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Yosemite Stages for Coming Beauty

Tenaya Canyon (10/21/14) Darryl Chew

Tenaya Canyon (10/20/14) Darryl Chew

Yosemite National Park public information staffer Ashley Mayer reports that the famed exotic sugar maple beside the Yosemite Chapel has shed most of its ruby leaves and sections of the Tioga Road are now past peak.  Isolated stands of yellow aspen can be seen from the Tioga Road down Tenaya Canyon.

Tenaya Lake (10/21/14) Darryl Chew

Tenaya Lake (10/20/14) Darryl Chew

Tioga Road (10/21/14) Sharon Chew

Tioga Road (10/20/14) Sharon Chew

The color is descending toward Yosemite Valley.  There, black oak, dogwood and bigleaf maple have not yet begun to show much color, though the area surrounding Fern Spring at the west entrance to the valley is the first to brighten. Fern spring is a popular location for still life photography of mottled yellow, orange and burnt umber bigleaf maple leaves sprinkled across the black clear water of the spring.

In the heart of Yosemite Valley, the black oak are still green, though they approach peak at Halloween and their black branches are typically dressed in bold orange leaves by the first of November.

Color spotters Sharon Tan, and Darryl and Sharon Chew sent photos of their visit to Yosemite, yesterday.

Tioga Road, Yosemite National Park (Peak to Past Peak) – Aspen at the highest elevations have lost color, though those near 7.000′ still show yellow.  Willows and shrubs are showing gold and crimson.

Bigleaf Maple  (10/20/14) Sharon Chew

Bigleaf Maple (10/20/14) Sharon Chew

Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park (Patchy – 10 – 50%) – Orange black oak, rose-colored dogwood, golden black cottonwoods and cadmium yellow bigleaf maple are only beginning to show their coming beauty.  Look for Yosemite Valley to be lovely the last week of October and first two weeks of November (weather permitting).  The sugar maple near the Yosemite Chapel peaks in early October, and like its New England brethren bursts forth in a very short color display.  It peaks so quickly that even residents of Yosemite Valley will miss seeing the color, if they don’t pass the chapel within a few days of peak.  Our recommendation: plan a trip to Yosemite the first week of November.