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Carson Pass to Monitor Pass by Drone

Aerial color spotter Titus Davis flew his Phantom 4 Pro drone at points between Carson and Monitor Passes (CA-88 and CA-89) to create this video.

Here’s a rundown of where he flew:

  • :00 – Silver Lake Latitude: 38°39’54.90″N  Longitude: 120° 7’13.94″W
  • :52 – East Fork Carson River  38°40’33.38″N  119°44’12.25″W
  • 1:37 – Hope Valley Latitude: 38°44’58.72″N Longitude: 119°56’11.51″W
  • 3:34 – Monitor Pass Latitude: 38°40’30.87″N  Longitude: 119°37’21.42″W

The drone provides perspectives not seen previously. Titus’ video of Silver Lake has the best closeup view we’ve seen of the copses of color on the far side of the lake, as they’re difficult to photograph other than from the water.

Similarly, while the color along the E. Fork of the Carson River can be seen from Hwys 4 and 89, only part of it is visible. Whereas the drone gives us a bird’s-eye view of the color.

The same is true of the breadth of color atop Monitor Pass, which is not really realized until seen higher than the trees, as shown by the drone.

 

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It’ll Be Paradise At Peak

Esplanade, Chico (10/21/17) Danie Schwartz

Trees are Just Starting to turn color in Chico, but it’ll be paradise when the Esplanade (seen above) is peaking. Then, it is one of the most fall-tastic boulevards in California.

What makes Chico’s Esplanade so exceptional is its blend of vibrant Chinese pistache and landmark Valley Oak that drape the roadway with fluorescent red, yellow, orange and lime leaves.

A trip to Butte County (northern California – CA-99) to see Chico’s peak fall colors is a favorite excursion of ours.

We make a point to stop at the Sierra Nevada brewery for lunch, visit its gift shop, tour one of Chico’s art galleries (they’re known for great galleries), then drive up the Esplanade, continuing north past peaking walnut orchards along CA-99 to Vina and the Abbey of New Clairvaux where an inspiring gothic vaulted interior from an 800-year-old monastery has been restored. It will all be peaking in two to three weeks.

Patrick Ranch, Durham (10/21/17) Danie Schwartz

Black oak, Paradise Lake (10/22/17) Cindy Lee Hoover

In nearby Durham (south of Chico – First Report), orchards arch roadways with changing color. This one is next to the Patrick Ranch on Midway Rd. Large walnut trees provide green, gold, yellow and rust colors at peak.

However, once you reach Paradise north of Chico (Yes, there is such a town), you’ll find the black oak to be at the high end of patchy. Bigleaf maple, vine maple, California buckeye, California ash, Northern California black walnut and miner’s dogwood all provide seasonal color at this elevation.

Chico (197′) – Just Starting (0-10%)

Patrick Ranch (1671′), Durham – Patchy (10-50%)

Paradise (1,778′) – Patchy (10-50%)

 

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California’s Best Show of Peaking Cottonwood

Round Valley (10/21/17) Michael Morris

Black cottonwood and Frémont cottonwood growing across the Round Valley northwest of Bishop are now peaking, reports Michael Morris.

Lee Foster and I visited this area a month ago and reported then that it would be spectacular at peak. Morris’ photographs confirm that prediction. This, quite likely, is the best show of peaking cottonwood in California.

If you’re in Bishop this week, we recommend that you set aside a little time to drive Pine Creek Rd. from Round Valley up into Pine Creek Canyon to see a mind-boggling ribbon of orange and gold cottonwood at peak beside Pine Creek.

Big Pine, US 395 (10/22/17) Michael Morris

Big Pine, south of Bishop is also at peak with cottonwood brightening the northern Owens Valley.

The show should continue to improve over this and next week in Big Pine, Bishop, at Buckley Ponds, in Round Valley and up Pine Creek Canyon.

In southern Inyo County, color spotter Mark Harding found Whitney Portal to be Past Peak with color now down to the campground, six miles west of Lone Pine.

Round Valley (4,692′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Big Pine (3,989′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Whitney Portal – Past Peak – You Missed It.

