With just a few more days until the official start of fall, things seem to be lining up nicely for a good color display. Cold nighttime temperatures are on the horizon and colors are slowly progressing.
In Mammoth Lakes color spotter Samantha Lindberg has noticed the bushes in the area working hard to garner attention.
“One of the standout features of this year’s fall season is the early onset of color change in the area’s bushes,” she says. “While the bushes are leading the way, it’s important to note that the overall fall color progression is still in its early stages.”
Tioga Pass (Just starting 0-10%) Elevation: 9,500’
Surrounding grasses near the Tioga Pass area have undergone a magical transformation, with blades of grass turning into golden strands. Around the area, you’ll notice the start of vibrant foliage of the bushes and shrubs that will eventually erupt into a symphony of yellows and oranges.
Mammoth Lakes Basin – Twin Lakes (Just starting 0-10%) Elevation: 8,563′
The aspen trees are mostly lime in color, but with a few yellow patches.
As we await the full fall glory, it is a good time to remind ourselves how to recreate responsibly while we are out leaf peeping this year.
Please remember to Leave No Trace.
There are seven principles to this concept. We’ve adapted them to fit fall color viewing and photography. They include:
To these seven principles, we add these ethical standards of nature and wildlife photography:
The excitement continues to grow in the Eastern Sierra as the autumn equinox approaches. Small flecks of lime greens and yellows continue to make their appearances.
Inyo County color spotter, Betsy Forsyth, reports that things are getting started in the Bishop area.
“Down in the valley there are plenty of yellow hues in the cottonwoods,” she states. More is expected to pop up by next weekend.
The approach of the first day of fall is also queueing up some fall weather, according to the National Weather Service. Wind, showers and freezes are in the forecast for the Eastern Sierra in the coming week. Expect this to trigger additional color changes in the region.
Deciduous trees drop their leaves in order to survive. As days grow shorter and colder, deciduous trees shut down veins and capillaries (that carry water and nutrients) with a barrier of cells that form at the leaf’s stem.
Called “abscission” cells, the barrier prevents the leaf from being nourished. The abscission layer blocks the transportation of materials from the leaf to the branch and from the roots to the leaves. As green Chlorophyll is blocked from the leaves, it disappears completely from them and that is when the fall colors begin to appear.
As long as the days stay warm, cold nights are good for creating vibrant fall color.
While the autumn equinox is still more than a week away fall colors are being spotted in Mono County and we have received our first reports. It seems the wait is over and things are beginning to change.
Things are just getting started with only a couple of locations showing lime-green to yellow leaves, reports color spotter Jeff Simpson. Sagehen Summit, Virginia Lakes, and Rock Creek Lake are always the first areas to change and that’s no exception this year. All three locations are in the 0-10% category and are just getting going with a few changing leaves at the highest elevations.
To Simpson’s surprise, Convict Lake and McGee Creek in the Eastern Sierra were also showing signs of autumn with a few groves of yellow (and even orange) color at the south end of Convict Lake. These areas traditionally peak in mid-October so keep your eye out for an early season there. Both locations are also in the 0-10% category.
With Labor Day Weekend now behind us, fall is just a handful of sunsets away, as Peter Asco explains.
“On this sunset just before Labor Day, as I observe the angle of the sun’s rays, it’s golden hues, my skin refreshed by sporadic cool air waves, I know summer is ending, and I rejoice, certain fall has begun and Harvest Season is around the bend. Happy Labor Day.”
Color spotter, Samantha Lindberg recently used the phrase “meteorological fall” and it peaked my interest. After doing a little research it seems the term refers to a season created by scientists (meteorologists). It begins September 1 and ends November 30, according to wane.com, because this is the time period that the general public associates with “fall.”
While the date of the actual autumn equinox changes every year, meteorological fall stays the same. The equinox arrives on September 22 in 2023 in California, but with cooler temperatures in the state this Labor Day Weekend, perhaps the scientists behind meteorological fall are on to something.
Either way, the reason leaves change color throughout the season stays the same. Blake Engelhardt with the US Forest Service explains.
“During the summer growing season the leaves are constantly producing chlorophyll, which gives them their green color,” she says. “In the fall, longer nights trigger the formation of the abscission layer.”
According to Engelhardt, this is basically a thickened layer of cells at the base of the leaf where it attaches to the stem that blocks the transport of water and sugar into the leaf.
“Thin, deciduous leaves won’t survive the freezing temperatures of winter, so there’s no reason to keep feeding them,” she adds. “Once chlorophyll synthesis stops, the green quickly disappears and other more persistent pigments become visible yellows, reds, purples.”
