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Lassen Volcanic Erupts in Color

Kings Creek Meadow Overlook, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/29/18) Shanda Ochs

Aspen, Devastated Area, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/29/18) Shanda Ochs

Everywhere you look on a drive through Lassen Volcanic National Park (northeast California), there’s molten color to be seen, Shanda Ochs suggests.

The Lassen Peak Highway (CA-89) is Lassen Volcanic’s main park road. It travels past several of the park’s prime attractions, from the Southwest Entrance Station at Mineral, northwest to CA-44 near Shingletown.

Once snow falls, the road remains closed for winter, often not reopening until late May. Though, for now, it’s open with splashes of fall color along it.

Ochs says fall color now appearing in all the national park’s meadows are impressive though, “Kings Creek Meadow from its upper vantage point is spectacular!”

 

 

Aspen, Devastated Area, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/29/18) Shanda Ochs

Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/29/18) Shanda Ochs

Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/29/18) Shanda Ochs

Continuing north, stands of Near Peak quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) are found near the Devasated Area beside the road. A good place to park is the Devastated area, as turnouts are limited along the park road.

At Manzanita Lake (northwest entrance), foliage varies in degree change, but overall it’s at Peak. An easy trail winds around the lake with thinleaf alder (Alnus tenuifolia), Pacific (Salix lasinandra) and Lemmons (Salix lemmonii) willow and black cottonwood (Populus trihocarpa) inhabit the shoreline and scatter gold, yellow and orange leaves upon the lake.

One of the finest reflection shots in any national park can be taken from the west end of the Manzanita Lake trail, with Lassen Peak perfectly reflected on its mirror surface – best near sunset. 

Kings Meadow, Lassen Volcanic National Park (7,500′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Devastated Area, Lassen Volcanic National Park (7,000′) – Near Peak(50-75%) GO NOW!

Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park (5,900′) – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW!

Willow, Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/29/18) Shanda Ochs

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Quincy

Quincy (9/27/18) Shelley Hunter

Downtown Quincy (9/27/18) Shelley Hunter

Quincy is a town where its trees are as big as its people.

This Northern Sierra gold rush town (established as Elizabethtown in 1852) was soon bustling after a 28-ounce gold nugget was discovered. Several rich mining claims followed. The town (named after John Quincy Adams) grew to 2,500, before silver strikes at Virginia City, Nevada lured miners away.

Today, just 1,728 souls live there. The quiet country nature of Quincy is evident in Shelley Hunter’s snaps, in which towering trees shade lightly traveled streets and neighborhoods.

Fall color is now Patchy in Quincy with peak typically occurring in mid October. Of particular beauty, and it itself worth the trip to Quincy, are landmark sugar maples and sycamore that grow on the grounds of the Plumas County Courthouse. Another prized autumn photograph is Community United Methodist Church on Jackson St. when it is embraced in fall color. 

Quincy (3,432′) – Patchy (10-50%)  

 

 

Quincy (9/27/18) Shelley Hunter

Quincy (9/27/18) Shelley Hunter

Quincy (9/27/18) Shelley Hunter

Quincy (9/27/18) Shelley Hunter

County Courthouse, Quincy (9/27/18) Shelley Hunter

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Feather River Canyon Gold

Belden (9/26/18) Shelley Hunter

Belden (9/26/18) Shelley Hunter

Twain Store and RV Park, Twain (9/26/18) Shelley Hunter

Feather Bed Inn, Quincy (9/26/18) Shelley Hunter

The American River became world famous in 1848 after word spread of the discovery of gold at Coloma. However, it was just one of many rivers that drop out of the Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Klamath ranges where gold was found.

A strike by California pioneer John Bidwell on July 4, 1848 on a bar along the middle fork of the Feather River made him over $1 million richer (in today’s dollars), giving Bidwell another reason to celebrate on that Independence Day. News of his strike thereafter attracted thousands for “easy pickin’s” along the Feather, late into the 1800s.

Soon, miners were exploring the Feather River Canyon from Chico to Chester, often establishing short-lived towns along the way. Similar boom and bust stories happened over all of northern and eastern California.

Today, many of the gold rush towns the miners established remain as small resorts, remote mountain communities and surviving relics of the era.

Shelley Hunter, owner of the Quincy Feather Bed Inn – a peaceful retreat canopied by beauty in autumn, responded to a call we’d made asking for photographs of her area of Plumas County (Northern Sierra) with images of Just Starting bigleaf maple and black oak.

Feather River Canyon fall color is still two weeks away from Near Peak, though individual specimens and Indian Rhubarb along the upper banks of the Feather River are Near Peak.

