Mt. Shasta, Upper Sacramento River (10/21/16) Philip Reedy
OK, you should catch and release native trout in California, and when you catch great photos as Philip Reedy did yesterday, you release them to us to share with our readers.
Yesterday. Phillip and a friend headed to Dunsmuir to do some fly fishing photography in hopes of catching a background of fall colors.
Along Cantera Loop, Philip reports, “lots of leaves have already fallen but some trees are still green as well. The view of Mt Shasta is worth the trip as the snow last week covered the mountain completely.”
California Fall Color includes outdoor sports like fly fishing surrounded by autumn color. The upper Sacramento River is full of such images right now, and full of trophy trout.
Lassen Volcanic color spotter Shanda Ochs reports peak color at Manzanita Lake.
Ducks winging their way south are stopping at the lake, providing avian color to the willows and cottonwood near shore. Shanda says only the mountain alder are still lime. So that means, conditions permitting, that color will continue to develop at Lassen Volcanic for the next couple of weeks.
Manzanita Lake (10/21/16) Shanda Ochs
Manzanita Lake (10/21/16) Shanda Ochs
Manzanita Lake (10/21/16) Shanda Ochs
Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic NP – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Spanish Creek at Oakland Camp, Quincy (10/20/16) Mike Nellor
Spanish Creek at Oakland Camp, Quincy (10/20/16) Mike Nellor
Spanish Creek at Oakland Camp, Quincy (10/20/16) Mike Nellor
Spanish Creek at Oakland Camp, Quincy (10/20/16) Mike Nellor
Spanish Creek
Bold splashes of harlequin colored Indian rhubarb (Darmera peltata) brighten Spanish Creek at Oakland Recreation Camp near Quincy, as captured by local color spotter Mike Nello with his Samsung CSC.
This is the first weekend to see peak color in Plumas County. The best way to find fall color is to use the California Fall Color map on this site and go to those areas showing Near Peak to Peak color.
Exploring Plumas County’s backroads in the Shasta Cascade region never disappoints.
Spanish Creek at Spanish Camp, Quincy – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2016-10-21 11:46:022016-10-21 11:46:56Glorious Indian Rhubarb Near Quincy
Spots of fall color can still be found and enjoyed in and near Mammoth Lakes, though the energy there has shifted from enjoying autumn adventures to colorful events happening from late-October to mid-November, leading up to the reopening of Mammoth Mountain and the start of winter sports.
Nevertheless, Mammoth Lakes color spotter Josh Wray had to get in one more photo of how he and his buds enjoy autumn, with the preceding shot of hiking at Convict Lake, just south of Mammoth Lakes. Don’t you just want to be there? I sure do.
Fall color still rings the lake trail and picnic areas, though the stands running up the mountainside no longer carry color.
Convict Lake (10/18/16) Josh Wray
Convict Lake (10/18/16) Josh Wray
Josh anticipates that next week will be the last for a fall color report from Mammoth Lakes. Though, it’s evident from this list of upcoming happenings that the fun never stops there.
Convict Lake – Peak (75-10%) GO NOW! – The color has mostly fallen around the lake, though color near the campground and in spots along the trail remains at peak. This is the last week of peak color, there.
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2016-10-21 07:56:142016-10-21 11:52:14Fall Color to Colorful Events
Coffee Creek Rd., Trinity Center (10/21/16) Jeri Rangel
Coffee Creek (10/21/16) Jeri Rangel
Coffee Creek Rd. (10/21/16) Jeri Rangel
Ripple Creek Cabins, Eagle Lake Loop (10/21/16) Jeri Rangel
Dogwood, Trinity Center (10/21/16) Jeri Rangel
Eagle Creek Loop (10/21/16) Jeri Rangel
Swift Creek, No. Trinity Lake (10/21/16) Jeri Rangel
Dogwood, Hwy 3 (10/21/16) Jeri Rangel
Color spotter Ruth Hartman reports that Coffee Creek in the Shasta Cascade is nearing peak with lush bigleaf maple draping back country roads with bright yellow color.
She said this past week’s rain “made all the maples turn bright yellow all at once… Dogwood are all different colors from red and green, pink, faded pink and still green.”
Jeri Rangel sent these images of dogwood and bigleaf maple peaking. Other foliage still to peak include chartreuse climbing cucumber and orange black oak.
To get to Coffee Creek, from Redding, take CA-299 west to CA-3, then north. Along the way, you’ll pass Trinity Lake, the Trinity Alps.
In the Trinity Alps — “One of the rarest and most beautiful trees on the continent, though not deciduous, is Brewer’s weeping spruce, picea breweriana, with its dark green boughs hanging in abstract, Seussian forms.”