Yellow comes from Xanthophylls (compounds) and Flavonols (proteins) that reflect yellow light.
Orange is found in leaves with lots of beta-carotene, a compound that absorbs blue and green light and reflects yellow and red light, giving the leaves their orange color.
Red comes from the Anthocyanin compound.
The best fall color occurs when days are warm and nights are clear and cold. California’s cloudless skies and extreme range of elevations (sea level to 14,000′) provide ideal conditions for the development of consistently vivid fall color, as seen in these reports.
Peak fall color will begin appearing in the Eastern Sierra above 9,000 feet (you can drive right to it) during the last two weeks of September.
In addition to fabulous fall colors, the season also offers up great events.
In Inyo County, the Blake Jones Trout Derby was rescheduled for Sept. 16 and the Millpond Music Festival is that same weekend: Sept. 15-17.
Color spotters in California are beginning to send in sightings of the first signs of seasonal color change.
In the Mammoth Lakes area, Angie Plaisted reported on August 24, 2023 that a few leaves around Convict Lake were getting an early start on showing off their fall colors.
Color spotter Samantha Lindberg also checked out Convict Lake on August 28 and claimed, “we are just starting to get a teaser of what is yet to come, Convict Lake has some yellow on the tops of the tress and some fallen leaves. Also, the rabbitbrush is making its appearance!”
Rabbitbrush appears as summer begins to fade and blooms into fall.
Color spotter (and former californiafallcolor.com editor) John Poimiroo reported on August 25 that signs in Tahoe at 6,224′ were pointing to an early winter in the High Sierra.
“Oak trees are full of acorns and dropping them rapidly,” Poimiroo said. “Chickaree (Douglas Squirrels) and Golden Mantled Ground Squirrels (often mistaken as chipmunks) are frantically gathering black oak acorns and other nuts. One local said she had never seen them so active.”
US Forest Service Botanist Blake Engelhardt also weighed in with some thoughts.
“I’m optimistic that with the lingering snowpack this season and the moist soils from spring rains, we are primed for some good fall colors,” she said.
The Farmer’s Almanac is calling for another big winter and Engelhardt reinforced that it could quickly change what we see out there this year.
“Foliage season is always difficult to predict in terms of length, as unexpected frosts can cause leaves to drop quickly.”
This year the first day of fall is September 22 at 11:49 pm, so start your preparations for scenic drives and sweater weather.
The air is beginning to tingle as fall approaches. I am honored to spend this year’s season with you, dear reader, and can’t wait to share color-spotting news.
When the opportunity arose last year to take over the site from John Poimiroo, I jumped at the chance. He has created a trustworthy and notable site, which was once again honored as the Best Outdoor Internet Site for 2023 by the Outdoor Writers Association of California (OWAC) in its recent award cycle. Additionally, Poimiroo received a third place award for the featured photo here titled, Red Lake Creek Cabin, Hope Valley.
I hope to continue to provide meaningful information to readers this year, in addition to providing a platform for our notable contributors. Please reach out to me at editor@californiafallcolor.com with questions or just to say hello.
On January 1, California Fall Color begins its next chapter. Editing and publishing the blog from then forward will be Lara Kaylor.
Kaylor serves as Director of Content, Communications & PR at Mammoth Lakes Tourism, in addition to being a freelance writer whose work has been published in multiple outlets, including: Backpacker, SKI, Bicycling, Sierra Heritage and Snowshoe magazines. Recently, her reflections appeared in a guest post on California Fall Color. Though, she has closely followed this site, for several years.
Lara earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley and brings journalistic talents to the site. She was a news reporter for more than a decade for these Sierra Nevada news outlets: the Mammoth Times, Sierra Wave and The Sheet.
Today is the last day of Autumn. Winter arrives tomorrow, but we could not leave without one last look at what made this fall memorable.
In search of snowy fishing holes, Davis color spotter Philip Reedy and John, a fishing companion, drove along Highway 32 from Chico to Deer Creek. They returned through the Forks of Butte Creek Recreation Area.
There, they found last vestiges of autumn color. Trees were bare and leaves spent. Fall color littered the forest floor as decaying detritus. Orange-brown maple and blackened alder leaves provided morbid contrast to vibrant mosses that flocked a rocky face above the creek.
For his fortitude, Reedy scored the last First Report of autumn at the Forks of Butte Creek Recreation Area, an area not previously reported here. He also posted the final fall color report of Autumn, 2022.