Big Pine Creek (9/30/17) Jim Gardner
Big Pine Creek (9/30/17) Jim Gardner
Big Pine Creek (9/30/17) Jim Gardner
Color spotter Jim Gardner visited the north fork of Big Pine Creek to find the aspen peaking near Lon Chaney’s cabin, and that there’s still some snow on the ground at over 10,000’.
Big Pine Creek (10,000’) – Peak GO NOW!
Bull Elk in Rut, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (10/1/17) Max Forster
Roosevelt Elk are in rut at Redwood National & State Parks (Orick) where deciduous leaves began changing fast last week, North Coast color spotter Max Forster reports.
The annual elk rut is one of California’s colorful displays in autumn, as massive bull elks challenge one another for the right to mate with herds of female elk cows. Young suitors playfight one another while bloody battles occur between the existing bull of a herd and his rivals.
It’s elk-styled Match.com, but with bugling, violent challenges and fights to exhaustion, as the ladies watch indifferently from afar.
Corkscrew Leaning Maple, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (10/1/17) Max Forster
Elsewhere in the redwood forest of northwestern California, bigleaf maple that have received full sun began transitioning last week, while the vines and maple that haven’t gotten direct sun have not yet begun to change.
Don’t expect a big showy splash of color, but for the true fan of autumn color, it is gorgeous, as the vines, maple and poison oak show chartreuse, yellow and crimson in rolling displays as sunlight hits them through the tall trees.
Max writes that “Notable sections for big leaf maple over the next week include Lost Man Creek in Redwood National Park and between the Corkscrew Tree and Zig Zag #1 Trail in Prairie Creek State Park.”
Redwood National & State Parks (Sea level to 500′) – Patchy (10-50%)
Bigleaf maple, Vincent Gulch (10/1/17) Naresh Satyan
Pasadenan Naresh Satyan describes the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California as not truly a fall color hotspot, though like all of California’s mountain ranges, there are exceptional spots of bright color.
Bigleaf maple, San Gabriel National Monument (10/1/17) Naresh Satyan
Bigleaf maple in the chapparal, San Gabriel National Monument (10/1/17) Naresh Satyan
Bigleaf maple, San Gabriel National Monument (10/1/17) Naresh Satyan
Poison oak, San Gabriel National Monument (10/1/17) Naresh Satyan
Poison oak, San Gabriel National Monument (10/1/17) Naresh Satyan
He reports that the few bigleaf maple are at or near peak color are found between 4000’ and 6000′.
The Sheep Mountain Wilderness in San Gabriel National Monument along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River and its tributaries provides the best color.
“It is a remote area with very few trails, but the maples are accessible along the Mine Gulch trail from Vincent Gap (Vincent Gulch Divide) on the Angeles Crest Highway. There is plenty of poison oak this year in very beautiful shades of pink and red, at peak now at elevations near 5000′ and moving down,” Naresh states.
As we’ve declared previously, look but don’t touch!
Sheep Mountain Wilderness, San Gabriel National Monument (4,000-6,000’) – Near Peak to Peak GO NOW!
North Lake Road (10/1/17) Star Masterton
The North Lake Road, up Bishop Creek Canyon, is often a destination for photographers, as it was on Sunday for Star Masterton who found the aspen along North Lake Road, North Lake and high areas of Bishop Creek Canyon nearing peak, as seen in her photographs.
Update: I visited North Lake on Monday, though (as color spotter David Senesak communicated by email), the trees are not “synchronized.”
Various groves are in all stages of peak: just starting, patchy, near peak, peak and past peak… all at the same location. Nevertheless, there’s no other way to assess the area than to classify it as Near Peak, because North Lake will continue to peak as these groves turn. And, if we don’t classify it as Near Peak, then many of you who planned to visit will miss it, by waiting for it to get perfect. So, GO NOW!
There is beauty to be found in Bishop Creek Canyon this year, but it takes work to capture it. The Groves Above Cardinal Village are past peak in a huge swath, but other areas are peaking, near peak or patchy. It’s not the big area of turning color we’ve seen in past years.
Regardless, fall can provide a brilliant splashes of color, as seen in the portraiture/fashion photograph at left. Star took it along the North Lake Road where some of the aspen look dried out, but catch the right light and you can get a magical image as Star did.
North Lake Road (9,000′) – Near Peak GO NOW!
North Lake (9,225′) – Near Peak GO NOW!
Groves Above Cardinal Village – Near Peak GO NOW!
North Lake, Bishop Creek Canyon (10/1/17) Star Masterton
Groves Above Cardinal Village (10/1/17) Star Masterton
Sabrina Approach (10/1/17) Star Masterton
The Panhandle, GG Park, SF (10/1/17) Darrell Sano
Japanese Tea Garden, GG Park, SF (10/1/17) Darrell Sano
Golden Gate Park is one of America’s great central parks, well-used by The City’s residents and a great place to see bright color in autumn.
Bay Area color spotter Darrell Sano is better known for his shots of the east bay and Berkeley Hills, but he spent Saturday exploring Golden Gate Park.
His 9.1-mile walk led from the Hayes Valley to Fell Street along the panhandle, finding the park (as usual) alive with people, picnics, cyclers, runners and walkers in the outdoors enjoying the brilliant morning Autumn light.
Japanese Tea Garden, GG Park, SF (10/1/17) Darrell Sano
To Darrell, the park’s striking Conservatory of Flowers looked brilliant in the morning light, but he hastened to the Japanese Tea Garden via Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive and was delivered a treat.
There were juxtapositions of yellow gingko starting to turn, and Japanese tiger lily (Lilium leichtlinii) with red leaves to overlayed.
