotted a cave or two along the way.

 I loved the beautiful shade of blue as the sky peeked through the trees.

The sunlight created some great shadows too!

 Did I mention there was an abundance of rocks?

 There's nothing quite like a peaceful walk in the forest!

 About midway we found the old fire tower. We climbed to the top but with all the leaves still on the trees there wasn't much to see. Still a neat feature!

 This will be a beautiful spot in a few weeks when the leaves are at their peak.

This was a great hike, however, the .25 mile walk back to the car along the highway wasn't nearly as much fun! I would still recommend it to anyone looking for a nice, easy adventure in the woods!