Aspen Whisperer

This time of year city residents flock to the mountains for the annual viewing of the aspen leaves. News and social media recommend the best places to go, so thousands jam mountain roads, cars piled two or three deep, leaf peepers eager to get photos of hillsides of golden aspen, which are then posted on Facebook or Instagram. It’s hard to resist.

Because I was gone for 11 days, I missed the aspen peak. When I came to the cabin, I was disappointed that most of the trees had already dropped their leaves. But I knew there had to be a few stands left, so I went searching. They weren’t on Coyote Hill Road nor on Big Owl Road, but I finally found a few stands near Fritz’s Pond.

 

Under the golden aspen, the grasses and flowers were dry and crumpled. I found a somewhat even place to sit down, turned off my thoughts and all other sensations (the pain in my feet) and just listened. Outside of bird songs, the soft clapping of the aspen leaves is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world, like a musical hush that can enter your soul and root your mind. When the leaves stop their whispering, I wait for the wind to start up again in the tall pines and then descend into the aspen grove, so the whole musical revue starts again. If the wind is strong enough, the dried grasses will bend and add their own soft rattle to the wind-induced symphony.

 

You don’t need to drive dozens of miles, jumping out of the car to get the perfect picture before driving to the next hillside of golden colors. You don’t need to join the throngs of people photographing the hillside of yellow, orange and red colors. Just find one aspen grove, settle yourself into a comfortable spot, open your senses, and listen closely to the leaves. They’ll quiet your soul in ways you never knew possible.

Comments

[Susan R]

Down here in Thornton, I'm a lot farther from the mountains than I'd like to be, especially this time of year. But the first thing I did after moving into this little house back in 2008 was plant some aspens -- against the advice of the experts. Two along the back fence to look at, and one next to the deck to sit next to and under, and to listen to. I've never regretted it. Sadly, this summer, I finally had to remove one of the back ones. It had slowly died over a year or two. I hope the other two stay healthy!

[Carol Christenson]

Thanks for this beautiful post, Kathy. It is good to be reminded of the simple beauty of the wind in the leaves and how we can turn off our thoughts for a moment to experience it.

[shoney]

I loved this post! And everything Carol above said--I agree with.

[Kathy Kaiser]

Thanks Carol and Shoney!

[Kathy Kaiser]

Susan, glad your two aspen are still surviving. I've never tried to plant them down here on the plains.