Anthony Occhipinti flew his drone over the Eastern Sierra and Hope Valley this autumn to capture these videos.
As of today, these areas are Past Peak, though the videos provide inspiring testimony as to what one videographer witnessed.
Past Peak – You Missed It.
Credit: Anthony Occhipinti, Coruscating Images, Sacramento
Lewiston Lake (10/22/17) Michele James
Lewiston Lake (10/22/17) Michele James
Often called California’s best-kept secret, Lewiston Lake (downstream from Trinity Lake) is a prized, narrow body famous for its trout fishing.
Michelle James stopped there this past weekend, to photograph orange splotches of black oak reflected in its still waters.
The Mary Smith Campground at Lewiston Lake was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as the state’s prettiest. It features six glamping (Glamorous Camping) tents near the water. Traditional campsites for tent or RV camping are also available nearby.
Lewiston Lake (1,903′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Fly Amanita (poisonous) mushroom, Mendocino Mushroom, Wine and Beer Festival, Nov 3 – 12
Chanterelle growing on a Mendocino forest floor
Mushrooms, 3,000 varieties of them, will be hunted, discussed, tasted and feted at Mendocino County’s 19th Annual Mushroom Wine and Beer Festival, Nov. 3 – 12. It is the world’s largest mushroom festival.
What makes Mendocino County such a great mushroom foraging area? “It’s the trees,” says Eric Schramm who will be leading a hike from Jughandle Creek Farm on Nov. 12, one of many walks, talks, cooking classes, concerts, rides and hunts focused on learning more about Mendocino mushrooms.
Mendocino’s forests are populated with many evergreen and deciduous trees whose fallen leaves and needles cultivate a broad variety of spores.
For the fall color spotter, Mendocino County’s forest are speckled with autumn color from: (orange) black oak, (yellow) bigleaf maple, (orange-yellow) valley oak, (yellow) white alder, (red-purple) creek dogwood, (gold-orange) various willows, (yellow) California buckeye, (burgundy) choke cherry, (yellow) Oregon ash, (chartreuse) vine maple, (gold) black cottonwood, (red) Klamath plum and all those mushrooms.
Schramm notes that the detritus deposited on the forest floor by certain trees, combined with Mendocino’s moist coastal climate, nourishes the abundant growth of fungi. It is tree species that leads foragers to prized mushrooms. Chanterelle grow beneath Douglas fir, black trumpet below tan oak and porcini underneath shore pine.
“The annual haul is nothing short of historic,” writes Visit Mendocino, and the response is that mushrooms make just about every great Mendocino menu. Mendocino’s wine makers and brewers find inventive ways to pair their makings with nature’s bounty in endlessly tantalizing ways, making Mendocino the go-to destination for mushroom lovers.
3,000 mushroom varieties grow in Mendocino County. 500 are edible.
Mushrooms are not just good to eat (that is, the 500 edible varieties growing in Mendocino County), but they’re also wonderful to photograph, as seen in the slider across the top of our site.
Schramm says not only is it just plain fun to go mushroom hunting, but festival goers learn a lot about the medicinal, spiritual, culinary, scientific and emotional benefits of mushrooms, stating, “Mushrooms are the wave of the future. We’re just starting to understand their many uses as tools in bioremediation to naturally clean the Earth.”
So, here’s a rundown of some of the fungi fest’s favorites. CLICK HERE for links to them:
During November, 25 hotel properties in Mendocino County are offering special packages. Follow the above link to them.
Courthouse maples, Quincy (10/25/17) Herb Hwang
Fall. That’s what this season is called. And, it’s now happening in Plumas County.
Everywhere you look or travel, trees are laden with peaked leaves and dropping them incessantly.
The Indian Summer that arrived this week in Northern California has warmed days into the 80s and kept breezes light, but that can last only so long.
Color spotter Herb Hwang made a special trip to Quincy yesterday, just to see the courthouse maples at peak and said, “I’m glad I did!”
Now that’s dedication, Herb.
Parrish Todd also traveled Plumas County’s byways last Friday and Saturday, sending these images. Proof positive that Plumas is at Peak.
This will likely be the last, best weekend to see peak in Plumas County. All of the Shasta Cascade is experiencing peak conditions.
Plumas County – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
M. Fork Feather River (10/21/17) Parrish Todd
Maple, Quincy (10/20/17) Parrish Todd
Quaking aspen and rabbitbrush, CA-238, Plumas County (10/21/17) Parrish Todd
Yosemite Valley (10/22/17) David Olden
Yosemite Valley (10/22/17) David Olden
After visiting Yosemite Valley this past weekend, David Olden wrote, “I can’t see any reason to wait.” He added, “Go now. Just do it.”
He found “most of the valley floor to be 75% to past peak, with small areas still in the 50-75% range. Low elevation dogwoods mostly yellow with some green and red just starting. (higher elevation dogwoods are peaking or gone).”
Olden reported that black oak on the valley floor are “in full glory as well as the bigleaf maple. Most meadows are showing golden grasses and even the ferns are showing their more subtle Fall yellow.”
Yosemite Valley (4,000′) – Peak to Past Peak – You Almost Missed It. GO NOW! JUST DO IT!
Remington bronze cowboys welcome guests to the Creekside Inn
Bishop Creek runs through the middle of Creekside Inn
When traveling US 395, there is no more “Eastern Sierra” accommodation than the Creekside Inn, in Bishop on Main Street (US 395) nextdoor to Erick Schat’s Bakkery.
The inn is so stylistic a reflection of the Eastern Sierra that Bishop Creek actually winds through the middle of it, with planted aspen, pine and alder along a landscaped corridor of conversation decks, gas-fed fire pits, umbrellaed tables and a large swim/spa area.
The inn’s recent floor-to-ceiling remodeling of its guest rooms and public areas has been styled to reflect a grand western lodge with natural stone, fabric and wood, a large wood-burning fireplace in the lobby lounge, oversized leather furniture, even a welcome by bronze cowboys sculpted by western artist Fredric Remington.
Creekside Inn knows who they serve… people of discriminating taste, there to experience the Eastern Sierra in style, affordably. The inn even has a fish-cleaning room for fish caught nearby and will open a new breakfast restaurant (The Whistling Trout) to replace its buffet at the beginning of trout season, with table service and hearty servings of French toast, sausage, house-made granola with Greek yogurt, for its active guests.
Spa and pool at the Creekside Inn in downtown Bishop
For photographers, there are large desks, free WiFi and Internet to make it easier to upload images to the cloud, as well as Simmons Felicity pillow-top mattresses, top-of-the-line linens and other comforting amenities to make getting up to catch the early light a bit easier.
I stayed there recently on a scouting trip to the Eastern Sierra. Presently, fall color is now past peak up all the canyons on the Eastside. Though, the Creekside Inn is such a temptation, I want to go back.
Editor’s note: CaliforniaFallColor.com has added Booking.com. On it, Creekside Inn is rated a 9.2, as one of the best in the Eastern Sierra. We plan more lodging reviews in the future (Destinations) and encourage readers to visit Booking.com on this site to plan their stays wherever fall color is peaking.
Piru Creek Crossing, Los Padres National Forest (10/21/17) Naresh Satyan
Black oak, Los Padres National Forest (10/21/17) Naresh Satyan
Black oak are about to peak in the Los Padres National Forest (north of the San Fernando Valley in Ventura County), Naresh Satyan reports.
His party spent a few days hiking Alamo Mountain (Gold Hill Rd. southwest of Gorman, off I-5, via Hungry Valley SVRA) to find blooming rabbitbrush painting lower elevations of the SVRA.
Naresh wrote that continuing along Gold Hill Rd., “a nice patch of color is seen at the Piru creek crossing. Higher up, between 5000′ and 7000′, black oaks are at peak amidst a mixed-pine forest.”
Now, that’s the quick guide. However, Naresh wrote that, for the most part, “one has to go looking for color,” as the black oaks are not seen in all locations.
