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En Pleine Air

En Pleine Air, Martis Creek, CA-267 (10/1/21) John Poimiroo

In French, to paint outdoors is to paint “En Pleine Air.” It means in the open air (pronounced, “on plehn air”), but really what it means is to leave your studio, garage or rumpus room (do we have rumpus rooms any longer? I suppose “she sheds” and “man caves” have replaced them. We no longer rumpus together, but separately.) and paint outdoors in real time, capturing the scene as seen, not imagined.

Artistic photographers do this, of sorts. They go to a location and capture the image in real time, but later build upon the settings they made when taking the photograph and interpret the scene further in a darkroom or computer, as they imagined it or to make it a more compelling image, artistically.

Friday, I was up at Lake Tahoe and visited Martis Creek. There’s a struggling aspen grove along the creek which wanders beside CA-267 between Truckee and Brockway Summit. In the grove is a decaying cabin (what will we do when it finally collapses?), a favorite of artists, photographers and people wanting a romantic, rustic location for a family or wedding portrait.

Sure enough, while I was there others arrived to photograph it. I suppose they’d heard the grove was peaking. Besides, it was a beautiful day to be outdoors. Michelle (seen above) was painting her interpretation of the cabin, while a photographer worked through the grove.

My photographic style is photojournalistic. I look for the story within a photo, as in that of Michelle seen above and below, upper left. They each contain lots of information.

Though occasionally, because this site celebrates the artistic, another way of telling the story emerges, as seen at upper right and bottom. In these instances, information gives way to emotion (click to enlarge).

  • Martis Creek Cabin, CA-267 (10/1/21) John Poimiroo
  • Martis Creek Cabin, CA-267 (10/1/21) John Poimiroo
Martis Creek Cabin, CA-267 (10/1/21) John Poimiroo

Photojournalism tends to bleed the artsy-fartsy out of one’s photography. Editors want exposition, not art. CaliforniaFallColor.com appreciates both.

If you have information, send it. It feeds our body. If you have interpretation, send it too. If feeds our soul.

  • Martis Creek Cabin (7,000′) – Peak (75 – 100%) GO NOW!
  • Truckee (5, 817′) – Patchy (10 – 50%)
  • Lake Tahoe (6,225′) – Patchy (10 – 50%) – Flashes of bright yellow aspen are passed when driving around the lake, but the forest is mostly green. Willows are lime to orange in color, but not notable. Red and mountain maple are bright red and orange in Tahoe City and along the north and south shores where planted along city streets or in neighborhoods. No Kokanee salmon are running at Taylor Creek. Give Tahoe a week and a half to two weeks.
Fallen Leaf Lake, Lake Tahoe (6,377′) (9/25/21) Dan Miller
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Onion Valley Made Me Cry

Onion Valley (2/29/21) Mark Harding

I had such high hopes for Onion Valley that I asked Mark Harding to visit it on his way north along US 395. But, once he cut into it, all I could do was cry.

His photos are beautiful, but considering the valley has an elevation of 9,600′, I had expected more color. Mark said it was mostly young aspen and shrubs.

The rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus) is dull and uninviting everywhere in the Sierra. At Lake Tahoe, it was desiccated and bereft of yellow blossoms. As for the aspen, well, they’ll be covered in a report from the Hope Valley soon to be posted.

  • Aspen, Onion Valley (2/29/21) Mark Harding
  • Onion Valley (2/29/21) Mark Harding
  • Aspen, Onion Valley (2/29/21) Mark Harding
  • Onion Valley (2/29/21) Mark Harding
  • Aspen, Onion Valley (2/29/21) Mark Harding
  • Onion Valley (9,600′) – Patchy (10 – 50%)

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Eastern Sierra Weekend

North Lake, N Fork Bishop Creek (10/2/21) Gary Young
  • Mist Falls, S Fork Bishop Creek (10/2/21) Gary Young
  • North Lake, N Fork Bishop Creek (10/2/21) Gary Young

This is a good time to visit the Eastern Sierra. Peak is happening at the Virginia Lakes, Lobdell Lake Road and Sagehen Summit in Mono County and at South Lake, North Lake and Lake Sabrina in Inyo County.

High above the June Lakes Loop (9/29/21) John Ehrenfeld

Napa Valley color spotter John Ehrenfeld worried about timing his trip, though when we report it’s approaching Past Peak, then’s the time to go, as John did, for Peak is moments away from happening.

  • Virginia Lake (9/29/21) John Ehrenfeld
  • Virginia Lake (9/29/21) John Ehrenfeld
  • Sunrise, North Lake, N Fork Bishop Creek (9/30/21) John Ehrenfeld
  • South Lake, S. Fork Bishop Creek (9/30/21) John Ehrenfeld
  • South Lake, S. Fork Bishop Creek (9/30/21) John Ehrenfeld
Monitor Pass, CA-89 (9/29/21) Woody Elliott
Monitor Pass, CA-89 (9/29/21) Woody Elliott

Woody Elliott got the same idea and crossed Monitor Pass to find it gloriously painted in Patchy color. He continued on to Upper Virginia Lake to revel in its Peak color.

