Bishop Canyon – Snow Chills Fall Color High Up
North Lake (10/6/15) Erick Castellon
An early, though brief winter storm that dropped snow high up in the Eastern Sierra this past Sunday damaged and reduced what color was remaining above 9000′ in Bishop Creek Canyon. There’s still a lot of beautiful color to be seen, but it has descended.
Overall Conditions Above 8400ft Elevation – Peaking – Go Now! – The upper reaches of Bishop Creek Canyon have now gone past peak, though they flamed out in brilliant splashes of red. Lots of yellow and some lime is found between 8,400 and 8,600′.
Overall Conditions Between 7500ft & 8400ft Elevation – Patchy (10% – 50%) – A lot more color has developed at these elevations, though many of the groves had already been stripped of leaves. Still, large areas of lush foliage will continue to show nicely in the coming two weeks.
North Lake (10/3/15) Jeff Hemming
Past Peak – YOU MISSED IT! – Sabrina Campground to Sabrina Dam (9000ft).
Past Peak – YOU MISSED IT! – Willow Campground (9000ft) .
Past Peak – YOU MISSED IT! – North Lake (9255ft) .
Past Peak – YOU MISSED IT! – Weir Pond (9650ft).
Past Peak– YOU MISSED IT! – Parchers Resort (9260ft)
Past Peak– YOU MISSED IT! – Table Mountain Camp (8900ft) .
Past Peak– YOU MISSED IT! – Surveyors Meadow (8975ft) .
Lake Sabrina (10/6/15) Aditi Das
Past Peak– YOU MISSED IT! – Lake Sabrina (9150ft).
Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Stiny Loop above Mt. Glen Camp (8600ft) – It is as good as it will get this year at Stiny. It’s peak, but we’re being generous in that rating. This area lost a lot of leaves earlier in autumn.
Near Peak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Mist Falls and the groves above Bishop Creek Lodge (8350ft) – Yellow and some green are surrounding the waterfall and in the groves between there at Mt. Glen Campground. As predicted, this is probably the best color to be seen up Bishop Creek Canyon and it has another week to show.
Near Peak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Aspendell (8400ft) – Much better color has developed here in the past week. Some spotters classified it as peaking.
Peak GO NOW! Groves at Cardinal Village – While aspen from Cardinal Pinnacle down have blown, aspen down the creek from the North Lake turnoff winding down the canyon past the mine towards Cardinal Village are full of yellow.
Patchy (10 – 50%) – Four Jeffries (8000ft) – The aspen here continue to lighten.
Patchy (10 – 50%) – Intake II (8000ft) – The canyon wall is mostly stripped now but there are some very nice patches near the dam, and a couple of the large aspen along the shoreline are yellow.
Just Starting – (0 – 10%) – Big Trees Campground (7800ft) – Yellow is beginning to appear.