Snow dusted high peaks across the Shasta Cascade today, but has left lower elevations still peaking.
Color spotter Jeff Titcomb found this contrast between snow atop Indian Head, a peak along Keddie Ridge in the northern Sierra Nevada and black oaks peaking near Greenville in Plumas County.
At Indian Falls near the Feather River, Jeff found willows still vibrant yellow.
Trinity County color spotter Jeri Rangel toured the backroads of her Shasta Cascade haunt, this past Halloween weekend, to find crabapples peaking, vineyards nearing peak and horses galloping past peaking cottonwood in spirited celebration.
Bowerman Meadow (10/31/15) Jeri Rangel
Bowerman Meadow (10/31/15) Jeri Rangel
Coffee Creek (11/1/15) Jeri Rangel
Bowerman Meadow and Barn (10/31/15) Jeri Rangel
Bowerman Barn at Covington Mill (10/31/15) Jeri Rangel
Swift Creek, Trinity Center (10/31/15) Jeri Rangel
Alpen Cellars (10/30/15) Jeri Rangel
Anderson River Park, Anderson (10/30/15) Gabriel Leete
Indian Falls, N Fork Feather River (10/30/15) Jeff Luke Titcomb
Bowerman Meadow, Coffee Creek and Swift Creek, all in Trinity County, continue to develop surprising color. Travel Hwy 3 north of Weaverville (Hwy 299) to see it.
Elsewhere in the Shasta Cascade region, Shanda Ochs reports that alder and willows edging Manzanita Lake at the northwest entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park (Hwy 44) have lost half their peak color.
Gabriel Leete sends these shots from Anderson (Shasta County) and Indian Falls (Plumas County).
Anderson River Park shows a mix of native wild cucumber transitioning from green to lime to chartreuse.
Indian Falls, along Indian Creek leading to the N. Fork of the Feather River, is edged with brilliant orange-red and yellow Indian Rhubarb along with blackberry brambles and pockets of yellow-orange willows.
Plumas County color spotter Mike Nellor returned to the Community United Methodist Church in Quincy, yesterday, to take a picture of it using his mobile phone. Seen behind the church, towering black oaks are Near Peak, their leaves turning from green to orange.
Maples, Main St., Quincy (10/28/15) Mike Nellor
Along Main Street in downtown Quincy, maple were glowing in iridescent hues of red, orange, yellow and lime.
Mike says yesterday’s showers brightened the color, though he – like many other color spotters – believes this year’s color lacks the luster seen in previous years. Drought, again, is accused of being the culprit.
Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW! – Quincy, Plumas County
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2015-10-29 15:56:122015-10-29 16:01:33Going Back to Church - Go Now!
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.
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2015-10-27 16:25:292015-10-29 08:29:48Oaks Take Charge In Plumas County
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
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2015-10-26 19:06:192015-10-29 08:14:22Peak of the Week: Coffee Creek
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.
Castle Creek Confluence (10/18/15) Cory PooleCastle
The Shasta Cascade oughta be called the Celestial Cascade, considering what amazing dark sky viewing and photography is available there. It’s even better when a glimpse of fall color makes it into a photograph.
Here’s an image that Cory Poole took this past Sunday night of the Earth rotating under the stars at the confluence of Castle Creek and the Upper Sacramento River with the Castle Crags in full view. Heavenly!
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.
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2015-10-22 07:44:562015-10-26 08:05:17First Report: Scott Valley
We’re now getting so many beautiful photographs of fall color each day, that sometimes there are just too many good ones to post separately.
So, Gallimauphry is our collection of assorted wonders. This collection includes some historic shots (more than a week old) and though we don’t usually post older images, as they could mislead travelers as to what’s showing, we’ll occasionally mix a few in these postcard selections, such as Nancy Wright’s shot of Sunrise Over Silver Lake (above) shot in early October in Mono County.
Lessons Learned:
Get there at dawn, and
There’s always next year.
Spanish Creek, Plumas County (10/19/15) Mike Nellor
Mike Nellor, a color spotter in the Quincy area, sends us this shot of Spanish Creek as it flows through Oakland Camp, east of Quincy. Plumas County color spotter Karen Moritz reports that Bucks Lake is now at 75% and the area around Quincy is peaking. The Indian Valley, also in Plumas County, is Near Peak.
Lundy Canyon (10/20/15) Josh Wray
Josh Wray sends this peakaboo glimpse of how the color is developing in Lundy Canyon (Mono County). Yes, it’s still Near Peak.
Bigleaf maple, Coffee Creek (10/19/15) Ruth Hartman
Dogwood, Coffee Creek (10/19/15) Ruth Hartman
Coffee Creek off Hwy 3 in Trinity County is percolating with rosy Pacific Dogwood peaking, bigleaf maple turning from lime to yellow and black oaks still to dress in their Halloween orange and black, reports Ruth Hartman of the Coffee Creek Ranch.
The brew of fall colors will mature over the next two weeks with a rolling Near Peak continuing until the black oak blush.
Near Peak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Coffee Creek, Trinity County
Bigleaf Maple, Coffee Creek (10/19/15) Ruth Hartman
Coffee Creek (10/19/15) Ruth Hartman
Dogwood, Coffee Creek (10/19/15) Ruth Hartman
Bigleaf maple, Coffee Creek (10/19/15) Ruth Hartman
Bigleaf maple, Coffee Creek (10/19/15) Ruth Hartman