Whitney Portal Rd., Campground (10/22/17) Mark Harding

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Rim of the World: Visit the Lakes, Trails

Grass Valley Lake (10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Alena Nicholas spent Saturday exploring the lakes and trails that spur off from the Rim of the World Scenic Byway in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Lake Arrowhead (10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Lake Gregory 10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Black oak at Lake Arrowhead, Grass Valley Lake, Lake Gregory and nearby areas are at full peak speckling the forest with bold splashes of orange.

The San Bernardino range’s bigleaf maple, dogwood and aspen are now past peak, though observant spotters can find “color in pockets from Lake Arrowhead down to Crestline.”

Exotic maples, sycamore and liquidambar are also providing bright color in planted neighborhoods.

Big Bear Lake has peak color among its oaks, as well. Though, the aspen and dogwood are past peak. Here are some upcoming events at Big Bear:

  • Oct. 28 – Spartan Race
  • Nov. 3 & 4 – Big Bear Comedy Festival

Elsewhere in Southern California, Ryan Lumb reported that he had anticipated seeing Peak color on Mt. San Gorgonio (11,503′), but was disappointed to find it mostly Past Peak. And, Walnut color spotter Del Hossain had a frustrating trip to the Eastern Sierra, visiting locations that had already been reported here as being Past Peak.

Advice to readers: check this site the week before you travel to see reports from places you’ll be visiting.  If the latest report for the location is peak color, by the time you travel it may be past peak. Peak color lasts only from a week to a few minutes at any given location, depending upon conditions (wind, rain, snow, overcast).

Always look at the date the photograph was taken. As, what you are seeing happened often days before. What you might see now or in a few more days will be very different than what’s shown in any photo. So, get there as fast as you can whenever we report “GO NOW!”

If there’s no report from the location you plan to visit, check locations at similar elevations near where you plan to visit. As, it’s likely the color at that latitude and elevation will similar.

Finally, if you don’t like what you’re seeing at a given location (because it’s almost Past Peak), then don’t go there. Instead, consider traveling somewhere else that’s shown nearing peak or having just peaked, as it will provide the best viewing experience.

We are grateful to Ryan and Del for their reports, as they will surely help others avoid missing the best color.

This is likely the last week of great color above 3,000′ in Southern California, as reports are now descending to locations in the valleys and basins of the southland.

Rim of the World, San Bernardino Mountains (5,174′) – Peak (75-100%) – GO NOW!

Grass Valley Lake (10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Grass Valley Lake (10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Grass Valley Lake (10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Lake Arrowhead 10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Lake Arrowhead 10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Lake Arrowhead 10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Lake Gregory 10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Lake Gregory 10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

Lake Gregory 10/21/17) Alena Nicholas

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Indian Summer in the Shasta Cascade

Feather River Scenic Byway (10/21/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Feather River Scenic Byway (10/21/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Feather River Scenic Byway (10/21/17) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Indian Summer is the “spell of warm weather after the first frost.”

This American expression was first recorded in 1778 in a letter written to England, though its origins are uncertain.

Some attribute it to having come from areas inhabited by Native-Americans or because Indians were the first to describe it.

Beaver pond, Frenchman’s Lake (10/21/17) Parrish Todd

Packer Lake, Plumas County (10/22/17) Parrish Todd

Regardless of how it got coined, it is a pleasant period of warm weather following an early frost. That is happening now in the Shasta Cascade, where last week snow fell (see below). This week, temperatures are in the 70s and Peak color – appropriately – is being seen in the Indian Valley of Plumas County (northern Sierra).

Local color spotter Jeff Luke Titcomb writes that color is at peak, though that it will – like an Indian summer – soon be gone. Black oak dominate with deep orange leaves contrasting with their black limbs.

Yellow, chartreuse and red pop out at points along CA-89 and CA-70 on the route north, leaving the Sierra and entering the lower cascades at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Indian Valley, CA-89 – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park (10/20/17) Larry Robbins

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Where Do You Go When A Pass Closes?

Black oak and bigleaf maple, Yosemite National Park (10/20/17) Darrell Sano

Yosemite NP (10/20/17) Darrell Sano

Color spotter Darrell Sano attempted a trip to the Eastern Sierra on Friday. He’d planned to drive across Tioga or Sonora Pass, but the passes had closed due to an early snowfall. So where did Darrell head to find fall color? Straight to Yosemite National Park.

