Riding to Beauty
With such great weather of late, it’s a joy to ride to the beauty of the Eastern Sierra, as these ladies did today. Mammoth Mountains color spotter Sarah Wallock joined them and a friend to scout for autumn color in town, up Rock Creek Canyon, along the June Lake Loop and at Lundy Lake.
Rock Creek Lake (10/4/21) Sarah Wallock 
Rock Creek Lake (10/4/21) Sarah Wallock 
Rock Creek Lake (10/4/21) Sarah Wallock
Lundy Canyon Rd (10/4/21) Sarah Wallock 
Lundy Canyon Rd (10/4/21) Sarah Wallock 
Lundy Canyon Rd (10/4/21) Sarah Wallock 
Lundy Canyon Rd (10/4/21) Sarah Wallock 
Lundy Canyon Rd (10/4/21) Sarah Wallock
She reported that Patchy color predominates in the Mammoth Lakes Basin, on the road up to Rock Creek Lake (it’s near peak to peaking there), along the June Lake Loop and in Lundy Canyon, the latter two of which are made more golden by the warm light created by smoke haze from distant fires.
We’ve no complaint with that, but do have a bone to pick with Sarah’s bosses. The car you gave Sarah to drive has lots of great pictures of skiing at Mammoth Mountain on it, but c’mon guys, where’s the fall color? Oh, that’s right; it’s in the woods.
Conditions for color spotting varied today according to which way the wind was blowing. At Rock Creek Lake, the air was clear, but as Sarah traveled north, smoke from fires to the west sullied the air. To help you know air quality conditions, a link In the navigation bar at right, connects to PurpleAir which shows current air quality indexes, as seen below.
These conditions (as the photos show) change at different times of day and by location. So, use the app to see what’s happening.
- Mammoth Lakes Basin (8,996′) – Patchy (10 – 50%)
- Lower Rock Creek Rd (7,097′) – Just Starting (0 – 10%)
- Upper Rock Creek Rd (9,000′) – Patchy (10 – 50%)
- Rock Creek Lake (9,705′) – Near Peak to Peak (50 – 100%) GO NOW!
- June Lake Loop (7,654′) – Patchy (10 – 50%)
- Lundy Canyon (7,858′) – Patchy (10 – 50%)
