FallClr

New Plates (10/31/19) John Poimiroo

It’s the end of October. Time to put a new expiration sticker on the license plate and keep tabs of what color is peaking in the neighborhood (elev. 768′).

Yup, it’s all good.

Back in the Saddle, Once More

Jennifer Roeser rides her mule, Pearl, in McGee Creek (9/28/15) Alicia Vennos/Mono County Tourism

I so love this photograph. I just don’t love why I keep posting it.

For the second time in a week, CaliforniaFallColor.com collapsed. The first time – I’m told by the techs – was because of a server failure. Then, they found malware, despite efforts to protect the site from such hooligans.

36 hours later, the site collapsed again. This last time lasted 35 hours (this repetition is getting tiresome), as a previous server had hijacked the site, causing it to have to go through re-propagating onto the correct server.

I can just hear the techies out there groaning at my explanations. I’m a journalist, not an IT, so I suppose what I’m explaining here is just more “fake news,” but that’s how I understand it. Ah, well.

The good news is that CaliforniaFallColor.com is back in the saddle, once more.

Back in the Saddle Again

Jennifer Roeser rides her mule, Pearl, in McGee Creek (9/28/15) Alicia Vennos/Mono County Tourism

This is the second time in three years that CaliforniaFallColor.com has crashed due to a web attack.

Malware from another country took root on Sunday night, despite our best efforts to protect against attacks.

The last time, it put the site down for 36 frustrating hours. CaliforniaFallColor.com went down at about midnight on Sunday. We went live again at 9 p.m. on Wed. – about the same gap as in 2017.

That’s right pardners, darn frustratin’.

Now, time was lost, but not the reports. All reports received from spotters since Sunday night will be up following this post.

Time to start singing about fall color once more, buckaroos.

Fans of Fall Color

Michael Beatley (hat) and John Poimiroo (red) meet the Ghandi, Velusami and Govindasamy families, all fans of fall color at Spanish Creek.

Yesterday, Michael Beatley and I toured Plumas County. Along the way, we ran into fans of CaliforniaFallColor.com who’d followed this site’s advice to GO NOW! It was coincidental that they happened to be where we were.

At Spanish Creek, Michael and I stopped to joke about their tantalizing picnic feast that was spread out on a blanket at the trailhead.

Karthik Ghandi and his family from Rocklin was joined by the Velusami family of Roseville and the Govindasamy’s of Folsom who were enjoying the lunch before visiting Spanish Creek then hiking up the trail a half mile to see Indian rhubarb.

In Quincy, we passed Son and Ann Nugyen, contributors to the site, who were photographing a maple. They have traveled far and wide across North America to photograph fall color and refer to CaliforniaFallColor.com, regularly.

To all our readers and fans, thank you. Thank you for your loyalty to the site and the many contributions you make, sharing the beauty you’ve seen with other fans of fall color.

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Nikon Asks, “Who’s Tops?”

Pinot Noir, Durrell Vineyards, Sonoma County (10/12/19) Risa Wyatt

Nikon USA is holding its fifth “Top Spots for Fall Foliage Competition.”

The competition is a nationwide crowdsourced campaign on Nikon USA’s social media channels to determine which state has the best fall color.

Michigan has won it for the past three years. The winner is based on the number of fall color photos posted to social media with the hashtag, #NikonFallCA. That’s California’s hashtag.

In a month, Nikon will tally the photos from each state and announce the winning state, during the week of November 18.

So, where is the top spot for fall foliage? It’s California, of course … #NikonFallCA.

Powered Again

The California Fall Color Map is powered again. Lots of added red, orange, yellow and a few brown. Avoid the brown-out. GO NOW!

Sorry: Map Not Updated

Sincere regrets, as I won’t be able to update the California Fall Color Map until Sunday, due to the power shutdown.

I had to relocate to continue posting on the site and the iPad I’m using won’t let me access the map’s editing function.

Until I get the iMac powered again, the map cannot be updated. Sorry.

Fall Color Map Tops 2.7m Views

California Fall Color Map (10/4/19)

The California Fall Color Map (click top Nav Bar or Sidebar link to access) has now topped 2.7 million views.

The map is updated each week on Friday and shows confirmed reports received from color spotters. As such, it depends on reports and is updated only when reports have been received.

As such, it may not be accurate for a given location, should reports from that location not have been received or have changed greatly since last updated. Nevertheless, it provides a quick overview of where peak fall color can be seen throughout California.

Leaves on the map indicate the extent of change: dark green, No Report; light green, Just Starting; yellow, Patchy; orange, Near Peak; red, Peak and brown, Past Peak.

To contribute a report to the map, email editor@californiafallcolor.com.

