Shasta Cascade Sugars Up

Aspen, Plumas County (10/2/15) Jeff Titcomb

Sugar Maple, Mt. Shasta (10/2/15) Ashley Hollgarth

Color spotters Jeff Titcomb and Ashley Hollgarth send these snaps from the Shasta Cascade (California’s northeast corner, a lightly populated part of the state that is as big as the state of Ohio).

Jeff notes that yellow quaking aspen and rosy western dogwood are nearing peak in Plumas County, though golden bigleaf maple and orange black oak have not yet developed.

Look to the streams in Plumas County and along the upper reaches of the Feather River to see the big fan-shaped leaves of Indian Rhubarb turning flame orange and gold.

Ashley continues to report on the progress of exotic sugar maples in the town of Mt. Shasta.

As seen in this photo of a sugar maple that she’s photographed near the U.S. Forest Service office in Mt. Shasta, the tree has changed from greenish-brown to ruby in the past week.

Several eastern sugar maples were planted along city streets throughout the town of Mt. Shasta, and, with snow-flecked Mt. Shasta seen in the distance, they provide a picture-postcard image of autumn in the Cascades.

Patchy (10-50%) – Plumas County

Patchy (10-50%) – Siskiyou County