Fall Color Report – Page 121 – California Fall Color

Oaks Take Charge In Plumas County

Black oaks, Hideaway Rd., Greenville (10/26/15) Jeff Titcomb

Native black oaks have taken charge of the autumn show in Plumas County where they are suddenly showing brilliant tones of lime, yellow, orange and red.

Round Valley (10/26/15) Jeff Titcomb

Black oak, Plumas County (10/26/15) Jeff Titcomb

Round Valley (10/26/15) Jeff Titcomb

Color spotter Jeff Titcomb reports that the black oak are now the dominant color provider along Hideaway Road in Greenville and the Canyon Road to Round Valley. Both are glowing boulevards lined with the sturdy beauties.

Approaching Lake Almanor, black oaks dapple the sky with bright color while rosy Pacific dogwood mix in on the forest floor.

Black oaks are California’s Halloween tree, with their often brilliant large orange leaves and black stems, branches and trunks. Jeff believes the black oaks to provide more durable color than other Plumas County species, brightening the forest with changing color for as much as a month.

He writes, “The trees with full sun exposure sure seem red and then down the spectrum with some green still showing… they deepen every single day, and the sun shining through the canopy is like a dream.”

Big Creek Rd, Plumas County (10/25/15) John Sheehan

Color spotter Karen Moritz says Plumas County’s legendary golden splash of bigleaf maple have not popped, as normal, this autumn, with disappointing color. Dogwood have provided some color, as seen in John Sheehan’s shot of Big Creek Rd. taken to Buck’s Lake, and as previously reported in the Round Valley.

Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW! – Round Valley – Take the Canyon Road from Round Valley toward Lake Almanor to pass through a boulevard of colorful black oak trees. Big Creek Rd. toward Buck’s Lake has spots of rosy dogwood.

October 27, 2015/1 Comment/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, High Sierra, Photography

Postcard: Mono County at its Best – GO NOW!

Convict Lake (10/23/15) Alena Nicholas

Alena Nicholas traveled to Fern Creek Lodge on the June Lake Loop, this past weekend. Alena mentioned, when submitting these photos, that Jon – the 1927 resort’s owner – recently underwent surgery.

She hoped that mentioning his rustic and modern cabins – one of which is named after Ansel Adams – might lift Jon’s spirits.

June Lake Loop (10/24/15) Alena Nicholas

Well, seeing Alena’s photographs certainly lifted ours, so much so that we’ve packaged the best and most representative of her shots in this postcard collection, providing several inspirational reasons to stay at Fern Creek Lodge.

Gull Lake (10/24/15) Alena Nicholas

June Lake Loop (10/24/15) Alena Nicholas

Lundy Canyon (10/24/15) Alena Nicholas

Lundy Lake (10/24/15) Alena Nicholas

They include images taken at Convict Lake, Gull Lake, June Lake Loop, Lundy Canyon and Lundy Lake.

We expected Alena to find peak color in Mono County, but didn’t expect how good it would be.

What is seen is that higher areas (Lundy Canyon) have been losing leaves, though a lot of color remains.

How long that will continue depends on whether wind strips the trees.

Along the June Lake Loop, many aspen are still patchy, with lots of green and lime yet to turn yellow and orange.

Spent leaves cover the forest floor, providing a colorful carpet near streams.

We have only two words for those who’d like to see such color… GO NOW!

Peak (75-100%) GO NOW! – June Lake, Convict Lake, Lundy Lake, Lundy Canyon

June Lake Loop (10/24/15) Alena Nicholas

October 27, 2015/1 Comment/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, Peak of the Week, Shasta Cascade

Peak of the Week: Coffee Creek

Coffee Creek (10/24/15) Jeri Rangel

Hwy 3 and Coffee Creek Rd. (10/24/15) Jeri Rangel

Alpen Cellars, Trinity County (10/24/15) Jeri Rangel

Billy’s Peak seen from Coffee Creek (10/24/15) Jeri Rangel

East Fork, Trinity River (10/24/15) Jeri Rangel

Carville Inn, Trinity County (10/24/15) Jeri Rangel

Sims Flat, Shasta County (10/24/15) Jill Dinsmore

Jeri Rangel took to the air this past weekend to show us the glorious color percolating along Coffee Creek in the Shasta Cascade.

This is the best view of peak that we have seen of the Coffee Creek area, earning the area honors as, “Peak of the Week.”

Jeri continued her flight over Alpen Cellars, one of the few vineyards in the Shasta Cascade, its vineyards glowing golden below with the Trinity Alps seen in the distance.

