William Croce calls Bishop, the Round Valley and US Hwy 6, a “Nice consolation prize for those of us who missed the good stuff in the high country.”
Indeed it is. Too many color spotters give up on Bishop once the aspen have peaked up Bishop Creek Canyon, but they’re missing out on the beauty that William found… tall Frémont cottonwood carrying loads of yellow, gold and lime color in Bishop and along US 6, past Laws.
Bishop color spotter Gigi deJong reported today that there’s “a mix of color, ranging from light yellow, to burnt orange, to a few small patches of crimson & red,” in and around Bishop with “a lovely line of trees glowing gold bordering Bishop Middle School at W. Line & Home Streets.”
That hardly resembles a consolation prize, and neither do William Croce’s photographs.
Leaf Cookies, Freeport Bakery, Sacramento (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
The most satisfying leaves of autumn are Leaf Cookies sold at the Freeport Bakery in Sacramento.
Buying a half-dozen of them has become a sure stop on a routine fall color drive that I take each November along the American River to Sacramento and back.
Mormon Island (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
Mormon Island (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
The drive begins in Folsom where Mormon Island Wetlands and the boulevards of Folsom are near peak. Frémont cottonwood at the wetlands preserve (part of Folsom Lake State Recreation Area) began showing yellow in September, though they still have lots of green, lime and fresh yellow in them.
Guarding Rooster, Fair Oaks (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
Posing Rooster, Fair Oaks (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
Plaza Park, Fair Oaks (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
Continuing west on US 50, I exit at Sunrise Blvd. for a visit to downtown Fair Oaks where, near Plaza Park, roosters hold court, crowing, scratching and otherwise guarding their turf.
The roosters are part of the charm of Fair Oaks, a rural town that is now surrounded by suburbia and has become an oasis of authentic shops, cafes and restaurants.
Strutting Rooster, Fair Oaks (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
Curious Rooster, Fair Oaks (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
Seeing Red Rooster, Fair Oaks (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
Returning to US 50 and traveling on to Sacramento, I exit and tour “the 40s,” Sacramento’s tony residential area, so named because it is comprised of avenues numbered in the 40s.
16th Avenue, Sacramento (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
41st Avenue, Sacramento (11/5/16) John Poimiroo
Along the avenues, leaves that have fallen from the capital city’s towering London planetrees are blown into piles to be scooped up by city street cleaners and taken away.
London planetrees are a variety of sycamore. Their leaves are a mix of chartreuse and orange-brown. Presently, they’re near peak.
Sacramento prides itself as a city of trees and nowhere is that more evident than at William Land Park, south of downtown or on the drive into Sacramento International Airport, where trees are planted by species in a grand arboretum that leads to the airport’s terminals.
No wonder, Leaf Cookies are so popular in Sacramento.
American River and Sacramento – Near Peak (75-100%) GO NOW! –
As color descends throughout California, the bold stands of aspen have disappeared. The last remaining big show are the black oak, which continue to show orange color at elevations below 3,000′.
Oregon splitleaf birch (11/2/16) John Poimiroo
Pacific dogwood (11/2/16) John Poimiroo
Color spotters turn to California’s urban forests for bright color, as I did this past week in my garden in El Dorado Hills (800′).
Chinese pistache (11/2/16) John Poimiroo
Chinese pistache (11/2/16) John Poimiroo
There, Eastern redbud, Pacific dogwood, breeze-brushed Oregon splitleaf birch and Chinese pistache were backlit and beautiful.
Today, I head out on a search for more exotics showing color in Sacramento’s urban forest.
California’s Urban Forests – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
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Stuart Fork, Trinity Alps Resort (10/31/16) Jeri Rangel
Dogwood, Rush Creek, Lewiston (10/31/16) Jeri Rangel
Coffee Creek, Hwy 3 (10/31/16) Jeri Rangel
Dogwood, Hwy 3 (10/31/16) Jeri Rangel
Hwy 3 (10/31/16) Jeri Rangel
Driving CA-3 north from Weaverville past Trinity Lake and the Trinity Alps at this time of year, you truly are on a highway to heaven.
Bold color fills the forest. In places, it is a virtual corridor of autumn drama.
