If there’s a benefit to the haze that has smothered the Eastern Sierra this autumn, it is that it has transformed Bishop’s Buckley Ponds to golden ponds, as seen in Gary Young’s photographs.
Patchy color is transitioning to Near Peak there, as cottonwood, rabbitbrush, cattails and willows are similarly gilded.
Buckley Ponds, Bishop (10/25/20) Gary YoungBuckley Ponds, Bishop (10/25/20) Gary YoungBuckley Ponds, Bishop (10/25/20) Gary YoungBuckley Ponds, Bishop (10/25/20) Gary YoungBuckley Ponds, Bishop (10/25/20) Gary Young
Water fowl and raptors offer entertaining distractions to a Buckley Ponds visit. Location of Buckley Ponds is found on the California Fall Color Map (at right).
Coots, Buckley Ponds, Bishop (10/25/20) Gary YoungCoots, Buckley Ponds, Bishop (10/25/20) Gary YoungBuckley Ponds, Bishop (10/25/20) Gary YoungRed-tailed Hawk, Buckley Ponds, Bishop (10/25/20) Gary Young
Two days earlier, Wally Tran found the following glimpses of final color along South Lake Road in Bishop Creek Canyon. The color has definitely dropped out of the canyon to lower elevations, though the images remain beautiful, as seen in Mark Harding’s images taken today.
S. Fork Bishop Creek, Inyo County (10/23/20) Wally TranSouth Lake Rd, Bishop Creek Canyon (10/23/20) Wally TranSouth Lake Rd, Bishop Creek Canyon (10/26/20) Mark Harding South Lake Rd, Bishop Creek Canyon (10/26/20) Mark HardingSouth Lake Rd, Bishop Creek Canyon (10/26/20) Mark HardingSouth Lake Rd, Bishop Creek Canyon (10/26/20) Mark HardingSouth Lake Rd, Bishop Creek Canyon (10/26/20) Mark HardingSouth Lake Rd, Bishop Creek Canyon (10/26/20) Mark Harding
Buckley Ponds, Bishop (4,150′) – Patchy to Near Peak (10-75%) – Go Now.
Bishop Creek Canyon (below 8,000′) – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, You Almost Missed It.
CaliforniaFallColor.com is a seasonal news site that reports on autumn’s show throughout California. The site is written, edited and published by Lara Kaylor, a travel and outdoor journalist based in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
