Northern Sierra – California Fall Color

Winter Arrives

Winter arrived in the High Sierra yesterday morning.

A dusting of snow frosted spent maple and aspen leaves at North Lake Tahoe. The area was already past peak, though the light snow made it official. You missed it.

On Interstate 80, orange black oak cover the hillsides between Dutch Flat and Alta. Black oak are peaking between 3,000 and 5,000′ throughout the western Sierra. Yosemite is glorious with them.

Peak color has now descended to the Sierra foothills and is filling the Central Valley with warm joy.

Lake Tahoe (6,227′) – Past Peak, You Missed It.
Dutch Flat (3,144′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
El Dorado Hills (800′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Yuba River, Drum Forebay (11/5/23) John Poimiroo

I-80, Drum Forebay (11/5/23) John Poimiroo

Agate Bay (11/7/23) John Poimiroo

Pacific dogwood, El Dorado Hills (11/5/23) John Poimiroo

Crabapple, El Dorado Hills (11/5/23) John Poimiroo

Hawthorne, El Dorado Hills (11/5/23) John Poimiroo

Crabapple, El Dorado Hills (11/5/23) John Poimiroo

November 7, 2023/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, Northern Sierra, Shasta Cascade

88 is Great

Color spotter Jennifer Natale took a drive last weekend on Hwy 88 over to Kirkwood. She stopped at the Hope Valley Red Barn, hiked Big Meadow to Scott’s Lake and then headed to South Tahoe.

She found some nice color along the Kirkwood overlooks and at Sugar Pine Point Park. There was also lots of color at Fallen Leaf Lake and Taylor Creek in South Lake Tahoe that was at or near peak.

Get to all of these areas soon as the color won’t be there for long.

October 24, 2023/by Lara Kaylor

Fall Color Report, Northern Sierra

Tahoe’s Terrific

We drove up to Tahoe for the day in order to check on bear damage at our family cabin and found a bright surprise.

Aspen, bigleaf maple, cottonwood and exotics were all aglow with color ringing the lake with a golden necklace.

Agate Bay, North Lake Tahoe (6,227′) – Peak (756 – 100%) GO NOW!

October 23, 2023/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, Northern Sierra

Treats From Taylor Creek

Color spotter Clayton Peoples has done it again with his great capture of the salmon run in Taylor Creek in the Lake Tahoe area, and the other wildlife surrounding the show.

Peoples visited Tahoe on October 20 and found much of the area in GO NOW peak condition (75-100%), especially in the Taylor Creek area.

“This assessment is largely based on the leaves,” according to Peoples, “but it’s also based on another cherished tradition that only comes around in autumn: the salmon run!”

“Every year, in autumn, Kokanee Salmon make their way up Taylor Creek from Lake Tahoe to spawn. This spectacle alone is well worth a visit.”

However, as Peoples also captured, the salmon run often brings other sights that can make a visit truly special. Bald Eagles can be seen soaring over the area and catching the salmon for dinner, and California Black Bears frequently enter the creek for a snack.

“During my visit today, I observed that the salmon run was in full force,” Peoples said. “It’s difficult to estimate, but I would say there were thousands of salmon present. Moreover, I was fortunate to see a Bald Eagle soaring overhead and four (4!) bears fishing for salmon.”

Lucky for us, Peoples likes to share what he captures.

October 23, 2023/by Lara Kaylor

Fall Color Report, Northern Sierra

Colors Are Truckin’ Along Near Truckee

Longtime color contributor and talented photographer, Philip Reedy took a drive yesterday, Oct. 21 to get a feel for colors in the Northern Sierra. He scored some great shots and some great information. This is another GO NOW location.

Reedy left Davis at 4:30 yesterday morning in order to be north of Truckee before the sun came up. His first stop was the Little Truckee River along Jackson Lake Road. “The trees are definitely at peak, so this is the weekend to go,” he says. “I also headed upstream to Webber Falls, which is near the headwaters of the Little Truckee. A beautiful spot and a beautiful morning as well.”

Reedy then headed on north a few miles toward Sierraville and Cold Creek Campground. He noted that the aspens along the highway and at the campground are peaking right now and look great. In another week he expects a lot of the leaves to have fallen, so this is another GO NOW!

October 22, 2023/1 Comment/by Lara Kaylor

Fall Color Report, Northern Sierra

Last Vestiges

In search of snowy fishing holes, Davis color spotter Philip Reedy and John, a fishing companion, drove along Highway 32 from Chico to Deer Creek. They returned through the Forks of Butte Creek Recreation Area.

There, they found last vestiges of autumn color. Trees were bare and leaves spent. Fall color littered the forest floor as decaying detritus. Orange-brown maple and blackened alder leaves provided morbid contrast to vibrant mosses that flocked a rocky face above the creek.

For his fortitude, Reedy scored the last First Report of autumn at the Forks of Butte Creek Recreation Area, an area not previously reported here. He also posted the final fall color report of Autumn, 2022.

Forks of Butte Creek Recreation Area (2,000′) – Past Peak, You Missed It.

December 19, 2022/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, Northern Sierra

Pre Storm at Indian Valley

Bigleaf maple, black oak and riparian grasses were glowing along Indian Creek in Plumas County as today’s storm arrived, yesterday.

