Indian Summer
The on-again, off-again series of storms over the past couple of weeks have been interrupted by Indian Summer in much of California. Among the high deserts of Inyo County, oaks have colored a muted orange with desert grasses buff and grey, and white snow fields flecking the high ridges of the Sierra Nevada near Lone Pine.
Indian Summer is the always-welcomed period of autumnal warm weather, after it’s gotten cold. This past week, we thought winter was arriving as storms were predicted to bring rain to northern California through Sunday, but then on Halloween Day the sky broke blue and clear, reminding us of Indian Summer and providing a picture-perfect day for fall color touring and trick or treating.
A surprising report last Friday was that Boreal Ridge ski area had begun operating its lifts, signaling to many that if Sierra ski lifts are operating, autumn must be over, but that was more publicity stunt by Boreal than an indicator of the end of autumn. In fact, this autumn has been longer lasting than many in recent years. Only 50% of the maples in Yosemite Valley, by week’s end, last week, had turned and 20% of the Dogwood and Cottonwood were coloring.
The same is true in the Shasta Cascade where spots of color are to be enjoyed along CA-299 and north. I’ll be traveling that route tomorrow and will tweet (califfallcolor) what I see driving north on I-5 and across through Redding to Arcata, north to Redwood National Park on US 101.
In the meantime, enjoy Indian Summer in California, as just about anywhere you head in California there’s still great color to be seen and photographed.