Piru Creek, Los Padres National Forest (10/21/17) Naresh Satyan
However, he did see rattlesnakes, condors (the area borders the Sespe Condor Sanctuary – a 53,000-acre wildlife refuge in the Topatopa Mountains, in northeastern Ventura County), peregrine falcons, lots of hawks, quail, and smaller birds.
Unseen, but evident from their scat and tracks were “deer, bear, and mountain lions.” Naresh concluded they were likely hidden from view due to it being hunting season.
A word of caution: When fall color spotting in areas where hunting is common, avoid wearing camouflage clothing. Instead, a blaze orange item or bright clothing is advised (humans see it, but hunted animals do not).
Alamo Mountain (7,380′), Los Padres National Forest – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW!
Piru Creek, Los Padres National Forest (10/21/17) Naresh Satyan
Black oak, Los Padres National Forest (10/21/17) Naresh Satyan
Black oak, mixed pine forest, Los Padres National Forest (10/23/17) Naresh Satyan
Bishop Creek Canyon (10/23/17) Mark Harding
Bishop Creek Canyon (10/23/17) Mark Harding
It seems so appropriate to close out today’s postings with a couple of parting shots from Bishop Creek, and even more that they are bronze toned.
As, Bishop Creek is definitely Past Peak from top to bottom. The real action in Inyo County has moved to lower elevations: Pine Creek, Round Valley, Bishop, Buckley Ponds, Rawson Ponds, Big Pine and south.
Mark Harding could resist a last look at Bishop Creek today, which we now share.
Bishop Creek Canyon – Past Peak – You Missed It.
Bishop (4,150′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Bishop (10/23/17) Mark Harding
Bishop (10/23/17) Mark Harding
Bishop (10/23/17) Mark Harding
Bishop (10/23/17) Mark Harding
Bishop (10/23/17) Mark Harding
Bishop (10/23/17) Mark Harding
Bishop (10/23/17) Mark Harding
S. Fork Eel River, Redwood Highway (10/24/17) Max Forster
Bigleaf maple, Prairie Creek Redwoods SP (10/24/17) Max Forster
Bigleaf maple, Mill Creek, Jedediah Smith Redwoods SP (10/24/17) Max Forster
North Coast color spotter Max Forster estimates the Redwood Highway has another couple of weeks of peak color.
There’s a good reason there are so many state parks and a national park in the North Coast region, as it is full of wonderful foliage to see.
Here’s what Max found:
Humboldt Redwoods State Park – Peak (75-100%) – Avenue of The Giants will be seeing peak conditions throughout this week as bigleaf maple and creeping poison oak put on their display. The drive along US 101 in Mendocino County from just north of Willits into southern Humboldt County is also looking spectacular. GO NOW!
Redwood National Park & Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park – Peak (75-100%) – Bigleaf maple are at peak while most of the vine maple are just starting to turn. Best places to see color will be along Drury Parkway near the Big Tree parking area, Prairie Creek Trail from the visitor center to the Zig Zag #2 Trail and the road to Lost Man Creek. Roosevelt elk are still very active, at the tail end of the seasonal rut. Outside of the bulls protecting their herds of females, you can find groups of rejected bachelors, nursing battle wounds and damaged egos. GO NOW!
El Viejo, Jedediah Smith Redwoods SP (10/24/17) Max Forster
Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park – Peak (75-100%) – Bigleaf maple along Mill Creek are at peak. The forest understory of vine maple, salmonberry, thimbleberry and cascara along Howland Hill Road will be peaking this week, making the drive through the heart of the park even more spectacular than usual. GO NOW!
Topaz Lake (10/21/17) Jeff Hemming
Peak has moved up US 395 to Bridgeport, the Antelope Valley, Topaz Lake and the West Carson River.
Color spotter Jeff Hemming found little pockets of it around Bridgeport on Saturday, beside Little Walker Rd., lining Topaz Lake and beside CA-4 along the West Carson River.
US 395, North Mono County – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!