First Frost
On Friday (Oct. 28), Philip Reedy drove east from Davis on I-80 to explore a favorite and little-traveled route from Truckee north to Sierraville, then west along CA 49 over Yuba Pass and back down to the Central Valley.
Phil reports that it is Past Peak in Truckee and for most of 89, though it brightens approaching Sierraville at Cold Creek. There, he captured the first frost seen this autumn, a harbinger of a winter storm that is predicted to arrive on Tuesday.
Cold Creek Campground had a mix of Peak and Past Peak color. Lurid yellow blended with chartreuse and chestnut among the aspen and cottonwood.
From Cold Creek, Phil and John, a fellow angler, headed to Packer Lake in the Lakes Basin and “hit it just at the right time.” Reedy cautions about its aspen, “but even those will be gone very soon.” If you want to get there to see/photograph peak, pack and drive up this weekend, at latest by Monday, as a week from now it’ll all be laid out, looking up at the sky.
Phil combines fall color with fly fishing photography. He grinned when saying “luckily there was a fly fisherman already on the water, just where I needed him to be.” Now, if working with models was as easy or as inexpensive.
Usually at this time in October, the Golden Chain Highway (49) from Yuba Pass to Downieville is peaking, but this year the trees were Just Starting to appear along the North Fork of the Yuba.
That means, it should be prime by the end of the coming week. Though rain and snow are forecast midweek, they won’t ruin the leaves and may “precipitate” some change, Phil suggests.
Frequent visitors to this site might recall that last year Lavezzola Creek, a few miles north of Downieville, had its glorious line of Indian rhubarb (Darmera) devastated by a late October snowstorm and its runoff. Phil reminds us, “The flows on the Yuba are currently around 100 cfs, but a year ago they hit 9,000 cfs!”
Phil last visited the area in August, finding that rhubarb “had come back with a vengeance.”
Some of their large fan-shaped leaves are irridescent, cadmium yellow and, Should Zeus be kind and they survive this week’s downpour, those leaves will be magically tinted mustard, magenta, mango, mocha, mint and maroon mats by the end of the coming week … a sight to behold.
Color spotters: head to Lavezzola Creek next weekend!
- Truckee (5,817′) – Past Peak, You missed it.
- Upper Little Truckee (6,200′) – Past Peak, You missed it.
- Cold Stream (5,817′) – Past Peak, You missed it.
- Cold Creek (5,680′) – PEAK to Past Peak, Go Now, you almost missed it.
- Sierraville (4,957′) – PEAK (75-100%) GO NOW!
- Packer Lake, Sierra City (6,234′) – PEAK (75-100%) GO NOW!
- Yuba Pass (6,709′) – PEAK (75-100%) GO NOW!
- Sierra City (4,147′) – Near Peak (50-75%) Go Now.
- Lavezzola Creek (3,113′) – Just Starting (10-50%)
- Downieville (2,966′) – Just Starting (10-50%)
