The falls colours along the Skeena can be fleeting. For a while the cottonwoods are changing, while the alders remain green or begin to change to yellow. A few days later, the time I drove along the Skeena in the middle of October 2013, the tall black cottonwoods have quickly lost their leaves, while the alders (and occasionally birch) along the river banks shine bright yellow in the afternoon sun.

Far from the sea, a seal (front right) swims up the Skeena, Oct. 16, 2013.

Bare black cottonwoods on a beach along the Skeena.

The bare cottonwoods

The sunsets on the Skeena near Terrace, BC, Oct. 16, 2013.