She also sent views of Belden (CA-70), the Twain Store and RV Park with its collection of gold rush themed structures and the Feather River Canyon, whose gold discoveries brought thousands to this northern corner of the Sierra in the 1800s.

Feather River

Upper Fall River (9/27/18) Martha Fletcher

Indian Rhubarb, Trinity River (9/27/18) Julia Ellis

Along the Upper Fall River, Martha Fletcher found ornamental trees providing color at Spinner Fall Lodge, evidence that, even in the woods, exotic plants find our Mediterranean climate inviting.

Elsewhere in the Shasta Cascade, Indian Rhubarb, darmera, are turning orange red beside the Trinity River. 

 

 

 

 

Quincy (3,432′) – Just Starting (0-10%)

Belden (2,221′) – Just Starting (0-10%)

Twain (2,858′) – Just Starting (0-10%)

Feather River Canyon – Just Starting (0-10%)

Fall River – Just Starting (0-10%)

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Shine On Harvest Moon

Harvest Moon, Lassen Peak (9/23/18) Chico Hiking Association

Mountain Maples and Oceanspray (9/24/18) Chico Hiking Association

Mountain Maples (9/24/18) Chico Hiking Association

Indian Rhubarb, Deer Creek, CA-32 (9/24/18) Chico Hiking Association

On its explorations yesterday, the Chico Hiking Association captured the harvest moon (the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox) rising over Lassen National Park.

A harvest moon is called such, because it puts out a lot of bright light in early evening, that has traditionally aided farmers with bringing in the harvest, the Old Farmer’s Almanac tells us.

Harvest moons also have the shortest difference in the time that they rise each day. Whereas in other months of the year, moons rise about 50 minutes apart on each successive day. Near the autumnal equinox, a harvest moon rises both near sunset and 30 minutes later than the previous day.

That is a yearly minimum difference which explains why it can appear that there are multiple full moons in a row. If you happened to photograph this year’s harvest moons, send images to editor@californiafallcolor.com. We’d love to share them.

On its weekend explorations, CHA visited Elam Campground in Lassen National Forest (50 mi. east of Chico) where sunlight, not a harvest moon, illuminated the gold and orange foliage of Mountain Maple, Acer glabrum, and Oceanspray, Holodiscus discolor, formidable shrubs ( 5 to 20′ tall) that grow along rocky slopes.

Indian Rhubarb, Darmera, are approaching Near Peak beside CA-32 along Deer Creek.

Elsewhere in the Shasta Cascade Region, color spotter Jeff Titcomb sent the following snaps of a variety of native and exotic foliage exhibiting early peak color, including: California wild grape, firethorn (pyracantha), Pacific dogwood, bigleaf maple, and chokecherry. 

Elam Campground (4,380′) – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW!

California Wild Grape , Quincy (9/22/18) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Firethorn, pyracantha, Quincy (9/22/18) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Pacific dogwood, Quincy (9/22/18) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Bigleaf Maple. Greenville (9/22/18) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Bigleaf maple, Greenville (9/22/18) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Chokecherry, Greenville (9/22/18) Jeff Luke Titcomb

Chokecherry (9/22/18) Jeff Luke Titcomb

 

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Golden Currant Decorate Lassen Volcanic’s Hat Creek

Golden Currant, Hot Çreek, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/21/18) Shanda Ochs

Mountain Mule Ear and Arrowroot Balsam, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/21/18) Shanda Ochs

Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) are living up to their name near Hat Creek where they’re at peak color, reports Shanda Ochs from Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The volcanic slopes of the national park are spread with Mountain Mule Ear (Wyethia mollis) and Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) “which have turned rusty orange to brown and are at peak.”

Shanda says that above 7,000′, there’s lots of autumn color, though mostly among shrubs and ground covers. Lassen Volcanic’s willows are about 20% turned, while cottonwood, alder and aspen are showing mostly green and lime with a few flashes of yellow. 
Lassen Volcanic National Park – Just Starting to Peak (0-100%) – The difficulty in classifying LVNP is that the state of fall color there depends upon which plant specie is assessed. Ground covers above 7,000′ are at peak. Shrubs vary from Patchy to Peak. Trees are Just Starting.
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Sunflower Flat Trail A First Report For Plumas County

Dwarf Bilberry, Green Island Lake, Sunflower Flat Trail (9/21/18) Chico Hiking Association

Dwarf Bilberry, Green Island Lake, Sunflower Flat Trail (9/21/18) Chico Hiking Association

Aspen, Saucer Lake, Sunflower Flat Trail (9/21/18) Chico Hiking Association

Crimson dwarf bilberry, lime quaking aspen and golden grasses are to be enjoyed along  the Sunflower Flat Trail in Jonesville Canyon (Plumas County), the Chico Hiking Association reports.