This western side of the vast Shasta Cascade region is wild, beautiful and so lightly traveled that few photographers or leaf peepers get there.
We wrote last year, “The drive to Coffee Creek is along narrow roads that are flanked with bigleaf maple that dance and sway, littering the road with a carpet of spent leaves that swirl up in spirals as you pass.”
Ruth Hartman’s Coffee Creek dude ranch is best known for its stable of horses. There are miles of trails to ride on 367 acres of ranch property and the Trinity Wilderness area.
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2016-10-21 07:51:332017-07-21 10:27:27Coffee Creek Starts to Perk
Wooden Valley Winery, Suisun Valley (10/20/16) Marc Hoshovsky
Chimney Rock Winery, Stags Leap District, Napa Valley (10/20/16) Marc Hoshovsky
Redcap Vineyards, Angwin (10/20/16) Marc Hoshovsky
Lower Chiles Valley, Napa County (10/20/16) Marc Hoshovsky
South of Rudd Winery, Yountville (10/20/16) Marc Hoshovsky
Marc Hoshovski wondered why he hadn’t seen photos of fall color in the vineyards yet posted on this site.
We were wondering the same and hoping to get them from photographers and spotters before the best color peaked.
Marc’s shots show that the vineyards are prepped to peak successively over the next three weeks. That gives photographers and spotters plenty of time to head to the wine country and see magical color.
If you explore wine country backroads, be aware that the vines don’t all turn at the same time. The show develops by individual vineyard. As, autumn color matures by grape variety.
Napa County Vineyards (sea level to 2000’)Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW! – Vineyards in Napa Valley and higher valleys to the east are turning yellow and red. There’s still a lot of green leaves to be seen, indicating they will continue to improve over the next two weeks. Higher elevations (1000-2000’) are showing more red than the floor of Napa Valley. Drive east on Howell Mountain Road (near St Helena) to Pope Valley and Chiles Valley for these colors.
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2016-10-21 00:09:462016-10-21 11:53:00Napa County Nears Peak by Vineyard
Sardine Lake, Sierra Buttes, Downieville (10/19/16) Philip Reedy
Lavezzola Creek, Downieville (10/19/16) Philip Reedy
Yuba National Forest, Downieville (10/19/16) Philip Reedy
So few photographers and color spotters travel CA-49 to its northern terminus, that until today, CaliforniaFallColor.com had never gotten a report from Downieville.
Color spotter Philip Reedy corrected that omission with a first report of yellow bigleaf maple and rust and gold willows appearing at points along the northern Gold Country highway.
Phil noted that while the color is still Patchy, nice color can be found in the Yuba National forest beside Lavezzola Creeks, north of Downieville and at Sardine Lake.
Downieville (CA-49) (2,966′) – Patchy (10-50%)
Lavezzola Creek, Downieville (10/19/16) Philip Reedy
Near Round Valley Reservoir, Greenville (10/16/16) Jeff Titcomb
Bigleaf maple, Round Valley Reservoir, Greenville (10/16/16) Jeff Titcomb
Dogwood approaching Round Valley Reservoir, Greenville (10/16/16) Jeff Titcomb
Dogwood and bigleaf maple, Indian Creek, (10/16/16) Jeff Titcomb
Dogwood, Round Valley Reservoir, Greenville (10/16/16) Jeff Titcomb
Hideaway Road, Greenville (10/16/16) Jeff Titcomb
Greenville in the Northern Sierra of Plumas County is hardly living up to its name any longer, as fall color is accenting the town with auburn, crimson, pink, hot orange, umber, yellow, buff and lime splashes.
There are so many bright colors to be seen that, for the next three weeks, we propose that Greenville be renamed, “Crayolaville.”
Color spotter Jeff Luke Titcomb traveled Plumas County’s byways to return with these images of what’s happening up north.
He found dogwood, bigleaf maple and black oak providing the predominant colors and reports, “The valley is dropping leaves but the canyon roads are beautiful and holding strong.
“Oaks and dogwoods still have time for color change, the big leaf maples are at full color now.”
Give Greenville three weeks of awesome color.
Greenville, Plumas County – Near Peak (50-100%) GO NOW!
http://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.png00John Poimiroohttp://www.californiafallcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/logo-1.pngJohn Poimiroo2016-10-20 15:20:132016-10-21 11:55:47Greenville... No Longer Green
Three weeks ago, Vince Piercy captured this scene in the Hope Valley. It will be beautiful there and in Mono County this weekend, though with a few less leaves a fluttering.
