Archive for category: North Coast

Leaf blowers are so powerful and efficient that leaves don’t stay piled up for long. Before there’s time to dive into a pile, they’ve been collected. So, when you happen upon a walkway strewn with dry leaves, as Ron and Michelle Pontoni did this week in Arcarta, have fun shufflin’ through them.

As for the color, though Arcata was declared past peak some time ago, Michelle’s photos show exotic Japanese maple and Gingko biloba hanging on at Humboldt State University (campus gates are closed due to the virus) and cedar waxwings and robins feasting on bunches of holly berries.

• Arcata (23′) – Peak to Past Peak – GO NOW, You almost missed it.

Walt Gabler traveled back from his backwoods Humboldt County cabin, passing by the Benbow Inn on US 101, capturing multi-colored leaves carpeting the landscape, as autumn color was bowing out.

By the time he got back to Ukiah, rain had arrived, the vines had turned from green to brown and dew had weighed down fall grasses.

• Benbow Inn, Eel River (440′) – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW You Almost Missed It.
• Ukiah (663′) – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW You Almost Missed It.

Towering redwood trees are so awe inspiring that most visitors to the North Coast look up so much, they miss the hidden life in a rain forest.

Humboldt County color spotter Max Forster explored Redwood National and State Parks (Jedediah Smith Redwoods, Prairie Creek and Redwood National Park) and shares this report:

“Bigleaf maple are well past peak, but you can still find individual trees, usually those that are more shaded by redwoods, displaying peak fall foliage.

“Vine leaf maple are peaking now, along with smaller understory hardwood trees and shrubs of the forest. Very young alder trees seem particularly showy to me this year.

“While the bay laurel trees aren’t showing fall foliage, recent rains have turned up their fragrance to 100. Their smell is as incredible as I can remember, absolutely luxuriant.

“Vine maple in the redwood parks generally turn similar golden hues as the bigleaf, but you can find reds at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

“Roosevelt elk bulls have collected their harems and can generally be found around Humboldt Lagoons State Park (Dry Lagoon/Little Red Schoolhouse area), Elk Prairie at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and the prairies of Del Norte County near Crescent Beach.

“Mushrooms are currently out in abundance and their displays are giving the fall foliage some competition for what should demand one’s attention.

“It’s about to rain in redwood country for a week straight and conditions will be changing rapidly in the coming days, so a visit for fall foliage should be done as soon as possible.

“Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park is at peak and well worth the drive. One can also find great displays of color from old growth poison oak vines that have climbed the redwood trunks for decades. Some of the best spots for poison oak will be along northern sections of the Avenue of the Giants and along Mattole Road between Highway 101 and the Rockefeller Forest parking lot.”

In an email conversation with Max today, he mentioned how the Covid-19 pandemic drove crowds to lightly populated Humboldt County. His comments were similar to what I’ve heard from local contacts in the Eastern Sierra, Northern Sierra, South Lake Tahoe and elsewhere where inexperienced outdoor travelers overwhelmed small rural communities and acted unthinkingly, treating fragile places roughly, leaving behind trash and acting as if they didn’t need to act prudently just because they were in the outdoors.

It was terrifying, upsetting and overwhelming to small communities where medical facilities were limited, food services and visitor support were stretched thin and locals were at risk from contact with others from outside their area.

I truly believe that fall color spotters are more sensitive and caring than those described, and we can help by traveling lightly and being mindful of what the Eastern Sierra calls using “mountain manners.”

Always leave a place cleaner than you found it by carrying disposable gloves and a trash bag to pick up trash (even if it’s not yours) and deposit them in the nearest receptacle. Please be respectful of local communities and cultures; this applies not just when you travel abroad, but works anywhere. Finally, support rural economies. Let’s make sure the courtesies they provide to visitors are more than given back.

• Redwood National and State Parks, Humboldt County (1,000′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

US 101 and CA 36 travel through the back woods of the North Coast. They pass through places where you see more Dickies than Bonobos, more Duluth Trading than Stitch Fix, more lunch pails than bistros.

Back woods towns are called Laytonville and Scotia. Back woods rivers are the Van Duzen and Eel. Everything about them is hard working.

So, when Walt Gabler said he’d be driving north on 101 and then on 36 to repair the wood-burning stove at his back woods cabin, I suggested he snap the color. “No one’s reported from there, yet,” I explained.

Now, I see why.

It’s Near Peak along 101 and 36 with bigleaf maple all yellow and lime, but the back woods folk have likely been too busy walking fence lines and splitting fire wood to report it. The black oak are characteristically dark orange, though a tint of haze from recent wildfires has dampened their luster. No doubt that haze has kept people busy with other things, back woods things.

• Redwood Highway, US 101 (243′) – Near Peak (50-75%) Go Now.

This is probably the last week of peak fall color in the Napa Valley.

Mike Caffey was there on Saturday (Nov. 9) and captured vineyards carrying beautiful loads of orange, red and yellow leaves, as well as many others that were past peak.

Of course, vineyards turn by grape variety. My visits to Sierra Foothill vineyards this past weekend found vines similar to what Caffey discovered. Some were totally dry with russet-colored leaves, while nearby others were gloriously painted in burgundy, auburn, vermillion, gold and green.

Mike traveled the Silverado Trail and CA-29 through Napa Valley, commenting that there’s “about one more week of good color left then it will all be spent.” You can just see that in the above photograph. The valley floor is washed with deep orange, vermillion, iridescent yellow and a mix of lime and gold.

Caffey added what’s been reported so many times before this autumn, that “Everything seems delayed a bit this year compared to past years.  There are some vineyards that are nearly bare and others that are still mostly green.  So I think people can find something good up there for another week.”

Up in the gorgeous Russian River wine country, the vineyards are now mostly bare, though those along US 101 “were still looking pretty good.” However, as soon as “you drove up into the mountain areas west of 101 all of the vines were brown,” Caffey reported.

This is it. Wherever you live, get to your local wine country this week, as it’s the last for peak. And, should you miss the show, then sit back and relax as you enjoy a glass of the product of those past peak vines.

• Anderson Valley (269′) – Past Peak, YOU MISSED IT.
• Ukiah (633′) – Past Peak, YOU MISSED IT.
• Russian River (59′) – Past Peak, YOU MISSED IT.
• Alexander Valley (105′) – Peak to Past Peak, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.
• Windsor (118′) – Peak to Past Peak, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.
• Santa Rosa (164′) – Peak to Past Peak, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.
• Valley of the Moon (253′) – Peak to Past Peak, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.
• Sonoma (85′) – Peak to Past Peak, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.
• Napa Valley (253′) – Peak to Past Peak, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.