Color spotter Jeri Rangel traveled the route this week, returning with these images of dogwood blushing in the woods and bigleaf maple, vine maple, cottonwood, alder, aspen, chokecherry and oaks lighting streams, forests and roads with autumn color.
California State Highway 3 – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Redding is unusual for a city, in that a major natural area passes through its center. That natural area is the Sacramento River.
Preserved green space flanks each side of the river to provide some flood protection to the city, preserve the riparian environment and provide a corridor of recreation.
The Sacramento River Trail is this week’s Hike of the Week.
It is a National Recreation Trail with miles of biking, walking and running path, Turtle Bay Exploration Park with its children’s discovery museum, museum of art, history and nature, wildlife discovery museum, a riparian forest tree walk, the McConnell Arboretum and Gardens (that focuses on California native plants) and lots of natural fall color.
The trail travels from scenic Shasta Dam at Shasta Lake, 17.4 miles to Sundial Bridge in Redding.
Sundial Bridge is one of three scenic and historic bridges that cross the river. Designed by world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, Sundial Bridge is an actual working sundial, casting its towering shadow across an arc from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is not accurate in winter, however, as its shadow is too far into the adjacent arboretum to be seen.
When the bridge’s shadow is visible, it moves at a rate of one foot per minute. The remarkable, steel, glass and granite structure evokes a sense of weightlessness, and its translucent glass deck glows blue green at night.
The bridge’s cable-stayed, 217-foot pylon supports the bridge, allowing spawning grounds for salmon beneath the bridge to remain untouched.
Other bridges along the trail include the 1915 Diestelhorst Bridge – first to cross the Sacramento River – and a 418-foot stress ribbon bridge, the first of its kind in America.
Snow has curtailed color spotter Shanda Ochs’ reporting from Lassen Volcanic National Park, but encouraged her to explore the Sacramento River Trail and return with this report.
Shanda notes that some remaining fall color can be seen at Manzanita Lake in Lassen Volcanic, though the park is mostly past peak. Nevertheless, she found lots to enjoy along the Sacramento River Trail in Redding’s Caldwell Park.
Most of the trees there are non-native, though there are Frémont cottonwood, bigleaf maple, Oregon ash and willow among them. The color ranges from bold red-orange to splashes of yellow and gold. The river bank is inhabited mostly by native oak woodland and though we rate Redding as peaking, the color should continue develop for a week or two more.
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2016-11-03 08:22:212017-10-24 11:01:42Peak of the Week: Redding
Southern California color spotter Frank McDonough discovered a treasure of fall color in Sierra Madre this past week, where boulevard trees were glittering with auburn, crimson, orange, yellow and lime.
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2016-11-02 22:21:052016-11-02 22:21:05First Report: A Treasure in Sierra Madre
Chicken of the Woods, Anderson (10/31/16) Gabriel Leete
A favorite northwest autumn sport is mushroom hunting.
Gabriel Leete of Redding sends these photographs of mushrooms found exploring the Lower Sacramento River, in Anderson and Redding.
Caution and expert knowledge is required, as some species are both poisonous and edible. You don’t want to make a mistake, by thinking you have the edible variety, when in fact it’s poisonous.
Chicken of the Woods (seen above) [Laetiporus] is “a very brilliant spp. of fungi,” Gabriel reports, “As the nomenclature indicates, it is bright yellow & orange (sulphur colored). And the common name is due to the whitening of the flesh when cooked and has somewhat of a chicken and mushroom flavor. It is used by vegans and vegetarians in lieu of chicken.”
Agaricus, Anderson (10/31/16) Gabriel Leete
Unidentified, Anderson (10/31/16) Gabriel Leete
Earthstar, Anderson (10/31/16) Gabriel Leete
The common Agaricus genus contains some 300 members, both poisonous and edible. Caution is advised.
Earthstar [Astraeus hygrometricus] is a fascinating mushroom that resembles a globe over a star. They are too tough to be edible, so don’t bother.
Earthstars have, however, been used by native Americans and Asians medicinally as a salve against burns. The Blackfoot people called them “fallen stars,” considering them to be stars that fall to Earth during supernatural events.
It’s amazing what color you find in autumn, when looking down.
