ABC10 Visits Alpine County
Backroads reporter John Bartell of ABC10 in Sacramento joined me in the Hope Valley on 10/7 to talk about Fall Color.
The color has changed greatly since Bartell and I photographed the Hope Valley. It’s now nearly Past Peak. Also, the aspen in the video appear greener than they were when we visited. They were deep orange in most locations with separate stands of dark green to lime-colored Patchy groves.
How about a little heresy here.
I can get to Cedar City, Utah in the same amount of time that I can get to Mono Lake, CA from Mission Viejo, CA.
Unlike the trip to Mono Lake on the god awful 2 lane CA 395, I can cruise along on I-15 all the way to Cedar City. 80 MPH in some spots (gotta love the wacky UDOT).
They’ve even got a website that gives you accurate forecasts of the fall color in the high country of Utah (https://www.visitcedarcity.com/fall-color-report/).
We’ve been going to Utah for years now and haven’t been disappointed with the fall color we’ve seen.
Plus, there’s plethora of national and state parks that have amazing displays of red rock and other types of geological formations.
Iif you time it right the combination of fall color and red rock is pretty hard to beat..
Various areas of Utah have red oak and maple, redish aspen, cottonwoods and other yellowish and orangish trees and shrubs in riparian areas.
And, Utah hotels and restaurants are relative cheap compared to California.
Every fall we say we’ve got to go to somewhere else besides Utah.
But somehow we end up there.
I grew up in Illinois were the fall color isn’t too bad.
Been to New England during the peak of fall color.
And, done both sides of the Sierras.
But, the combination of 10,000+ mountains in Utah beats all of them.
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Not heresy at all, Jim Bo. We love fall color wherever it is, but focus on California. If you send photos, we’ll turn this comment into a special report. Thanks.