Siskiyou Sonata

Sometimes, spent color is the most beautiful of all.

Philip Reedy photographed dazzling fall color beside the Upper Sacramento and McCloud Rivers in Siskiyou County, then also found beauty in the spent grasses and wind-swept oaks of late autumn.

He was out for another of his fly fishing photography expeditions, this time with stops at Castle Crags State Park, Mossbrae Falls and the Cantera Loop, all near Dunsmuir, then north along the Klamath River and into the Seiad Valley.

What’s interesting about Phil’s first two shots (top of page) is that the first is a classic landscape depicting a California icon, but not as Mt. Shasta is typically presented. Instead of being bright and heroic, his view is moody and reflective. The second is of discarded appliances leaning beside a deteriorating shed.

The first image is classic artistic landscape photography, but so too is the second. More importantly, the latter one confirms the idiom, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Click photos to enlarge.

Reedy shares my view that while the oaks aren’t as colorful as aspen, they have their own distressed beauty, and again his photographs are showing bigleaf maple can be other colors than French’s mustard.

Siskiyou County is a visual sonata right now, though rush to see it. As, strong winds now lashing Northern California (100 mph posted at Lake Tahoe) will surely be transporting these leaves south to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

• Siskiyou County – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT.