Thirty-eight degrees. Temperature — not latitude.

Fall has arrived in northern Arizona and the leave are turning colors and, in some cases, have already fallen. We went on a mountain bike ride on one of our favorite section of the Arizona Trail the other day so that we could view the aspen trees in their autumn glory. A cold front had passed through a day earlier and it was quite cold that morning with temperatures only in the upper 30s. So we bundled up with a few extra layers, caps and gloves, and off we went.

The only problem was that the rain from a few days earlier had left the trails pretty muddy and with the cool weather they had not dried yet. Suddenly we found our tires and bikes caked with mud. Eventually it became too difficult to ride as the mud accumulated on the tires, in the brakes, derailleurs, and anywhere else mud can collect. And that’s a lot of places!

So we abandoned the ride to return another day. Still, it was a pleasant enough day with plenty of color to view in the aspen trees in Flagstaff at 8000 feet and 38 degrees–especially with the new snow on the San Francisco Peaks.