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Cascade Trail to Spanish Creek

Bigleaf Maple, Spanish Creek (10/14/17) Michael Beatley

Plumas County color spotter Michael Beatley hiked the Cascade Trail beside Spanish Creek toward Quincy, yesterday, discovering one beautiful reflection after another.

He wrote, “The area has a profusion of color and reflections, with Indian Rhubarb, Bigleaf maple, black oak and grasses providing the color.”

Spanish Creek is along the trail to the Cascades. It runs into the North Fork of the Feather River, which continues down to the Sacramento River and the Delta.

Michael advises that mornings (9 to 10 a.m.) are best for light and reflection photographs at Spanish Creek.

Daytime temperatures are in the 60s with nights in the 20s to 30s, blue skies and a lot of clear, rushing water and still blue lakes.

Plumas County has been spared the haze caused by this autumn’s wildfires.  So, skies are blue, windless and smokeless.

Spanish Creek, Plumas County (2,000′) – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW!

Spanish Creek (10/14/17) Michael Beatley

Spanish Creek (10/14/17) Michael Beatley

Spanish Creek (10/14/17) Michael Beatley

Spanish Creek (10/14/17) Michael Beatley

 

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Weekend Drive – LaPorte Road, Quincy

LaPorte Rd., Quincy (10/9/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Bigleaf maple, LaPorte Rd., Quincy (10/9/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Dogwood, LaPorte Rd., Quincy (10/9/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

The LaPorte Road, just out of Quincy, “is ripe for color drives, all along the road,” reports Plumas County color spotter Jeff Luke Titcomb.

Yellow bigleaf maple, rosy dogwood and black oak, their big leaves splotched with orange, yellow and lime, “are just stunning right now,” Jeff writes, “It’s a great drive, especially when the sun changes direction and just makes the yellow glow.”

LaPorte Rd., Quincy (3,432′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

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Wonder-Filled Plumas

Indian Rhubarb and riparian grass, Rock Creek (10/8/17) Michael Beatley

Indian rhubarb (10/87/17) Michael Beatley

When the Indian Rhubarb start to burn orange, red, yellow and green in Plumas County, there are few more striking places to be to see fall color in California than along one of its streams.

Michael Beatley captures the start of this beauty in these closeups from along Rock Creek, downstream from Meadow Camp in Meadow Valley.

Plumas County is the northernmost end of the Sierra in the vast Shasta Cascade region of California, and during autumn, it is wonder-filled.

Indian rhubarb, black oak and bigleaf maple are the predominant sources of fall color.

Though, exotic trees planted in its towns mix with the native color to create dramatic showy scenes, like that of the exotic maple planted behind the Plumas Superior Courthouse in Quincy, contrasted with a native maple seen along Big Creek road.

Eastern maple, Plumas Superior Courthouse, Quincy (10/8/17) Michael Beatley

Bigleaf maple, Big Creek Rd., Plumas County (10/8/17) Michael Beatley

Plumas County Color spotter Michael Beatley drove to Thompson Lake (First Report), just above Bucks Lake, on the road to the dam and just off the road near 5 p.m.

Beatley called it the “Perfect time, no wind and aspen peaking at 5,600′.

What!? Peaking aspen at 5,600′ when they haven’t peaked above 9,000′ at some locations in the Eastern Sierra? What gives?

This continues to be one of the earliest autumn peaks for the Northern Sierra and one of the latest for the Eastern Sierra.

Thompson Lake, Plumas County (10/8/17) Michael Beatley

 

 

 

 

 

Superior Court Judge Alan Theiler Memorial Maple, Quincy (10/10/17) Michael Beatley

Thompson Ranch Maple, La Porte Rd., Quincy (10/10/17) Michael Beatley

Quincy (3,432′) –  Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Plumas County – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW!

 

 

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Fire in the Wind

Black Cottonwood and Lichen, Lassen Volcanic NP (10/8/17) Shanda Ochs

Knotweed, Lassen Volcanic NP (10/7/17) Shanda Ochs

Pearly Everlasting (10/8/17) Shanda Ochs

There was fire in the wind yesterday. High winds blew wildfire to a tragic end across Sonoma and Napa Counties, while also stripping fiery leaves from their branches.

That happened in Lassen Volcanic National Park (northeast California) as reported by Shanda Ochs, a park guide, who says, “most of the color is at peak” or just Past Peak.

Of course, this is a national park, so there are quite a number of colorful native varieties to be enjoyed: knotweed (crimson), pearly everlastings (vanilla), Lichen (chartreuse), willows (brassy), alder (yellow), dogwood (rose), black cottonwood (gold) and quaking aspen (yellow to red).

 

Of those, the cottonwood and aspen are Near Peak, with one to three weeks of peak still to go.

The rest are Past Peak.

As for the wind, it only blew “turned” leaves from the trees. Trees whose leaves were in the process of turning still have their leaves, and because so much of California’s autumn has been staggered, the show will go on for weeks ahead.

Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic NP (10/8/17) Shanda Ochs

One of the prime areas to still see the show in the national park is at Manzanita Lake, where Lassen Peak reflections are seen. This is particularly nice at sunset, when the volcano is lit with alpenglow. Several of these shots were taken along the park road near Dersch Meadow, Hat Creek Meadow and Summit Lake, near 7000′.

When he saw peak color, seasoned color spotter Cory Poole had the presence of mind to snap a shot with his cell phone of a “Lovely little grove of aspens growing next to an old lava flow, at the intersection of CA-44 and CA-89, just south of Old Station.

Lassen Volcanic National Park (8,500′) – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW! to Past Peak (You Missed It.)

Aspen, CA-44 and CA-89 (10/9/17) Cory Poole

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Fall Color Brightens Small Towns

Aspen, Antelope Lake (10/3/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Quaking Aspen, Antelope Lake (10/3/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Red Maple, Chester (10/3/17) Kathy Wasson

Quaking aspen at Antelope Lake in Plumas County’s Indian Valley (Northern Sierra) are peaking with bright orange-gold color.

The drive to remote Antelope Lake on the Genessee/Antelope Lake Rd. passes the charming town of Taylorsville (Pop. 154), that has changed little since it was founded in 1852.

Elsewhere in the Shasta Cascade, bright color is appearing in Chester at Lake Almanor, where an exotic red maple stands beside the town’s bicycle rental shop.

Antelope Lake (5,000′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Chester (4,534′) – Patchy (10-50%)

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Plumas County Fills With Color

Bigleaf maple, Plumas County (9/30/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Plumas County color spotter Jeff Luke Titcomb took a road trip in search of fall color.

Bigleaf maple, Plumas County (9/30/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Wild Locust, Plumas County (9/30/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Dogwood, Plumas County (9/30/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Plumas County, Plumas County (9/30/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Dogwood, Plumas County (9/30/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

He rode along Hideaway Road and Round Valley Road to the Round Valley reservoir, then up from there to the top, and back down to Canyon Dam near Lake Almanor.

He found the Canyon Dam side not as far along with weeks to go until peak color. Though the dogwoods are coming along and bigleaf maples are half way there.

River bottoms along Wolf Creek in Greenville are full of yellows and reds beside Hideaway Road.

A tree that is often confused (wild locust) are in full yellow. Jeff reports that the higher you go in the area,  the longer it seems the color will take to peak, though the valley floor is turning fast.

Plumas County (3,500’) – Patchy (10-50%)

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Shasta Cascade A Harvest of Events

Mt. Shasta, Upper Sacramento River (10/21/16) Philip Reedy

Patchy color is appearing early across the Shasta Cascade, providing opportunities to harvest an autumn drive with a car show, road race, trout derby and all sorts of festivals (music, food, and fun). Here are some of the events that will be happening up north on this coming and the following weekend.

Oct. 6

– Olive Festival, Corning Car Show

 

Oct. 7  

– Bizz Johnson Marathon  ( Susanville)

– Harvest Moon Liberty Fest ( Anderson River Park )

– Johnny Appleseed Days . ( Paradise )

– Manton Apple Festival ( Manton )

– Salmon Festival (Weaverville)

 

Oct. 14 

– Apple Harvest Festival . ( Mc Cloud) .

– Shasta Lake Trout Derby

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Sometimes, Fall Color Crawls

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%)

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Way Up North – Two Firsts

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

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Shasta Cascade on Pace for Early Peak

Cottonwood, Westwood (9/29/17) Chris Gallagher

Unlike the Eastern Sierra, which is a week to two late, we’re getting early reports of fall color from the Northern Sierra and Cascades.

Admittedly, the color is at the starting to patchy phase, but still, the photos don’t lie. Even valley locations in the northern Central Valley, like Colusa, are showing early color.

We’re not close to issuing a GO NOW! alert, as too few photos have been received to indicate a trend, though will be watching closely. What a weird year!

Westwood (Lassen County) – Patchy (10-50%) – Chris Gallagher, Lassen County District 1 Supervisor, sent a photo of patchy cottonwood near a Westwood barn to score a First Report. Westwood was a lumber mill town, east of Lake Almanor and beside the lovely (bring your kayak) Mountain Meadows Reservoir and Dyer Mountain, the northernmost point in the Sierra Nevada.

Fall River (9/29/17) Martha Fletcher

Fall River – Patchy (10-50%) – Martha Fletcher reports that the Fall River area, particularly Upper Fall River near the Spinner Fall Lodge remains Patchy with the color at 50% and showing shades of yellow, gold, some reds and green from willow, black oak and river grasses.

Mountain Ash, Colusa (9/29/17) Nancy Hull

Colusa – Patchy (10-50%) – Mountain ash have brightened in Colusa (Central Valley), Nancy Hull reports. Several National Wildlife Refuges are located near Colusa, which is a great location for wildlife viewing in autumn.