,

Shimmering Happiness

  • Mt. Rose and fall color, North Tahoe Beach (10/6/20) Michelle Pontoni
  • The fairest picture the whole earth affords, North Tahoe Beach (10/6/20) Michelle Pontoni
  • Sculpture, North Tahoe Beach (10/6/20) Michelle Pontoni

Lake Tahoe color spotter Michelle Pontoni has really set out to find Tahoe’s hidden gems. So far, Michelle has submitted three reports, two more and she qualifies as a CaliforniaFallColor.com “photojournalist.”

Describing her joy at discovering the search for fall color, Michelle writes, “Finding the yellows feels like finding shimmering bits of happy sunshine, even in the small patches.”

At peak, Tahoe has lots of fall color, but it’s tucked in the forest, between fir, pine and rarely clustered near ponds and streams, as they’re so spread out.

  • Quaking Aspen, North Lake Tahoe (10/6/20) Michelle Pontoni
  • Quaking Aspen, North Lake Tahoe (10/6/20) Michelle Pontoni
  • Maple, North Lake Tahoe (10/6/20) Michelle Pontoni
  • Quaking Aspen, North Lake Tahoe (10/6/20) Michelle Pontoni
  • Wylders Hope Valley Resort (10/5/20) Michelle Pontoni

She ventured to the north end of the lake to find color peeking (not peaking – it’s still Patchy) between the outline of Lake Tahoe on a granite sculpture at North Tahoe Beach.

The sculpture is a 3-D representation of Lake Tahoe with Tahoe’s alpine horizon seen through it. To the side, a lake-shaped slab is engraved with Mark Twain’s famous “Roughing It” quote, “…at last the Lake burst upon us—a noble sheet of blue water lifted six thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea, and walled in by a rim of snow-clad mountain peaks that towered aloft full three thousand feet higher still! … As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords.”.  

Seen through the granite sculpture is a bit of Mt. Rose.

Presently, the color is Patchy, but then at 6,237′ in elevation, Tahoe will not peak for another two weeks. However, peak is occurring in the Hope Valley, just to the north, as seen in Michelle’s snap of the Wylder Hope Valley Resort.

  • North Lake Tahoe (6,237′) – Patchy (10-50%)
/by