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CaliforniaFallColor.com Wins Seven EIC Awards

1st Place, Best Outdoor Feature Photograph, Outdoor Writers Association of California, 2019
Seasonal Confetti, Roaring Camp Railroads, John Poimiroo

CaliforniaFallColor.com won in seven categories at the Outdoor Writers Association of California’s recent Excellence in Craft Awards, presented at Mount Shasta City in late May.

The website was named California’s Best Outdoor Internet Site for the second successive year and received first place awards for Best Outdoor News Article (Aspen Grove Trail Recovers) and Best Outdoor Feature Photograph (Seasonal Confetti), Best Outdoor Video Short (Giving Thanks).

CaliforniaFallColor.com received a second place award for California’s Best Outdoor Medium (won by the Bishop Visitor Guide) and two third place awards for Best Outdoor Photographic Series (Sacramento’s Last Leaves) and the Phil Ford Humor Award (Orange Friday).

More about the Outdoor Writers Association of California is found at OWAC.org.

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Giving Thanks and Looking Back at 2018

On this Thanksgiving Day, CaliforniaFallColor.com is thankful to the many color spotters and photographers who contributed reports, photographs and videos in 2018.

They include (from first turned leaf reported): Jeff Luke Titcomb, Lisa Wilkerson-Willis, Anson Davalos, Walt Gabler, Chico Hiking Association, Lance Pifer, Peter Asco, Liz Grans, Alicia Vennos, Cindy Hoover, Michael Beatley, David Senesac, Kathy Smith, Jared Smith, Elliot McGucken, Will Ridgway, Ursula Esser, Toru Takahashi, Clayton Peoples, Herb Hwang, David Olden, Rodney Chai, Mark Harding, Alena Nicholas, Gigi de Jong, Matthew Pacheco, Jeff Simpson, Julia Ellis, Martha Fletcher, Josh Wray, Shelley Hunter, Dave Butler, Philip Reedy, Nick King, Todd Backman, Larry Salmi, Douglas Van Kirk, Bruce Wendler, Darrell Sano, Lisa May, Shanda Ochs, Robert Kermen, Connie Varvais, Dan Varvais, Mike Caffrey, Surjanto Suradji, Jeri Rangel, Adam Potts, Daniel Danzig, Tracy Zhou, Colin Birdseye, Bonnie Nordby, Cathy Tsao, Paul Kim, Peter Chun, Ming Lo, Jeff Hemming, Jennifer Cornell, Toru Takahashi, Joe Pollini, Patti Jananoski, Leor Pantilat, Steve Shinn, Roberto Ferido, Jerry Sy, Jason Paine, Gene Miller, Kathleen DiGiorgio, Crys Black, Benjamin Vu, Kirsten Liske, Laura Jean, Ravi Ranganathan, John Dinsmore, Tor Lacy, Candace Gregory, Sophie Beaney, Julie Kirby, John King, Thomas Haraikawa, Kathy Jonokuchi, Jake Puchalski, Jean Pan, Dylan Ren, Mark Harding, Melani Clark, Namita Mishra, Max Forster, Gabriel Leete, David Sharp, Ken Locke and Ron Tyler, who produced the above video.

We’re also grateful to readers who posted photos and reports to our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages (you are too numerous to list).

Special thanks are expressed to Inyo County Tourism, Bishop Area Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau, Mono County Tourism, Mammoth Lakes Tourism, Redding Convention & Visitors Bureau, Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association, and The California Parks Company for underwriting California Fall Color, and to the many reporters and media who carried our reports and gave attention to what we have shown about California’s fall color.

If we missed thanking you here, please know it wasn’t intentional. We are truly indebted to every contributor.

Of course, this list is incomplete without mentioning my wife, Joan, who has driven the car and pulled it to the shoulder so that I could jump out to photograph particularly beautiful locations; humored my recording of color percentages, species and elevations; pointed out spectacular color; and tolerated my exuberance in showing her countless stunning photographs taken by our contributors.

Of course, our deepest thanks go to the many tens of thousands of people who have read, followed, reacted and commented here and on our social media pages. You are, after all, the reason we do this.

Above is our video impression of autumn in California, this year. We produce a new video each autumn. To see them all, CLICK HERE.

The photographs selected for this year’s video represent: what happened this autumn, the extent and diversity of fall color across the state, and some of the finest photographs taken in 2018.

If you would like your photographs considered for inclusion in next autumn’s video, submit “horizontal” pictures of fall color taken in places not often photographed. As, competition is stiffest among pictures taken at the most photographed destinations.

Autumn doesn’t end today. It continues for nearly a month longer. We’ll continue to post photos and reports, as received. Though today, we begin to dial back reports and will post them less frequently. We’ve also stopped sending  weekly reports to meteorologists, travel and outdoor writers.

So, enjoy your Thanksgiving Day and plan an Orange Friday of fall color spotting, tomorrow.

See you next autumn, dude. 

California (Peak 75-100%) GO NOW! – In our hearts, California is always peaking.