Most of the trees creating the color are bigleaf maple, though some cottonwood, alder and birch are contributing to the show.

The Carville Loop Rd. was part of a fabled stage coach route through Trinity County during the California Gold Rush.

Serving travelers along the Loop, since 1854, has been the Carville Inn, now a resort.

Though gold is no longer being mined in the Trinity River and Coffee Creek, spots of gold can still be seen in the area’s trees.

However, very little gold is being seen along the Upper Sacramento River at Sims Flat, where many of the trees have dropped their leaves or had them turn without significant color.

Color spotter Jill Dinsmore sends a shot of Sims Flat. Though the color is disappointing, there is hope that Indian Rhubarb growing at the river’s edge will brighten to orange-red in coming weeks.

Birch, Mt Shasta (10/24/15) Sherry Gardner

Sherry Gardner found a stand of brightly colored birch along Old Stage Rd in the town of Mt. Shasta.

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Coffee Creek

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Carville Loop

Patchy (10-50%) – Sims Flat, Upper Sacramento River

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Mt. Shasta

October 26, 2015/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, High Sierra

Owens Valley Soft and Lovely

Rawson Ponds, Owens Valley (10/25/15) Gary Young

Warm Springs Rd, Owens Valley (10/25/15) Gary Young

Rawson Ponds, Owens Valley (10/25/15) Gary Young

Bishop color spotter Gary Young drove down to the Owens River before work, yesterday morning and returned with these beautiful shots of soft, lovely fall color.

The pond shots are from Rawson Ponds near the Owens River (Between East Line Rd and Warm Springs Rd, southeast of Bishop) and the road with the Eastern Sierra seen in the background is Warm Springs Rd.

Gary writes that “you can sure see the effects of the drought in the Owens Valley with only a small percentage of trees showing great color. It certainly has become the Cadillac Desert, described in literature.

Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW! – Owens Valley

October 26, 2015/2 Comments/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, Gold Country

Gold Country Just Starting

Mormon Island Wetlands, Folsom (10/25/15) John Poimiroo

A Sunday drive confirmed today that the Gold Country is just starting.

Narrow Gate Vineyards, Pleasant Valley (10/25/15) John Poimiroo

Apple Hill, Pleasant Valley, Newtown Road (Placerville) and Mormon Island Wetland (Folsom) are showing hints of gold, but not enough to push any of these areas to Patchy.

Pleasant Valley and Apple Hill showed the most color with wild cucumber in patchy change from green to chartreuse and vineyards beginning to turn.

A cresting of yellow atop cottonwood at Mormon Island Wetlands in Folsom expands each week, though is still just starting.

Just Starting (0-10%) – Gold Country

October 25, 2015/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, First Report, Shasta Cascade

Upper Lassen and Shasta Counties Move Past Peak

Middle McCloud Falls (10/24/15) Dotty Molt

Color Spotter Dotty Molt took a road trip last week up to the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. Along the route she took, Dotty spent a few hours in Shasta County, then continued north and back.

She reports that Susanville, Lassen Peak and Mt. Shasta are now past peak with much of the route visibly diminished by drought.

She writes, “The effects of drought are everywhere, even up in Oregon. The leaves are kind of crunchy orange, brown and muted yellow, with black spots.

“McCloud Falls, near Mt. Shasta is still beautiful, but smaller than I expected, and the foliage around it is past peak, especially in the streams,” she continues, scoring a First Report for her photo of Middle McCloud Falls.

Smoke has filled the air and cast a blue haze across many areas, making photos appear foggy. Dotty notes that the color can be adjusted in post processing, though the smoke “makes everything look dull.”

Past Peak YOU MISSED IT! – Susanville

Past Peak YOU MISSED IT! – Lassen Peak

Past Peak YOU MISSED IT! – Mt. Shasta – Some good color remains to be captured near middle McCloud Falls, but not for long.

October 25, 2015/1 Comment/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, High Sierra

Inyo County: Color Descends to the Owens Valley

North Lake Road (9/30/15) Jared Smith/Parcher’s Resort

With the seasonal closing of Parchers Resort, we lose a reliable color spotter in Jared Smith. This was not a stellar year for Bishop Creek Canyon, as drought and weather stripped 2/3 of the aspen early in September.

North Lake (9/27/15) Elliot McCucken

By October, much of the color was gone. What remained, had glorious and intense color (including some spectacular reds at North Lake), but the show was not as big as in past years.

So, we’re now officially declaring Bishop Creek to be past peak, though some lower areas are still showing color.