Plumas County color spotter Jeff Luke Titcomb drove CA-89 through the Indian Valley to report the color was hot before the storm. Some 0f it will blow away this week, though most is likely to remain after the storm passes.

Seen on the hillsides above and beyond Indian Creek is snow from the previous storm. The purple-brown trees on the hills indicate burn areas of the Dixie Fire which devastated this area last year.

Indian Valley (3,583′) – PEAK to Past Peak, GO NOW, You almost missed it.

November 8, 2022/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, Northern Sierra

All About Them Oaks

“It’s all about them oaks,” Jeff Luke Titcomb wrote when submitting these images.

Black oaks now dominate along LaPorte Road in Plumas County (southeast of Quincy). Their blend of emerald, vermillion, and rich carmine intensify in late afternoon sunlight. The same is true along Bucks Lake Road, where philamont, chartreuse and buttery leaves mix with mango and crimson foliage in an autumn salad that’s a feast for the eye.

Between these two fall color destinations, the road passes through Quincy whose hybrid maple and landscaped exotics, shout, “See me! See me!”

Ah, to be in Plumas County at peak.

Black oak, LaPorte Rd, Plumas County (11/6/22) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Bucks Lake Rd, Plumas County (5,167′) – PEAK (75-100%) GO NOW!
LaPorte Rd, Plumas County (4,980′) – PEAK (75-100%) GO NOW!

November 7, 2022/1 Comment/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, Northern Sierra

Moving Target

At some locations, returning to them when you believe they will be at peak, seems to be as effective as tossing feathers at a moving target.

For five years, Philip Reedy has been returning to the North Fork of the Yuba River and Lavezzola Creek. On each return, his frustration grew as successive scenes weren’t as good as the first time he visited.

So, Phil and his fishing buddy, John Bernard, returned to the North Yuba this week, both to see if Patchy Darmera, photographed last week, had developed and to work a particular location and capture an image Phil had envisioned for a fly fishing publication.

Seen above, the photo they crafted satisfies Phil’s objectives of a “sharp, well-lit image with John and the floating fly in the frame.” It was intended that peak color glowed in the background, as well. While they were satisfied with the result, John and Phil found the North Fork of the Yuba to be disappointing.

A year ago, lush peaking stands of Darmera along Lavezzola Creek were ruined in a sudden downpour. Last week, Lavezzola Creek was again lined with Near Peak Indian Rhubarb, and Phil hoped to return to a stupefying scene. But on this recent visit, few of the Darmera “were exhibiting their usual splendor.” And, the vibrant fall color seen emerging from the conifers in 2017 was missing.

Phil, maybe that’s the point. Perhaps for Indian Rhubarb (Darmera) to be exceptional, every condition needs to be met. 2017 might have been the exception, not the “usual.”

Philip Reedy found perfection the first year he photographed Lavezzola Creek in 2017. What he captured then, he says, “was by far the best.” So, Phil returns each year, “hoping for a repeat of that.” Though attaining perfection at this location is illusory.

N Fork Yuba River, Downieville (11/5/22)

N Fork Yuba River, Sierra City (11/4/22) Philip Reedy

Phil has now given up along the N Fork of the Yuba … for this year. With a storm arriving on Sunday, which is expected to settle upon the Northern Sierra through Wednesday, “It’s questionable how worthwhile a trip up there will be for any more color this year. Darmera that looked nice a week ago have now died off. So, only patches remain.”

Reedy has not abandoned photographing autumn, however. He’s off to scout the lower elevations of Butte and Big Chico creeks and writes, “I’ve never been there in the fall, so it will be a new adventure. And who knows, I might even get in some fly fishing shots.”

N Fork Yuba River, Downieville (2,966′) – PEAK to Past Peak, GO NOW, You almost missed it.

November 5, 2022/by John Poimiroo

Fall Color Report, Northern Sierra

Paradisiacal Plumas

Should I ever get to paradise, I imagine one of the first things I’d do would be to ask others there, how they found it and directions to its best places.

That happened to Plumas County color spotter Michael Beatley today. He met three photographers from Sacramento near Thompson Valley. After introducing himself (they recognized Michael’s photos on this site), “they … asked where to go for photographs. I was happy to help,” he wrote.

They all ended up in a better part of paradisiacal Plumas County where each angelic step is along a path lined with glorious beauty … Spanish Creek.

Michael said that he awoke this morning, after a dusting of snow, to find his little piece of heaven “absolutely gorgeous.”

“It was one of those crisp, clear fall days where beauty takes your breath away,” he wrote, “Although just past peak, the black oak, alder, grasses and reflections on Spanish Creek at Oakland Camp were just about perfect.”

Do not let Michael’s assessment of the Quincy area being past peak dissuade you from heading there. It looks damn fine, to me. But, then when you live in paradise, as Michael does, anything less than perfection seems past peak.

Spanish Creek, Plumas County (11/3/22) Michael Beatley

Spanish Creek at Oakland Camp (5,817′) – PEAK to Past Peak, GO NOW, You almost missed it.

November 3, 2022/by John Poimiroo

Winter Arrives

88 is Great

Tahoe’s Terrific

Treats From Taylor Creek

Colors Are Truckin’ Along Near Truckee

Last Vestiges

Pre Storm at Indian Valley

All About Them Oaks

Moving Target

Paradisiacal Plumas

Destination

Check-in date

Check-out date