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park (10/30/16) Susan Taylor
Black oak, Sugarloaf Ridge SP, Kenwood (10/29/16) John Natelli
Black oak, Sugarloaf Ridge SP, Kenwood (10/29/16) John Natelli
Bigleaf maple, Sugarloaf Ridge SP, Kenwood (10/29/16) John Natelli
Bigleaf maple, Sugarloaf Ridge SP, Kenwood (10/29/16) John Natelli
California toyon, Sugarloaf Ridge SP, Kenwood (10/29/16) John Natelli
California toyon, Sugarloaf Ridge SP, Kenwood (10/29/16) John Natelli
John Natelli and Susan Taylor visited Sugarloaf Ridge State Park near Kenwood this past weekend and found bigleaf maple, black oak and California toyon peaking.
No doubt this past weekend’s storm knocked some leaves from trees, though our experience is that most leaves – particularly those just beginning to turn – will remain.
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park (600′ – 2,729′), Kenwood – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Gingko, Lingyan Temple, Yandang Mountain National Park (10/27/15) John Poimiroo
Gingko, Yandang Mountain NP (10/27/16) John Poimiroo
Yandang Mountain NP (10/27/16) John Poimiroo
This past week, my attendance at the annual meeting of the Society of American Travel Writers took me to Wenzhou.
It’s an inviting, industrial city in eastern China, along the Ou River between Shanghai and Hong Kong. Near Wenzhou are several mountain parks, which provided the opportunity to see a Chinese autumn emerging.
Yandang Mountain National Park, an hour north of Wenzhou by superhighway, is a World Geological Park and one of China’s top-rated mountain areas. It is like Yosemite, but with temples.
Yandang Mountain NP (10/27/16) John Poimiroo
Copper-blue stream, goldfish, Yandang Mountain NP (10/27/16) John Poimiroo
Within the national park are soaring rock monoliths, rock climbers, waterfalls, copper blue mountain streams, wildlife areas, caves, and ancient Buddhist temples and shrines, many of which are framed by fall color in late autumn.
Maple trees are prolific in eastern China and forested areas like Yandang Mountain National Park are full of them. Japanese maples are a common choice of horticulturists in the United States, though there are more varieties of Chinese maples, according to MrMaple.com, a cultivar of Asian maples.
Surrounding ancient Lingyan Temple (over 1,000 years old and listed as one of the 18 oldest temples in China) are stands of golden to orange maple and towering, venerable gingko trees, whose bright yellow leaves were transitioning from green to yellow.
Gingko leaves, Lingyan Temple (10/27/16) John Poimiroo
Guidebooks show bright yellow to orange stands of maple filling the forest with color. Though on our visit, even the tea was green.
Only the gingkos were near peak. Guides blamed unseasonably warm weather as keeping the forest from turning, though it’s more likely that, due to the area’s low elevations and latitude, peak does not usually arrive until mid to late November.
Wenzhou Ecological Park near the city, contains Daluo Mountain and a network of stone paths that climb to geologic features, streams, pools and pagodas at points of rest and scenic inspiration.
Green tea, Yandang Mountain NP (10/27/16) John Poimiroo
Daluo Mountain (10/26/16) John Poimiroo
Hiking, Daluo Mountain, Wenzhou (10/26/16) John Poimiroo
Daluo Mountain’s trails pass through lush bamboo corridors and past a variety of deciduous plants that were just starting to show color.
Yandang Mountain National Park (3,635′), Yandangshan,China – Just Starting (0-10%)
Daluo Mountain (2,300′), Wenzhou Ecological Park – Just Starting (0-10%)
One of the most colorful autumn scenes in Wenzhou was found on Jiangxin Islet in the middle of the Ou River where, at dusk, brides gathered in front of the decaying Victorian-era (1890) British Embassy to pose for wedding pictures.
As golden Gingko leaves fluttered past the posing brides, I saw the following image developing and moved into position to frame a shot that eventually won the Society of American Travel Writers’ Bronze Award in the 2018 Bill Muster Photo Competition Culture Category.
Wenzhou Brides, Jiangxin Islet (10/28/16) John Poimiroo
It’s feeling like the holidays at Sorensen’s Resort in the Hope Valley, were fall color has peaked and most branches are bare and ready to carry loads of snow.
Monitor Pass (10/23/16) Tracy Zhou
Tracy Zhou followed a similar route across Monitor Pass and through the Hope Valley to Lake Tahoe, providing these views.
