North Lake was beyond gorgeous this past weekend. Saturday was epic and Sunday was still good, though haze came in, diminishing the brightness of the scene.
Steve Arita was there and noted that the trees along North Lake Rd. were particularly good, full of unbelievable color, deep reds and yellows. It appears the leaves are holding, but at peak they will begin falling momentarily. So, go immediately.
With the exception of two pictures, Steve shot all on a Sony A7R4 using a 12-24 mm, F2.8 lens. He noted that the new lens was fun, sharp and produced very nice sunbursts.
- North Lake, Bishop Creek Canyon (9,225′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
WOW!!!!! Any idea how long the foliage will stay like that? A week?
I’m heading over there Saturday 10/10.
Peak occurs “roughly” over a two-week period, progressing from Just Starting (0%) to Past Peak (You Missed It). Full peak lasts a few days at most and that can be shortened by wind, rain, snow (freshly fallen snow makes the photos more dramatic, but only just near the point the storm ends) and other factors. However, all trees in a forest do not turn exactly at the same moment. Some may be as much as a week early or late. So, peak color is staggered. Seen in the photos of North Lake was the area at full peak. Anything thereafter would not be as dazzling, but it still could be great. As far as this weekend, it will not be as good as last weekend (which was the best photographers say they’d seen, ever). However, it still will be glorious. And, remember that in California when trees have peaked at one elevation, more are ready to peak at a lower elevation. So, there’s no bad time to go see/photograph fall color. There are just better or worse times to do so at a given elevation.