Archive for category: Shasta Cascade

Since Friday was a state holiday in Nevada (Nevada Day), Clayton Peoples drove north on US 395 from Reno, then up CA-36 through Susanville to Lassen Volcanic National Park and on to Burney Falls.

Some of the prettiest color we’ve seen has come from Susanville. Along the Susan River Canyon, west of town, black oak drape their Near Peak orange-to-rusty-brown, laden boughs.

The canyon is visible from CA-36 as it descends toward Susanville, though the best views are from within the canyon. 

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A hillside above Susanville’s Victorian Elks Lodge (reputedly the most photographed structure in Lassen County) is covered with bold orange color. Susanville will peak this week.

The lodge has a fascinating history. The land on which it stands was purchased in 1884 for $450 by a dentist who studied to be an architect. All its rooms (except the kitchen and dining area) are octagonal. When the dentist (who often was paid in trade) could not pay his bills, the home was awarded to a debtor who then rented the home for $15 a month.

For those paying California mortgages, are you crying yet?

In 1921, members of the local Antlers Club formed an Elks Lodge and purchased the home for $13,000. OK, now I hear the sobbing.

In 1924, after renovations that opened the ground floor into one large hall, “500 of the antlered herd” gathered from across Northern California and Nevada to celebrate the installation of Susanville’s new B.P.O.E. Lodge #1487 with great fanfare, including: a band, a six-block-long parade, streamers, flags, costumed celebrants (from bathing suits to full dress), the unexpected appearance of 100 Elks from Westwood, the exalted ruler of every Elks Lodge in Northern California and a “grand exalted ruler” from Oroville.

Who knew anything was grand and exalted in Oroville?

Following his visit to the Susan River Canyon and its famous lodge, Clayton continued west through Lassen Volcanic National Park along CA-89 and CA-44. to Burney Falls.

Clayton characterized Burney Falls as Patchy to Near Peak. “The park, in general, has lots of Black Oaks in full color. Near the creek/falls, however, they still have some more to go before reaching peak. Of special note, the Black Oaks that “frame” the falls from the upper vista are still mostly green.” He estimated it would be another week before they’re yellow/orange.

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He found Manzanita Lake still ringed with beautiful patches of yellow that accent reflections of Chaos Crags and Lassen Peak, though about 40% of the deciduous foliage has lost its color; the rest is dropping fast; and Clayton estimates peak will wane over the coming week.

Laura Christman found pretty much the same while kayaking at Butte Lake within the national park, yesterday … Peak to Past Peak with some nice splashes of yellow against the backdrop of dark cinder mountains, blue sky and dark-green conifers.

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• Susan River Canyon (4,186′) – Near Peak to Peak (50-100%) GO NOW!
• Manzanita Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park (5,900′) – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, You Almost Missed It.
• Butte Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park (6,053′) – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, You Almost Missed It.
• MacArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park (3,281) – Patchy to Near Peak (10-75%) Go Now.

I struggled with what to headline this post. When I saw where these shots were taken, “Going to Court” came to mind. Then, Philip Reedy said he’d taken them while lying on his back at the Plumas County Courthouse and suggested the play on words, “Things are looking up.”

They certainly are in Quincy where a rolling peak surrounds the courthouse. Some trees haven’t yet turned, while others are at full peak. That’s a function of Courthouse Square being landscaped with a variety of species that peak at different times.

Editor’s note: apologies if photos are taking a while to load. We’re working on optimizing all images on the site, so that they don’t take as long to load. There’s always something (sigh).

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Chester, at the northernmost end of the Sierra Nevada, rarely gets submitted to CaliforniaFallColor.com. Perhaps it’s overlooked because it’s seen as too utilitarian a place.

After all, Chester means business. It has long been a logging town with utilitarian markets and stores that serve loggers and their families.

Running straight as an arrow through town is State Route 36, built broad for logging trucks. Rogers Field, the local airport, has a 5,000′ runway which is why it was chosen by the USDA Forest Service as an Air Attack Base for aerial firefighting aircraft. Yet, Chester is a welcoming destination.

Each Independence Day, Chester hosts one of the best traditional Fourth of July parades in California along Hwy 36, with decorated logging trucks, fire trucks, homespun floats, custom cars, marching bands, pancake feeds, clown cars, beauty queens and lots of innocent fun.

Look hungry and friendly enough as you walk past Chester’s mid-1900s loggers’ cottages, along side streets, and the locals who host front-yard, Fourth of July buffets for their neighbors will invite you beyond their picket fences to sample something they’re especially proud to have made. It’s that kind of place, genuine, down to earth and approachable.

Despite being near a national park, beautiful Plumas County and Lake Almanor – a great fishing and water sports lake – Chester has struggled to attract tourism, odd considering that it’s near Lassen Volcanic National Park, a stone’s throw from the Bizz Johnson recreation trail and surrounded by countless miles of trails for off-roading, hiking, biking and riding and streams for fly fishing.

Chester is just under four hours from San Francisco, slightly more than to Tahoe City but far less when I-80 is busy. So, why has it taken so long for Chester and Lake Almanor to be discovered?

Some years back, nearby Dyer Mountain was proposed as California’s newest ski resort. The ski runs through privately logged forest would have had the fifth-longest vertical drop in California and, at its base, a mountain community designed for remote work. But then, the dot-com boom collapsed, along with the resort’s funding and backing.

So, when Vishal Mishra’s photographs of Chester arrived, recollections of Chester and Lake Almanor flooded back. Such as: ordering pies before they’d sold out at Carol’s Cafe along the lake’s west shore, watching eagles swoop down with outstretched talons to snag fish in the lake, sipping a milkshake at an old-fashioned soda fountain in the Lassen Gift Shop, playing golf on one of three courses and hiking the Lake Almanor Recreational Trail through a forest of peaking aspen.

Perhaps it’s time utilitarian Chester stopped being overlooked.

• Chester (4,534′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Among California’s photo locations, Thompson Ranch along the La Porte Rd. in Plumas County is a recipe for perfection.

An orangey-golden sugar maple provides sweet color, while the ranch’s barn and split rail fence provides savory character.

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Color spotter Jeff Luke Titcomb visited this week to capture its sugar maple at peak on his Samsung N920A.

• Sugar maple, Thompson Ranch, La Porte Rd, Plumas County – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!

Indian Rhubarb (Darmera) have begun splashing the edges of the Upper Sacramento River by the Cantera Loop in Dunsmuir with flame red/orange and magenta, color spotter Philip Reedy reports.

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Autumn’s show is just beginning between Dunsmuir and Mt Shasta, where bigleaf maple are speckling the forest with bright spots of yellow.

Downstream from McCloud Falls, on the McCloud River, the Darmera are dripping with orange and hot yellow. Just upstream at the middle falls, there is just a hint of color below the falls. However, most of the Indian Rhubarb along the river above middle falls remains green. Give it a week or two for peak.

Over the next two weeks the colors will develop steadily moving downstream toward Castle Crags.  Based on historic pattern, Reedy forecasts “it should be very nice in a week.”

• Cantera Loop, Upper Sacramento River (2,290′) – Patchy to Near Peak (10-75%) Go Now.