Autumn's last hurrah

OK. I take back the rusty and crusty title of the last post. The past few days, not having given up on photography this autumn season, I've been determined to go out and find color, whatever is left of it, and have put on a great deal of miles in efforts to do so. What I found is some brilliant patches of maples and some very unique scenes occuring late in this 2009 autumn color season in Upper Michigan. Late autumn is really a favorite time for me, with the forest floor being covered with autumn leaves, and, what struck me yesterday was how vibrant and green ferns are in contrast with the freshly falling maple leaves.
Michigan trail hiking in autumn

Upper Peninsula backwoods find, an old cabin
In my ventures, I happened upon this cabin. Immediately the questions came to mind. Who lived here? Was it a hunting camp or did they live here permanently? When was it built? When was it abandoned? What was it like back then? How hard was it to build this cabin back in the day? Just look how nature is reclaming this structure.
For the most part trees are now bare, but suprisingly there still are a few patches of maple that look like they are at early peak closer to the lakeshore. Yesterday I was lucky to finally have a few minutes of cooperation from the weather with flat calm winds- a necessity in long exposure photography. Over the next few days, I'll post a few more from this year's autumn color season.