Join our Email List!
Blog

Blog: The Natural Realm

Topics

 

 

Dates

 

 

Click for a list of blog posts

Spectacular autumn colors at Forest Exploration Center in the Milwaukee County Grounds

Odyssey in Autumn: The season of contradiction.

November 21, 2025  |  Topics: Stories

By Eddee Daniel

Who, if it didn’t show up on its own every year, could imagine autumn? To make death appear with such ravishing beauty!

Autumn is unique among the cyclical seasons. It is the season of contradiction. Nights turn crisp with frost, but then a warm spell will evoke memories of summer. Harvest time, when plants die but in doing so sustain life through winter. A time when some creatures migrate to warmer climes while other settle in for a long frigid haul. We relish the radiant colors of changing leaves, while growing darkness overpowers the daylight. It is a time of enchantment, nostalgia, and melancholy. A time for asters, apples and pumpkins, demons, death and decay. A time of abundance … until we see it slipping away.

Peak autumn is picturesque, which makes it the perfect time to get out and enjoy the wealth of parks in our midst. Unfortunately, while you can confidently expect autumn to happen between summer and winter, the exact timing can be fairly hit and miss. This year, here in southeastern Wisconsin, it came later in October than usual and lingered well into November. Complicating matters, certain species bolted straight from green to brown, while others blazed with preternatural brightness in ecstatic shades of red, orange and yellow. Even within a species, the intensity of its colors varied greatly from place to place. Which made it difficult to decide where to go to capture the essence of autumn.

I had to settle on hit and miss. As usual, for my autumn odyssey I made a concerted effort to visit each of the six counties in southeast Wisconsin that are the focus of A Wealth of Nature. I ended up with photos from all stages of autumn, from dully-hued, nearly leafless to what just might be the most spectacular, multi-colored display of autumn magnificence I’ve ever encountered anywhere.

Along the way, again as usual, you will likely see a few familiar places. However, this year I may have captured more than the usual number of unfamiliar places. My hope is that this will inspire you to explore them further for yourselves. One way to do that is to follow the links in the captions, which lead you to our Find-a-Park page for each place. Of course, there’s nothing like getting outdoors and seeing them in person—and communing with our wealth of nature.

Autumn: A time to savor beauty and reflect on mortality.