At this time of autumn, early storms will close passes across the Sierra intermittently. If the snowfall is light, affected passes will reopen soon after snow has melted off the pavement. However, once “environmental conditions” preclude continued safe operation of vehicles across the mountain passes (Monitor, Sonora, Tioga), they will close for the winter, or until clear of snow and ice.

Prevented from crossing the Sierra, Sano detoured to Yosemite Valley and Glacier Point. He wrote he’d forgotten “how colorful Yosemite is. At 4000’ elevation the valley floor, as well as Big Oak Flat Road, are at peak.

Some trees have lost leaves, perhaps by rain, but there was ample color along Big Oak Flat, Southside Drive, and Glacier Point Road. Even the mid-day light at noon had a special autumn glow, a clarity, and intensity that brings out every detail and texture.

Glacier Point Rd. (10/20/17) Darrell Sano

“Along Glacier Point Road, I could detect smoke, and later see smoldering tree trunks blackened by fire. There was snow on the ground, and splashes of fall color among it! The evening sunset behind the fall color illuminated leaves even further. A wonderful day!”

Some photographers believe conditions have to be perfect for the best photographs, but often the opposite is true. A wisp of smoke in the air, a blackened forest made vibrant by drips of fall color within it… all these can make for memorable photographs and experiences.

So, don’t let the closing of a pass, past peak conditions at an area you’d planned to visit or other changes to your plans keep you from exploring. There’s just too much beauty out there to miss, just because a pass closes.

Dogwood, Yosemite NP (10/20/17) Darrell Sano

Dogwood, Yosemite NP (10/20/17) Darrell Sano

Yosemite Valley (4,000′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Glacier Point Road (7,214′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

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American River Reflections

Sycamore, American River, Lotus (10/21/17) Hari Reddy

In autumn, the American River is placid, unlike the surging stream it is in late spring and early summer. Sycamore, Frémont cottonwood and black oak cast golden, orange, yellow and lime reflections across its slow moving waters.

Lotus, near where gold was discovered in Coloma in 1848, is a popular put-in spot for rafters and kayakers, making the American the most popular whitewater rafting destination in California. Though in autumn, paddling is as quiet as the river.

American River, Lotus (722′) – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW!

El Dorado Hills (768′) – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW! – Exotic Chinese pistache, sycamore, flowering plum and pears and native blue oaks planted along El Dorado Hills Blvd. are a mix of burgundy, auburn, crimson, yellow, orange, lime and buff.

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Getting Above and Around Quincy

West’s Ranch, Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

Maple, Quincy (10/22/17) Michael Beatley

Courthouse Maples, Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

Quincy, the Plumas County seat, sits at 3,432′.  Hike a hundred feet higher into the hills surrounding the town and you have a birds-eye view of downtown Quincy splashed with orange, yellow, red and green.

That’s what Michael Beatley did this weekend, while also exploring fields and farms around Quincy to return with an album of great images.

Throughout town, both native and planted trees provide lush color. Exotic sugar maples near the county courthouse are guilty of being spectacular and Quincy (est. 1854) is packed with peak color.

The Peak color should last through the week, though do not delay, as Quincy is as good as it gets, right now.

Quincy (3,432′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Quincy (10/22/17) Michael Beatley

Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

West’s Ranch, Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

 

 

 

 

 

Courthouse Maples, Quincy (10/21/17) Michael Beatley

 

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A Flight of Fall Color

Red-tailed Hawk, California/Nevada Border (10/21/17) Robert Kermen

Cooper’s Hawk (10/21/17) Robert Kermen

CaliforniaFallColor is dedicated to celebrating all the colorful shows of autumn, whether flora or fauna.

Yesterday, color spotter Robert Kermen looked to the skies to capture a female red-tailed hawk “showing off her new fall feathers (over the California/Nevada border). She must have had a good molt this summer,” he penned.

Then, he sent this snap of a Cooper’s Hawk… more fall color winging by.

 

 

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Silver Lake Silver Moment

Silver Lake, June Lake Loop (10/20/17) Shreenivasan Manievannan

In the Sierra, some of the best times to take a photograph are during or immediately following a storm.

Ansel Adams taught us this with his iconic image of Yosemite Valley, taken from Tunnel View, following a clearing winter storm.

Silver Lake, on the June Lake Loop, similarly delivers many magical moments.  Here’s one taken on Friday as a storm cleared.

Silver Lake, June Lake Loop – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

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