Yesterday Wife Sharon and I took a short Sunday afternoon hike on the "blue" loop trail through the Sylvan Solace Preserve in Isabella County.

Fall foliage was in its last hurrah.

Warm late afternoon light bathed the scene, and even the usually dour oaks were dressed in festive and brilliant colors. Brilliant yellows played off against dark forest greens to create startling contrasts. We found wonderful textures everywhere.

Sylvan Solace Preserve covers 78 acres and includes frontage on the Chippewa River. Don and Nancy Nagler, of Mt. Pleasant donated the property to the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy in 1996.

Started as the Isabella County Nature Conservancy in 1985, the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy now protects 25 parcels of land covering more than 3,000 acres in Clare, Isabella, Gratiot. Montcalm and Mecosta Counties.

We are fortunate to have an organiztion like the Conservancy, and generous, conscientious people like the Naglers in our midst.

For more about the Conservancy, visit http://www.chippewawatershedconservancy.org/.

(Edited Nov. 6, hoping that all te photos will finally appear. db)