Jackson's Ella Sharp Park-Autumn

Autumn in Michigan is a beautiful time and Jackson's landscape is no exception to that fact. While we don't have the stunning woodland beauty of the U.P. (upper peninsula), we do have areas where the colours of the trees can be captured in all their stunning glory. One of these locations is Ella Sharp park, which boasts a generous collection of woodland trails that just call out to the outdoor enthusaist. Photographers love the location for it's scenic beauty, writers love it for it's seclusion and history, and hikers love it for it's terrain and closeness to town.

While these photos have been taken a bit late in the fall, there's still an interesting, quiet loveliness to them.

It's mid-November and Michigan is on the edge of winter. Here we see the transition. Some green leaves still cling to trees while other brown leaves have given up and fallen to coat the floor of the woods. Tall pine trees sway in the light breeze, patiently waiting for winter.The smells are intoxicating; pine mixing with the wet smell of leaves and soil fill the nostrils with a vague sense of nostalgia. Memories of times past come rushing back. The wind calls to you, telling you that this is where you belong, this is where you should be. It's a time to walk in peace, to meditate.
Green moss, kept colourful by unseasonable warmth, still covers the fallen and the dead. It's a last glimpse of life before cold white covers everything.
Those of us who live in the northern States and the mountains get to enjoy this almost every year. It's a lovely gift from nature, the chance to see the change in all the seasons. But Michigan is truly one of the most gifted, with farm lands, forests, swamps, cities and inland seas to show us the stunning difference in ecosystems, in life in general. You might get this beauty in Maine, maybe Massachusettes, maybe.



If you ever visit Michigan, i recommend coming in the fall, around the 20th of October (for the lower part of the state, the further north you get the ealier in the autumn you should come). That's when we get all the colours in the trees (usually). Also, give Jackson a good look if you're in the lower part of the state. When you arrive, Jackson might not seem like much, but it's a little town rich in history and if you know where to look, it's also rich in beauty. There was a time Jackson was a bustling city filled with factories and a prosperous downtown, while all that's since gone downhill, there is still the history.