Over the weekend, photographer and color spotter Philip Reedy headed out from Davis two hours before sunrise toward Truckee and north on Highway 89.
“My first stop was the Little Truckee River along Independence Lake Road,” he said. “It looked great a year ago and I was hoping to combine some fall color and fly fishing photos. I was not disappointed.”
He did say that this area is at peak and past, so he doesn’t expect to see much remaining color a week from now.
“I was surprised to see some snow on the ground from the cold weather on Wednesday,” he added.
From there he headed north to the Cold Creek campground, a few miles south of Sierraville. By now he would expect to see full color there, but there was still a lot of green mixed in with yellow and orange leaves.
“I’d estimate the area to be around 25% to 50% and it should be great in a week,” Reedy said.
From there he headed onto Highway 49 and up over Yuba Pass. There were some yellow aspens right at the pass, but on down to Bassett’s Station and Sardine Lake, everything was still mostly green, he reported.
As Reedy reported last week, the Hope Valley area seemed to be a week early this year, yet he found this week that Highway 49 from Bassett’s to Downieville may be a week later than usual.
“A few big leaf maples had begun to turn yellow and a few Indian Rhubarb exhibited some color, but the whole stretch was only 0 – 10% at this point,” he said. “It should be nice in a week or two.”
Little Truckee River (5,614′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