  • Upper Virginia Lake (9/29/21) Woody Elliott
  • Upper Virginia Lake (9/29/21) Woody Elliott

At Sotcher Lake in Madera County near Mammoth Lakes, Angie Plaisted got a First Report for her camera phone snaps of kayaking on a blue lake ringed with yellow willows.

  • Sotcher Lake (9/25/21) Angie Plaisted
  • Sotcher Lake (9/25/21) Angie Plaisted
  • Sotcher Lake (9/25/21) Angie Plaisted
  • Sotcher Lake (9/25/21) Angie Plaisted
  • Sotcher Lake (9/25/21) Angie Plaisted
  • Willow, Sotcher Lake (9/25/21) Angie Plaisted

Don Vilfer headed to Lobdell Lake Rd., as we’d recommended, and found peak color along the length of the road. We estimate the color along Lobdell Lake Rd. will last another week, but now’s the time to go. Delay any longer and you’ll miss it.

Lobdell Lake Rd. (9/30/21) Don Vilfer

And, Mark Hanning-Lee found the color along the Rock Creek Rd. as advertised.

  • North Lake Rd. N Fork Bishop Creek (9/24/21) Mark Hanning-Lee
  • Lake Sabrina, M Fork Bishop Creek (9/24/21) Mark Hanning-Lee
  • Lake Sabrina, M Fork Bishop Creek (9/24/21) Mark Hanning-Lee
  • Upper Rock Creek Rd. (9/26/21) Mark Hanning-Lee
  • Monitor Pass, CA-89 (8,314′) – Patchy (10 – 50%)
  • Lobdell Lake Rd (8,600′) – Peak (75 – 100%) GO NOW! (AWD/4WD Recommended)
  • Virginia Lakes (9,819′) – Peak (75 – 100%) GO NOW!
  • June Lakes Loop (7,654′) – Just Starting (however, peak color is being seen on slopes high above the lakes)
  • Sagehen Summit (8139′) – Peak (75 – 100%) GO NOW!
  • Sotcher Lake (7,651′), Madera County – Patchy (10 – 50%)
  • Upper Rock Creek Rd. (10,800′) – Near Peak (50 – 75%) Go Now!
  • South Lake, S. Fork Bishop Creek – Peak (75 – 100%) GO NOW!
  • Lake Sabrina, M. Fork Bishop Creek – Peak (75 – 100%) GO NOW!
  • North Lake, N. Fork Bishop Creek – Peak (75 – 100%) GO NOW!
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Orange and Black Hills

Spearfish Falls at Dawn, Black Hills, SD (9/27/21) Philip Reedy

South Dakota’s Black Hills are most famous as the home of four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

They are, of course, the four faces on Mt. Rushmore which is located in the Black Hills. But, if Philip Reedy has any influence, the Black Hills will also be famous for being orange.

Fall colors peak very predictably during the last week of September each year, Reedy wrote when he sent these photos, adding that “The Spearfish Visitors Bureau publishes a weekly color update, but nothing as complete as CaliforniaFallColor.com. They reported the color at 95% of peak on September 28 and I think these pictures will confirm that.

Spearfish Canyon, Black Hills, SD (9/30/21) Philip Reedy
  • Spearfish Creek, Black Hills, SD (9/27/21) Philip Reedy
  • Mountain Goat, Spearfish Canyon, Black Hills, SD (9/27/21) Philip Reedy
  • Spearfish Canyon Panorama, Black Hills, SD (9/30/21) Philip Reedy
  • The Hills Near Deadwood, SD (9/30/21) Philip Reedy

“While most of the best colors are found along the 14-mile drive through Spearfish Canyon from the town of Spearfish in the north to Savoy in the south, great color can be found throughout the area, particularly along the many streams that flow from the hills such as Rapid Creek and Box Elder Creek. Between Savoy and Rapid City there are many beautiful aspen groves lining the pastures.

“There are roads weaving throughout the hills, and sometimes the best views are found by just cruising down a random byway. 

“One of the great things about the area is the lack of tourists in autumn.  There are no large cities close to the Black Hills, and after Labor Day, the throngs heading down I-90 toward Yellowstone have gone back home, leaving the area uncrowded,” Reedy reported.

  • Spearfish Creek, Black Hills, SD (9/27/21) Philip Reedy
  • Spearfish Creek, Black Hills, SD (9/27/21) Philip Reedy
  • Rapid Creek, Rapid City, SD (9/30/21) Philip Reedy
  • Box Elder Creek, Black Hills, SD (10/1/21) Philip Reedy

Phil was there on assignment for American Fly Fishing and his photos of himself fishing attest to the beauty of the scene and his mastery of remotely shot self-portraits in a natural setting.

Nemo General Store Residents (10/1/21) Philip Reedy

At the Nemo General Store on the edge of the Paradise Valley dates back to the 1800s. Californian William Randolph Hearst, Jr once owned land nearby and logged it for his Homestead Mine in the 1870s. The store’s present owner is a cat lover and dozens of them are found lounging everywhere around the property, providing Reedy with an affluence of feline subjects for his fall photography.

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