I have been trying to get out on some more bike trails for photos ~ as well as to enjoy the rides and scenery ~ and I now have some more fall scenery photos posted on this site and more trail info and photos to come soon.

First, I rode a section of the Illinois and Michigan Canal bike trail (I&M Trail) from Marseilles to just before La Salle, Il. with a friend on Monday. This was a continuation of a ride that we did way back in 2003! This was a really nice ride and I have plenty of photos but I do not have these uploaded just yet (I will have this done in a few days and will post another blog entry when they are complete).

Next, since it was another nice day on Tuesday, I decided to pick another wooded bike trail that I already knew about for some fall color photos (and a ride, of course).

I choose the Millennium Trail this time and have selected and posted my photos from this ride on the following pages. See Millennium Trail Fall Photos 6 ~ Lakewood Forest Preserve and Millennium Trail Fall Photos 7 ~ One Mile Loop for the photos from this ride.

I thought that the trees might be pretty bare already since it is getting a little past peak fall color season but I found that there was still plenty of color out there when you look for it. It seems like earlier in the fall the trees have more leaves and you get more greens and yellows but later in the season although many of the leaves have already fallen there are still trees with leaves and it seems like there are more reds and browns at this time.

Enhanced Photos

One thing that I wanted to point out with the photos is that after selecting the best of the photos that I took I also enhanced them a little with my photo editing program. In most cases I boosted the color just a little, straightened the photos that were crooked and cropped a few.

This is a pretty common thing to do these days and I still try to keep the photos looking as natural as possible and like the original scene looked. I just consider this making a good photo better but for artistic honesty, I think you should be aware that they were touched up a little (no, I am just not that great of a photographer (without a little help anyway)).

Trail Conditions

I also wanted to mention one thing about the current condition of the Millennium Trail. They are currently doing construction on some parts of the trail right at the Lakewood Forest Preserve parking area off of Fairfield Road.

When I was there on Tuesday they had just paved the trail right by the parking lot and you could only go a short distance before it was blocked off. At that time you needed to cut through the playground area and get to the main part of the trail in the Lakewood Forest Preserve.

I also noticed that they made a new section of the trail that now goes north (from the parking lot) and through a tunnel under Route 176. I’m not sure exactly when this will be complete or where it will ultimately go but it’s nice to see that they are expanding the trail and adding highway underpasses.

I am also curious just how much of this trail they are going to pave. Personally, I don’t mind the crushed stone but, for the most part, having the trail paved will probably be a nice improvement.