The Sunflower Flat Trail passes winds through woods past Saucer Lake and Green Island Lake and is a short hike. 

Sunflower Flat Trail, Plumas County – Just Starting (0-10%)

Jonesville-Canyon Trail Map

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A First For Red Clover Valley

Aspen, Red Clover Valley (9/18/18) Dave Butler

Red Clover Valley in the Northern Sierra is one of those colorfully named places that time forgot and man exploited.

Until 1880, it was lushly populated with a glorious riparian ecology, containing California Golden Beaver (Castor canadensis subauratus), native trout, hardwood trees, willows and sedges. Its isolation had kept it pristine and idyllic for millennia.

However, it was also a natural pen which ranchers used to graze sheep and cattle. That grazing inevitably eliminated the valley’s riparian vegetation, resulting in Red Clover Creek eroding, widening and deepening itself, the California Water Resources Agency reported in 1991.

In 2012, a proposal to restore the valley reported that Red Clover Creek’s “once-productive wet meadows (had, by then) converted to a dry sagebrush-dominated basin with minimal vegetation and little cover for fish.”

Yesterday, Dave Butler was distracted by flashes of golden color as he drove the Beckwourth/Genessee Rd. near Red Clover Valley. Quaking Aspen were turning from deep green to lime and yellow. Beauty was returning to the Red Clover Valley as autumn was approaching. 

Just Starting (0-10%) – Red Clover Valley (5,400′)

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Seeing Red

Crimson Knotweed, Cliff Lake, Lassen Volcanic NP (9/12/15) Shanda Ochs

One of the earliest fall colors to enjoy in California’s mountains is red.

Though if you seek it, look downward. As, the red of which I write is crawling along the ground.

In the Shasta Cascade, it is the Crimson Knotweed that carpets volcanic slopes above 7,000′ in the Northern Sierra and Southern Cascade.

Dwarf Bilberry, Cascade Lake, Hoover Wilderness (9/5/18) David Senesac

In the Sierra Nevada, Dwarf Huckleberry or Sierra Bilberry (Vaccinium nivictum) grows in subalpine fir forests and alpine fell fields usually between 8,000 and 12,000′,  John Hunter Thomas and Dennis R. Parnell write in Native Shrubs of the Sierra Nevada.

Naturalist David Senesac hiked up into the 20 Lakes Basin of the Hoover Wilderness (Eastern Sierra) in early September to find ruby Dwarf Bilberry (Vaccinium caespitosum), “a turf height species of the blueberry family” blushing near timberline elevations in the weeks before autumn.

This plant is often red-purple in color, but ignites when backlit with light, adding vermillion vibrance and verve to its otherwise austere environs. 

Peak (75-100%) – Bilberry and Knotweed

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Indian Rhubarb’s Showy Start

Indian Rhubarb, Big Creek, Plumas County (9/16/18) Michael Beatley

Indian Rhubarb, Darmera peltata, is a showy plant that lives along streams in the Northern Sierra.

Plumas County color spotter Michael Beatley reports the plant has started to show its iridescent colors along Big Creek, between Meadow Valley and Bucks lake, in Plumas National Forest.

Michael says Indian Rhubarb leaves this year are “huge,” and should be gorgeous in two weeks.

To find it, take Big Creek Rd towards Bucks lake. 

Just Starting (0-10%) – Indian Rhubarb, Plumas County (3,600′)

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Meadows and Shrubs Are Where It’s At

Kings Creek Meadow, Lassen VNP (9/8/18) Shanda Ochs

Rock Spiraea (creambush), Lassen Peak, Lassen VNP (9/8/18) Shanda Ochs

California’s best end-of-summer/beginning-of-autumn color is being found in high meadows and wherever colorful shrubs grow.

At Lassen Volcanic National Park in northeast California, Kings Creek Meadow at 7,500′ in elevation is in the process of transitioning from gold to brown, while at 8,200′ at the base of Lassen Peak, Rock Spiraea (Petrophytum caespitosum – creambush) is tinted with dusty rose blooms, LVNP color spotter Shanda Ochs reports. 

Peak (75-100%) – Lassen Volcanic National Park – Meadow grasses and shrubs above 7,500′ in elevation are at peak color, though deciduous trees are still green.

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