We recommend exploring the Owens Valley for interesting color. In and around Bishop are many stands of cottonwood and some oaks, as well as urban landscaped trees that show bright color.

And, Bishop is a great place to stop, refresh or regroup. Our favorite stops in Bishop include Mountain Light, Galen and Barbara Rowell’s studio; Schat’s Bakkery (home of the original sheepherder’s bread and all kinds of baked goodies) and Mahogany Smoked Meats on N. Sierra Hwy (US 395), though from now through early November, the fall color pleasantly surprises.

Past Peak YOU MISSED IT! – Mist Falls and the groves above Bishop Creek Lodge (8350ft)

Past Peak YOU MISSED IT! – Aspendell (8400ft

Peak GO NOW! (50-75%%) – Four Jeffreys (8000ft) – Four Jeffreys is showing the last of its color.

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Intake II (8000ft) – Very few groves near the dam and along the shoreline have peak color.

Near Peak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Big Trees Campground (7800ft) –Nice color remains in this past to peak area of the canyon.

Near Peak (50-75%) – Bishop (4,150ft) – The upper Owens Valley has developed beautifully and has such a mix of patchy to peaking trees, that we’re calling it Near Peak and issuing an alert to go now. Beautiful gold can be found along Pacific St. in Bishop, while some areas in the Owens Valley are still early. Ornamental pear and other deciduous exotic landscaped trees in Bishop and other Owens Valley towns are coloring up, depending on their specie.

Patchy (10-50%) – Lower Owens Valley – Independence and Lone Pine are developing spots of color along streams and in lower Eastern Sierra canyons.

October 22, 2015/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, High Sierra

Mono County: The Show Goes On

Mammoth Creek (10/20/15) Greg Newbry

This past week in Mono County brought a mix of snow, rain, sun and clouds, but with little to no wind, meaning that autumn color continues to light up the Eastern Sierra.

Color spotter Alicia Vennos writes, “The icing on top of it all is the fresh topping of snow on Eastern Sierra peaks that is providing a stunning contrast to the golden color.”

This weekend and next promise to be epic for photographers and leaf peepers on the East Side, as the short-term weather forecast is for sunny skies.

Photos are posted at californiafallcolor.com and on a video posted by Mono County Tourism VLOG host, Jeff Simpson at https://youtu.be/QmzUrxXdaI0.

Convict Lake (10/16/15) Charles Porter

Convict Lake (10/21/15) Charles Porter

Conway Summit (10/18/15) Alicia Vennos

Convict Creek Below Outlet (10/21/15) Charles Porter

Mammoth Rock, Old Mammoth Rd (10/18/15) Alicia Vennos

Old Mammoth Rd (10/18/15) Alicia Vennos

June Lake Loop (10/18/15) Alicia Vennos

Tioga Rd (10/19/15)

Lower Tioga Rd (10/19/15) Alicia Vennos

Lundy Canyon (10/20/15) Josh Wray

Silver Lake (10/18/15) Alicia Vennos

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Rock Creek – Color has endured throughout this area, though is now moving down the canyon. Lower Rock Creek Road and the mountain bike/hiking trail have some nice spots of color but they still a week short of peak. Tom’s Place, a local hangout, has taken on the colors of its surrounding trees, as it prepares its annual Halloween costume party on Oct. 31.

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – McGee Creek – Aspen lining the creek, just below the road, are thick with color; those along the first mile or two on the hiking trail are also prime, or close.

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Convict Canyon/Convict Lake – The entire canyon is now peaking. Colors from top to bottom are spectacular. The foliage is showing yellows, bright gold and, recently, more orange. Conditions permitting, it should remain at peak for another week. Hike of the Week is the 3-mile trail around Convict lake. Aspens that fill the campground are brilliant against the dramatic mountain backdrop. Locals rate this as one of the prettiest places in Mono County to camp.

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Mammoth Creek/Old Mammoth Road – Aspen are yellow, golden and orange with red highlights along the trail beside Mammoth Creek from where Hwy. 203 nears the exit onto US 305 (south). This area will be glorious this weekend with possibly another week to go.

Near Peak (50-75%) – June Lake Loop/Hwy. 158 – The June Lake Loop is, in places, a boulevard flanked by peaking yellow and golden aspen. Some areas of lime remain, though the Loop is Near Peak in many places, particularly between Silver Lake and Grant Lake. The aspen around Gull Lake and June Lake are still a week from peak color. Parker Lake and Walker Lake, off the north end of the Loop offer varying degrees of bright color and short, sweet hikes. LA Leaf Peeper was one of the many color spotters who followed our direction and headed to the Loop for an “AMAZING” weekend. Here’s a snap LAFP took with a cell phone, a little different than Alicia’s.

