On this Thanksgiving Day, californiafallcolor.com is thankful for our color spotters who are the heart and soul of making this website happen.
For 2025 they are as follows:
Aaron Thom, Amanda Carlson, Ammie McCaffer, Angie Plaisted, Barbara Richter, Bernard Johnson, Betsy Forsyth, Bob Blesse, Bruce Wendler, Carl Melis, Casper Goers, Dakota Snider, Dan Varvais, Danny Gold, David Barnstone, Debbi Waldear, Eliza Catarongan, Emily Bryant, Gary Skipper II, Gary Young, Haoqi Yang, Jason Lee, Jason Slamovich, Jeff Simpson, Jeff Titcomb, Jennifer Natale, Jim Adams, Joelle Parker, John Natelli, John Poimiroo, Karen Randall, Kathy Jonokuchi, Keith Radford, Kim Espinosa, Lance Pifer, Laura Christman, Lina Lambert, Liz Grans, Luca Soares, Lucas Yan, Lynelle White, Mark Hanning-Lee, Meredith Lahaie, Michael Beatley, Michael Kwok, Michelle Pontoni, Mike Caffey, Patrick Luscri/Indiana Drones and the Art of Aerial Photography, Paul Martin, Pauline Thomas, Peter Robbins, Phil Farrell, Philip Reedy, Karen Kleven, Risa Wyatt, Robert Kermen, Ruby Jay, Samantha Lindberg, Scott Quirsfeld, Shelley Hunter, Shishir Iyer, Soyoung Kim, Steve Arita, Steve Shinn, Tyson, Veronica M., Vishal Mishra.
If somehow, we missed you, please know it wasn’t intentional. We are truly indebted to every contributor.
Now in my third season running the website, the anticipation of what’s to come each year has me feeling like a little kid on Christmas beginning as early as July. Luckily this year, I didn’t have to wait too long.
The season came on fast and furious, with colors spotted by peepers as early as August. The trend carried throughout the season and the state. I was so impressed by the quality of photos coming in and variety of locations this year. We even had several First Reports from places that had never before been covered on the site.
Once again a heartfelt thanks to my little family who kept me going during the busiest moments, and made sure I got out to find color in my own big backyard.
Special thanks are expressed to Inyo County, Bishop Area Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau, Mono County Tourism, Destination Plumas County and Mammoth Lakes Tourism for underwriting California Fall Color, and to the many reporters and media who carried our reports and gave attention to what we have shown about California’s fall color.
Our deepest thanks go to the more than 100,000 readers who read, followed, reacted to and commented here and on our social media pages. You are still, after all, the reason we do this.
The photographs selected for this year’s video represent the Best of the Week photos from this year’s weekly reports. They demonstrate some of the finest photography of 2025. To be considered for the video, photos must be high resolution (300 dpi), not watermarked, and submitted within one week of capturing them.
And as always, thank you to the talented Mr. John Poimiroo for sharing this very special piece of California with me.
While autumn doesn’t end today, we begin to dial back reports and will post less frequently. We’ve also stopped sending weekly updates to meteorologists, travel and outdoor writers.
So, enjoy your Thanksgiving Day and plan an Orange Friday of fall color spotting, tomorrow.
California – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW! – In our hearts, California is always at its best. We’ll see you next autumn, dude.
Thank you so much for this site, it makes us go to the Eastern Sierra every year!!!