Odyssey

Skipping down a steep incline on the Holy Hill Segment of the Ice Age Trail in Washington County.
Skipping down a steep incline on the Holy Hill Segment of the Ice Age Trail in Washington County.
In my never-ending quest to discover new places I visited Strawberry Creek Park in Kenosha County for the first time. Its 42 acres include a large woodland and broad prairie. It could aspire to be more than a neighborhood park, but may soon be surrounded by the subdivision after which it is named.
In my never-ending quest to discover new places I visited Strawberry Creek Park in Kenosha County for the first time. Its 42 acres include a large woodland and broad prairie. It could aspire to be more than a neighborhood park, but may soon be surrounded by the expanding subdivision after which it is named.
Honey Creek State Wildlife Area, in western Racine County, consists of four separate parcels. This one is at Long Lake, which is visible in the background.
Honey Creek State Wildlife Area, in western Racine County, consists of four separate parcels. This one is at Long Lake, which is visible in the background.
Sunset over the Little Menomonee River Fish & Wildlife Preserve in Mequon.
Sunset over the Little Menomonee River Fish & Wildlife Preserve in Mequon.
This small neighborhood park packs a powerful punch, especially in autumn. Most of its six acres is left in a natural state. Kinsey Park in Brookfield.
This small neighborhood park packs a powerful punch, especially in autumn. Most of its six acres is left in a natural state. Kinsey Park in Brookfield.
Paradise Valley State Wildlife Area in Dousman is another with four separate units. This one is called Reagon’s Lake Unit. The lake is visible in the background.
50-acre Ryan Creek Prairie is a Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy preserve in Franklin. It is a wild prairie with no developed trails, but open to the public for exploring. Just north of Ryan Road on 116th Street.
50-acre Ryan Creek Prairie is a Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy preserve in Franklin. It is a wild prairie with no developed trails, but open to the public for exploring. Just north of Ryan Road on 116th Street.
A study in gray and gold at Muskego Park in Waukesha County.
A study in gray and gold at Muskego Park in Waukesha County.
The chapel is just a small portion of the 36-acre preserve on the shore of Kopmeier Lake at the Conservancy for Healing and Heritage in Franklin.
The chapel takes up just a small portion of the 36-acre preserve on the shore of Kopmeier Lake at the Conservancy for Healing and Heritage in Franklin.
Mid-October and the colors had already faded, the leaves dropped at the New Fane Trails in the Kettle Moraine State Forest - Northern Unit. But I did catch this mountain biker in mid-air at a spot where the hiking trail and mountain bike trail intersect.
Mid-October and the colors had already faded, the leaves dropped at the New Fane Trails in the Kettle Moraine State Forest – Northern Unit. But I did catch this mountain biker in mid-air at a spot where the hiking trail and mountain bike trail intersect.
A blaze of maple reds glows in the rays of the setting sun in Hoyt Park, Wauwatosa.
A blaze of maple reds glows in the rays of the setting sun along the Menomonee River in Hoyt Park, Wauwatosa.
The morning sun highlights the golden hues along the Fox River in Case Eagle Park, Rochester.
The morning sun highlights the golden hues along the Fox River in Case Eagle Park, Rochester.
I arrived at Allenton State Wildlife Area in Washington County right at noon on the last day of the pheasant hunting season, which ended at noon. When we approached each other the hunter in the distance of this photo shared that he was pheasant-less.
I arrived at Allenton State Wildlife Area in Washington County right at noon on the last day of the pheasant hunting season, which ended at noon. When we approached each other the hunter in the distance of this photo shared that he was leaving pheasant-less.
Tamaracks, a deciduous conifer, turn golden before dropping their needles. New Munster State Wildlife Area in western Kenosha County.
Tamaracks, a deciduous conifer, turn golden before dropping their needles. New Munster State Wildlife Area in western Kenosha County.
Environmental education is front and center at UWM's Waukesha Field Station in Waterville, but the 98-acre property, which boasts a diversity of habitats, is also open to the public.
Environmental education is front and center at UWM’s Waukesha Field Station in Waterville, but the 98-acre property, which boasts a diversity of habitats, is also open to the public.
A grove of resplendent maples forms a cathedral-like glade just off the Oak Leaf Trail in the Oak Creek Parkway in Oak Creek.
A grove of resplendent maples forms a cathedral-like glade just off the Oak Leaf Trail in the Oak Creek Parkway in Oak Creek.
Not to be outdone, this magnificent oak gestures towards the setting sun at Mukwonago Park in Waukesha County.
Not to be outdone, this magnificent oak gestures towards the setting sun at Mukwonago Park in Waukesha County.
It's hard to beat an entire forest of golden tamaracks, which is what I found here at Cherry Lake Sedge Meadow State Natural Area near Burlington.
It’s hard to beat an entire forest of golden tamaracks, which is what I found here at Cherry Lake Sedge Meadow State Natural Area near Burlington.
But I witnessed the most stunningly sensational display of autumn majesty within a mile of my home at the Forest Exploration Center in the Milwaukee County Grounds. This is an undoctored image. The full intensity of the colors lasted only a day or two. What looks like a single multi-colored tree in the middle is actually three or four trees in a row that increase in size with distance.
But I witnessed the most stunningly sensational display of autumn majesty within a mile of my home at the Forest Exploration Center in the Milwaukee County Grounds. This is an undoctored image. The full intensity of the colors lasted only a day or two. What looks like a single multi-colored tree in the middle is actually three or four trees in a row that increase in size with distance.

“Color is joy. One does not think joy. One is carried by it.” ~ Ernst Haas

Related stories:

An Autumn Foray and a Season of Fragility (2024)

Autumn Splendor on the Root River (2024)

Autumn Splendor on the Ice Age Trail – Milwaukee River Segment! (2023)

Autumn Odyssey 7: A World of Trees (2023, but really 2022—check it out to see why!)

Autumn in Southeast Wisconsin: A Thanksgiving Treat! (2021)

An Autumn Odyssey of Discovery (2020)

An October Odyssey (2019)

Signs of autumn in Southeast Wisconsin (2018)

Eddee Daniel, writer/photographer, is a board member of Preserve Our Parks, the Project Director of A Wealth of Nature, and editor of The Natural Realm blog. Read more or subscribe at awealthofnature.org. Also available by arrangement for group presentations and guided tours.

The Natural Realm blog is part of A Wealth of Nature, which is a project of Preserve Our Parks.

About Preserve Our Parks

Preserve Our Parks, Inc. is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of parks and green spaces.  Our mission: To advocate for and promote Milwaukee area parks and open spaces and to strive to protect the tenets of Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine. 

For more than 25 years, we have been a leader in advocating for the protection of Milwaukee County park lands, halting many proposals to develop, privatize, or sell local parkland and lakefront spaces.  More information about POP, including past accomplishments, is available at www.preserveourparks.org.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *