Aspen Festival Returns to Alpine County

With only 1,138 residents, Alpine County is California’s smallest county, but what it lacks in population, it makes up in Quaking Aspen.

Aspen forests populate seven viewing areas in Alpine County: the Hope Valley, Woodfords Canyon, Monitor Pass, East Fork Carson River, Ebbett’s Pass, Hermit Valley and Bear Valley/Lake Alpine.

Though Alpine County is just south of my base in El Dorado County, I’ve never scouted Ebbett’s Pass, Hermit Valley or Bear Valley/Lake Alpine. That’s an omission I hope to correct, and just might do so during the Alpine Aspen Festival, Oct. 7 – 8.

The festival occurs in the Hope Valley, which is a favorite destination for fall color spotters due to its proximity to Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto and the SF Bay Area.

Planned are interpretive hikes, photography and en plein air painting, a ranch tour, music and – of course – food (Dutch oven cooking and a feed benefitting East Fork Fire).

There are a bunch of first reports on the line. Let’s see who gets to them, first.