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Quincy, A Family Affair

Cattails, Madrone Lake, Bucks Lake Rd (10/19/19) John Poimiroo

On Saturday, Michael Beatley and I met for a whirlwind tour of fall color in and around Quincy.

I’d intended to post these photos on Sunday, but so many great photos arrived from contributors, that I held off posting this gallery. Then, the website crashed and couldn’t get them up, until now.

  • Feather Bed Inn, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Oregon splitleaf birch leaves, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Oregon splitleaf birch, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Chinese lanterns, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Thielor sugar maple, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Thielor sugar maple, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Dame Shirley Park, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Quincy School, Circ. 1905, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Community United Methodist Church, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Plumas County Courthouse, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Plumas County Courthouse, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Plumas County Courthouse, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Plumas County Courthouse, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo

Plumas County is gorgeous in mid October. More than beautiful, it is charming with authentic small towns and genuine people.

There’s a sign as you drive into Quincy on CA-80, noting that 5,000 souls live there. The 2010 census had 4,900 people inhabiting it, down 2% in the first decade of this century. It seems even smaller than that.

Michael explained, “Everyone waves here. They even wave to the cops.” A moment later, someone drove past while waving at my car, perhaps because Michael was riding with me.

  • Lucinda Wood presses apple juice, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Community Appreciation Day, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Community Appreciation Day, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Apple tree, Quincy (10/19/19) John Poimiroo

On Saturday at “Community Appreciation Day,” the Quincy Natural Foods Co-op hosted an event where families could bring apples they’d harvested and press them into apple juice.

No one knew me, but I soon felt a part of the gathering as I watched moms instruct their sons on how to crank the press, little girls get their faces painted with unicorns and rainbows, a vendor selling local honey, a fiddler playing beneath a tree, neighbors chatting and Lucinda Wood chopping and pressing her apples into sweet nectar.

Overcast muted fall colors as we walked the Cascade Trail beside Spanish Creek, though as Michael’s photos in the previous post show, it was clear on Sunday. That’s a common hazard. You plan a day to visit a place, then work with what weather is given to you. A day later, it brightened for Diane Keller, as contrasted here.

  • Indian rhubarb, Spanish Creek (10/21/19) Diane Keller
  • Indian rhubarb, Spanish Creek (10/21/19) Diane Keller
  • Bigleaf maple, Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Black oak, Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Indian rhubarb, Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Mountain maple, Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Indian rhubarb, Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Indian rhubarb, Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Indian rhubarb, Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Indian rhubarb, Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Michael Beatley, Cascade Trail, Spanish Creek (10/19/19) John Poimiroo

After photographing Spanish Creek, we met members of the Ghandi (Rocklin), Velusami (Roseville) and Govindasamy (Folsom) families who’d been drawn to that spot by a previous report on this site. Later, we passed color spotters Son and Ann Nguyen who’d drive up from San Jose taking our advice to GO NOW!

Quincy and Plumas county were at Peak when I visited. Though Peak reports have continued to arrive from Quincy, it won’t be this good much longer, so GO NOW!

  • Sugar maple, Thompson Ranch (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Thompson Ranch (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • West Ranch (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • West Ranch (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • West Ranch (10/19/19) John Poimiroo

We drove the backroads, taking photographs of rusting farm equipment draped with fading fall color or found trees named after whomever planted it … the Thompson sugar maple, Judge Theilor tree, even Spanish Creek itself was named for the two Mexicans who bred horses beside it in 1850.

  • Bucks Lake Rd (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Pacific dogwood, Bucks Lake Rd (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Bigleaf maple, Bucks Lake Rd (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Cattails and bigleaf maple, Madrone Lake, Bucks Lake Rd (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Lily pads and bigleaf maple, Bucks Lake Rd (10/19/19) John Poimiroo
  • Bigleaf maple, Bucks Lake Rd (10/19/19) John Poimiroo

Returning to the Sacramento Valley by way of Bucks Lake Rd. the drive to Bucks Lake Summit from Meadow Valley was full of mixed color (dogwood, bigleaf maple, black oak). The summit and lake were past peak, but on the descent to Oroville, hot yellow flashes of maple and pink dogwood again jumped out, occasionally, between the pines. A final area of fall color appeared at Madrone Lake where cattails and maple edged it.

My thoughts returned to Quincy, as I drove. I concluded that Quincy is a friendly, family affair. It only took a day there to feel welcomed to Plumas County like a long-lost cousin.

  • Quincy, Plumas County – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
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