Autumn Cottonwood Trees, Fremont River Valley, Utah

Brightly-lit autumn cottonwood trees glow in late-afternoon light along the Fremont River Valley west of the town of Hanksville while dark storm clouds obscure the lower flanks of 11,522 Mount Ellen in the Henry Mountains. Out of view in the photograph, the Fremont River flows between the trees and the bluffs behind them. Wherever small streams like this flow across the dry canyon country, their groundwater nurtures these water-loving trees which line their banks and floodplains. In the autumn, they turn a brilliant yellow, rivaling the vivid displays of aspen trees high up in the surrounding mountains.