Mono County: The Show Goes On
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.
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.
First Report: Scott Valley
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.
Mammoth Creek Gets Golden
Mammoth Creek has filled with gold, as aspen turn yellow, orange and red.
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.
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
Postcard: Gallimauphry
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.
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.
Josh Wray sends this peakaboo glimpse of how the color is developing in Lundy Canyon (Mono County). Yes, it’s still Near Peak.
Coffee Creek Brewing Nicely
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
Postcard: Mono County
Here’s something new for CaliforniaFallColor.com… a postcard selection of photographs taken on one weekend.
Alena Nicholas sent these sunrise and sunset images of Lundy Canyon, the June Lake Loop and Convict Lake in Mono County. Though it is Near Peak, much of the June Lake Loop has yet to turn. That indicates June Lake will continue to peak for a week to two more weeks. So, GO NOW!
First Report: Black Oaks of the Thompson Valley
Plumas County color spotter Mike Nellor scores a First Report with these shots of barns in the Thompson Valley.
Located southeast of Quincy, the Thompson Valley is ranch country, with lots of cattle grazing and big black oaks edging the pastures. Many backroads lead to stands of black oak and bigleaf maple. Mike reports this area as 60% peaked, and it should be full peak by Halloween.
Near Peak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Thompson Valley, Plumas County
Mono County – Wow!
Color spotter Alena Nicholas sent urgent text messages this past weekend, exclaiming about the incredible color to be seen in Mono County.
Alena knows the Eastern Sierra well, having photographed it many times in the past, though wrote “The Sierra are GLORIOUS!!! Never seen June Lake and area finer…”
Color spotter Patricia Costa followed our advice and headed to the east side to send us photos of the same storm swirling and dropping snow amidst the color while visiting Mammoth Lakes, Devil’s Postpile National Monument, June Lake and points along US 395.
Upper Sacramento River Heats Up
Color spotter Philip Reedy traveled north of Dunsmuir on I-5 to find color along the Upper Sacramento River.
Indian Rhubarb has sprinkled a confetti of its red, orange, yellow and green fan-shaped leaves along the river’s edge, while alder, cottonwood and aspen brighten the forest with gold and yellow.
Sims Flat is coming into its own, though short of peaking.
Elsewhere in the Shasta Cascade region, Pacific dogwood have turned hot pink in Trinity County. Now, that’s hot.
Near Peak GO NOW! (50-75%) – Upper Sacramento River – Get down to the river above Dunsmuir for peaking Indian Rhubarb at river’s edge and trees going golden.
Patchy (10-50%) – Sims Flat – Upper Sacramento River – Lots of color now, more to come.
Patchy (10-50%) – Trinity County – Pacific Dogwood have turned Paris-Hilton hot.
Central Valley – Just Starting
We’re beginning to see cottonwood topped with crests of gold within Central Valley wetland areas. Soon, these wetlands and surrounding farmed rice fields will become banquet tables for wild geese, ducks and swans.
Walnut orchards west of Davis along I-80, near corn mazes, farm stands and pumpkin patches, are starting to show color. Drive north on Hwys 70 and 99 to Oroville and Chico to pass more orchards full of walnut trees in two weeks to see them peak.
The urban forests of the Central Valley (Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto and Fresno) are just starting to show their color. Towering London Plane trees arch over Sacramento’s Fabulous Forties (avenues numbered 40 – 49) in mid-town, the sun lighting their leaves to chartreuse brilliance.
In the next two to three weeks, browned leaves will fall and the sound of rakes and leaf blowers will reveal where they are being gathered into piles. Today is the first day that Sacramento residents may leave the piles in the street to be picked up by the City.
There are so many trees in Sacramento and such a big drop of leaves, that the service continues into January. What a wonder it must be to be a kid in Sacramento with so many piles of leaves through which to ride your bike.
Other good places to watch leaves drop in Sacramento are: the Cal State Sacramento campus, Land Park and Discovery Park at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers.
Just Starting (0-10%) – Central Valley