The Heidelberg Inn in June Lake was once a favored destination of Hollywood celebrities; on Oct. 31, this glamorous old inn opens its doors for a Halloween tour and party.

Past Peak YOU MISSED IT! – Tioga Pass

Patchy (10-50%) – Lower Lee Vining Canyon – The lower part of Tioga Pass Road, near US 395, has some photogenic aspen groves, though Poole Plant Road continues to hang on to its green wardrobe. Log Cabin Road is almost past peak at the cabin level with one serene stretch still golden and photogenic. (This area is not gated but it is private property and has long been an animal and bird sanctuary; please tread softly).

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Lundy Canyon – Don’t give up. While aspen along the first part of the Lundy Canyon trail are past peak, at the first waterfall are found an iconic gold-rust-yellow-orange blend of color. Higher up, the color is spent.

BRIDGEPORT / CONWAY SUMMIT

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Conway Summit – What is remarkable is that while large groves of aspen have peaked, there are so many layers of color here, this year, that Conway Summit continues to look incredible. Some big stands are still a patchy mix of yellow and lime.

Past Peak YOU MISSED IT! – Virginia Lakes.

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Green Creek/Summers Meadow – Summers Meadow has lost a lot of its color, though, like Conway Summit, layering and depth of color still keep the Green Creek/Summers Meadow area worth visiting.

WALKER / COLEVILLE / TOPAZ

Past Peak YOU MISSED IT! – Monitor Pass/Sonora Pass – It’s gone at the highest elevations.

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Leavitt Meadows – Still golden.

Patchy (10-50%) – Walker Canyon/West Walker River/Towns of Walker & Coleville – This is one of the last areas of Mono County to change. For anglers, the West Walker River is flowing nicely as a result of recent rain, though leaf peepers and photographers won’t find much fall color for another two weeks.

Silver Lake (10/18/15) LA Leaf Peeper

October 22, 2015/2 Comments/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, First Report, Shasta Cascade

First Report: Scott Valley

Scott Valley (10/21/15) Ruth Hartman

Not to be confused with the better-known Santa Cruz Mountain town of Scotts Valley, Scott Valley is located in western Siskiyou County in the northern Shasta Cascade Region.

Like many Shasta Cascade communities, Scott Valley is lightly populated and wild country. The Marble Mountains provide the valley’s backdrop. This area was once a renowned beaver trapping area. Trapper Stephen Meek was reported to have trapped 1,800 beaver in 1850, naming the valley as the best beaver valley in the nation. It later attracted miners during California’s gold rush.

The sleepy ranch towns of Ft. Jones (once a frontier Army post), Etna and Greenview are found here, along with their white steepled churches and spots of bright fall color. Ruth Hartman of the Coffee Creek Ranch says the color is almost past peak, though sends these cell phone images, promising to return next year.

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Scott Valley – The color is just about past peak.

October 22, 2015/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, High Sierra

Mammoth Creek Gets Golden

Mammoth Creek (10/20/15) Josh Wray

Mammoth Creek has filled with gold, as aspen turn yellow, orange and red.

Mammoth Creek (10/20/15) Josh Wray

Mammoth Lakes color spotter Josh Wray sent these shots taken yesterday of Peak color along Mammoth Creek.

There appears to be enough lime green still among the aspen that the color should continue to develop through the weekend and into the following week, conditions permitting.

Lundy Canyon (10/20/15) Josh Wray

Conway Summit (10/19/15) Josh Wray

Josh also sent photos from Lundy Canyon and Conway Summit. Lundy is at full peak high up, but still developing lower down.

There is so much lime in the lower forest along Lundy Canyon Road, that it should last another week to two.

His photos of Conway Summit show a perplexing mix of enduring Peak to Just Starting with lime, yellow, orange and red among its groves.

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Mammoth Creek

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Mammoth Lakes

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Upper Lundy Canyon

Near Peak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Lower Lundy Canyon

Peak GO NOW! (75-100%) – Conway Summit

October 21, 2015/1 Comment/by John Poimiroo

Oaks Take Charge In Plumas County

Postcard: Mono County at its Best – GO NOW!

Peak of the Week: Coffee Creek

Owens Valley Soft and Lovely

Gold Country Just Starting

Upper Lassen and Shasta Counties Move Past Peak

Inyo County: Color Descends to the Owens Valley

Mono County: The Show Goes On

First Report: Scott Valley

Mammoth Creek Gets Golden

Destination

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