Inside the Tea Garden, color change was Just Starting (it’s an early November peak, normally), as the large ginkgo trees and most of the Japanese Maple still lacked color.
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco – Just Starting (0-10%)
Layers of color near the Music Concourse, GG Park (9/30/17) Darrell Sano
Mission palm and autumn blooms/color (9/30/17) Darrell Sano
Caterpillar, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/30/17) Shanda Ochs
Fall color doesn’t need to be hanging from a branch. It sometimes can be crawling on the ground, as Shanda Ochs, park guide at Lassen Volcanic National Park shows in her shot of a fuzzy fall time caterpillar.
Shanda shows what we often recommend, look down, not just up when searching for fall color.
Manzanita Lake, LVNP (9/30/17) Shanda Ochs
At Lassen Volcanic, willows surrounding Manzanita Lake (northwest entrance) are golden, carrying “hints of orange” and in the Near Peak range.
Rabbitbrush, Manzanita Lake, LVNP (9/30/17) Shanda Ochs
Rabbitbrush continue to show blooms, with Lassen Peak in the background, across the lake.
Blacks Cottonwood, LVNP (9/30/17) Shanda Ochs
Alder leaves, dented with black spot, still proudly shine newly golden as they lose their green.
Deer and Willows, Manzanita Lake, LVNP (9/30/17) Shanda Ochs
Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic NP (5,900′) – Transitioning from Patchy to Near Peak (10 – 75%)
Monitor Pass (9/30/17) Steve Greer
A number of information-rich reports arrived this weekend… so many that with other commitments it was difficult getting them up quickly.
Woodford’s Canyon (9/29/17) Steve Greer
Color spotter Steve Greer traveled back from the Eastside, over Monitor Pass, passing Sorenson’s Resort in Woodford’s Canyon, before continuing through the Hope Valley.
Greer concurs with Phillip Reedy’s assessment, that peak is likely a week away in the Hope Valley, although aspen in Woodford’s Canyon near Sorenson’s Resort are now Near Peak.
He also notes that the aspen seem to be so healthy in this area (not what they were last year at this time) of the Northern Sierra (CA-88) that the show should be bright and vibrant.
Greer took the drone shot (above) from the summit of Monitor Pass, providing a glimpse of the overall “patchy” condition of the weathered aspen at that elevation.
Woodford’s Canyon (9/30/17) Steve Greer
Monitor Pass (8,314′) – Patchy (10-50%)
Woodford’s Canyon (7,000′) – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW!
Hope Valley (7,300′) – Patchy (10-50%)
Shasta Knotweed, Panther Meadow, Mt. Shasta (9/26/17) Shanda Ochs
Lassen Volcanic NP guide Shanda Ochs took a busman’s holiday, outside the national park, to explore McCloud River Falls trail in Siskiyou County and Panther Meadows at Mt. Shasta, while scoring two first reports, for these areas.
Dogwood, McCloud River Falls Trail (9/26/17) Shanda Ochs
Panther Meadow (9/26/17) Shanda Ochs
Panther Meadow (8,000′) – Peak (75-100%) – Shasta knotweed have carpeted the meadow with peak crimson leaves, though the remainder of the meadow was just beginning to change color, and Shanda saw some late blooming wildflowers in the meadow.
McCloud River Falls Trail (3,000′) – Just Starting (0-10%) – Indian Rhubarb is just beginning to promise giant flame orange fan leaves along the McCloud River. A quarter of the Pacific Dogwood growing beside the river are giving off intense ruby and lime.
Indian Rhubarb, McCloud River Falls Trail (9/26/17) Shanda Ochs
Red Lake Cabins, Hope Valley (9/29/17) Phillip Reedy
California Trail (9/29/17) Phillip Reedy
Fly fisherman Phillip Reedy finds the most beautiful locations. Yesterday, he visited the Hope Valley and walked the old California Trail in search of bows, brookies and beauty.
He came back with these shots and likely a string of lunkers, finding the valley’s photogenic cabin (2 miles east of Red Lake on CA88 at 7,400′) surrounded by a few of the aspen that are changing in the valley. The rest along the highway and on the mountainside above the cabins are still green.
At 7,200′ in elevation the old California Trail, Reedy wrote, “cuts across 88 right there which was used back in the 1840s. That was the only place along the entire trip from Silver Lake to Tahoe with bright yellow color.”
Phillip said last year at this time, the route was peaking and anticipates it will be Near Peak to Peak by next weekend, in time for the Alpine Aspen Festival. It is likely to stay at peak for the next two weeks.
Red Creek (9/29/17) Phillip Reedy
Red Lake Cabins (9/29/17) Phillip Reedy
Hope Valley (7,400′) – Patchy (10-50%)
Bennett and Andrew run past quaking aspen at North Tahoe Regional Park (9/30/17) Nicole Coburn
Tahoe City (9/30/17) Nicole Coburn
Santa Cruz County color spotter Nicole Coburn traveled to North Lake Tahoe with her husband, Chris, and boys, Andrew and Bennett, reporting that fall color is turning at the lake with aspen and maples developing quickly, yet still a week away from peak color.
She reported the autumn weather at North Lake Tahoe to be “glorious.”
Nearby in Truckee, Herb Hwang found aspen transitioning from lime to yellow along the Truckee River and near the Tahoe Donner ski area.
The old cabin on CA-237, between Northstar and Brockway Summit – a favorite for wedding portraits – is a similar mix of colors.
North Lake Tahoe (6,250′) – Patchy (10-50%)
Truckee (5,817′) – Patchy (10-50%)
Truckee (10/1/17) Herb Hwang
Aspen, Truckee (10/1/17) Herb Huang
Quaking Aspen, Tahoe Donner (9/30/17) Herb Hwang