Yosemite Pioneer Maple
Color spotter Gene Miller was in Yosemite Valley on Tuesday, reporting that the fall color was “absolutely beautiful.”
He sends an image of a sugar maple that 19th-century settlers planted near the Yosemite Chapel. Of course, an exotic tree could not be planted in a national park today, but there were no such rules nor the same definition of what a national park represents, in the late 1800s.
Today, efforts are made to remove invasive plants (all exotic imports), though, fortunately, the sugar maple is protected because of its connection to the cultural history of the national park.
It peaks for a very short time, so getting there NOW is essential.
Other foliage that changes color in the national park include: Pacific dogwood, bigleaf maple, willows and black oak. The dogwood, maple and willows are turning now.
Favorite photo locations include seeing : brightly yellow fallen bigleaf maple leaves at Fern Spring at the entrance to the Valley (CA-140); vibrant orange black oak below Yosemite Falls and beside Yosemite’s meadows; and pink Pacific dogwood along the Merced River.
Yosemite’s black oak are the finest fall display of the specie in California. Black oak will be at their best in late October to mid November.
- Pioneer sugar maple, Yosemite Valley (4,000′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
