Nevada City Color Tour
Nevada City has a self-guided tour of the Gold Rush town on its Chamber of Commerce website. The tour includes 15 stops, many of which are gracious Victorian homes, churches and public buildings.
Ravi Ranganathan took the tour on Saturday and sends this painter’s palette of Gold Country color.
Prominent locations include the Nevada City Chamber and government office buildings and locations on Spring, Broad and Cottage Streets. Trees are mostly exotic maple, birch and elm, with native cottonwood and Pacific dogwood, as well.
All photos credit: Ravi Ranganathan; click to enlarge.
- Nevada City (2,477′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Fans of Fall Color
Yesterday, Michael Beatley and I toured Plumas County. Along the way, we ran into fans of CaliforniaFallColor.com who’d followed this site’s advice to GO NOW! It was coincidental that they happened to be where we were.
At Spanish Creek, Michael and I stopped to joke about their tantalizing picnic feast that was spread out on a blanket at the trailhead.
Karthik Ghandi and his family from Rocklin was joined by the Velusami family of Roseville and the Govindasamy’s of Folsom who were enjoying the lunch before visiting Spanish Creek then hiking up the trail a half mile to see Indian rhubarb.
In Quincy, we passed Son and Ann Nugyen, contributors to the site, who were photographing a maple. They have traveled far and wide across North America to photograph fall color and refer to CaliforniaFallColor.com, regularly.
To all our readers and fans, thank you. Thank you for your loyalty to the site and the many contributions you make, sharing the beauty you’ve seen with other fans of fall color.
Lake Tahoe
It’s peak at scenic Lake Tahoe with colorful aspen, black oak and bigleaf maple lighting the forest and bear fishing for spawning lake salmon.
Clayton Peoples followed CA-89 along the west shore to CA-88, finding spots of bright color speckled throughout the forest along the west shore. Looking down upon Emerald Bay the color could be seen peeking between pine, cedar and fir.
An American black bear fished for Kokanee salmon at Taylor Creek. Autumn is one of the sure ways of seeing one of California’s 30,000 to 40,000 bears, as they often visit the creeks that spill into Lake Tahoe as they fish during the autumn salmon and steelhead runs.
The most beautiful stands of Tahoe color are seen Tallac and Taylor Creek along the southwest end of the lake.
- Lake Tahoe (6,225′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Cat’s Meow
Do not leave your cat at home when traveling to see California Fall Color.
That’s the advice of Jun Hong who took his kitty, Juan, to North Lake this past week. Clearly, Juan appreciates beauty.
- North Lake, N Fork Bishop Creek Canyon – Peak to Past Peak, GO NOW, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT!
Eternal Hope
It never gets tedious writing headlines for a post from the Hope Valley, as visiting it is always more interesting.
Davis color spotter Philip Reedy was there on Friday, and true to his promise to track the progression of fall color in that beautiful corner of Alpine County.
Phil’s report arrived Friday night, but by the time it arrived, I’d edited and posted seven reports and would be driving to Plumas County early the following morning, so couldn’t attend to it until today. Apologies for the late delivery of his analysis.
Phil noted that “While some areas have lost leaves there are plenty that still look amazing. I would encourage anyone who enjoys that area to go IMMEDIATELY. As, in another week there won’t be a lot left to see.”
So, if you were looking for something to do on a beautiful fall day. Head to the Hope Valley, NOW.
You’ll find “nice color between Silver Lake and Kirkwood and even better color from Caples Lake to Carson Pass.”
“Woods Lake Road looks great right now. Heading down from Carson Pass along Red Lake there is great color, especially right at the east end of the lake where the red barn sits next to a meadow facing a large number of peaking aspens. Forest Service road 31013 that heads south from there has beautiful color right now.”
“Heading east toward the Red Lake Creek cabin the trees look very nice along the highway. The cabin is looking excellent now as the groves on the mountainside above the cabin have peaked this week. I noticed the same thing from the cabin all the way through Hope Valley. Groves on the higher mountain slopes that were green a week ago are now yellow and orange, while the trees below still have most of their color.”
Unfortunately, across the road from the cabin along the creek, the trees that were at peak last week are mostly bare. Some of the trees near the ranch just east of Blue Lakes Road have lost leaves but large numbers are in full glory. A hike north through those trees is just beautiful.
Trees to the north along CA 89 toward Tahoe are a mix of yellow and green. These always seem to be the last trees to change.
Clayton Peoples also visited on Oct. 18, and said wind damage had stripped a lot of trees.
- Hope Valley(7,300′) – Peak to Past Peak GO NOW, YOU ALMOST MISSED IT – Hurry, as winds are predicted in days to come.
Big in Hope: Whiskeytown Lake
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area is big in hope and heart. It’s the second of two NRA’s mentioned today, that were devastated by wildfires last year, and big in hope because of recovering fall color now being seen, big in heart because of the spirit of its people.
I last visited Whiskeytown Lake on the Labor Day weekend and found both the park and its loyal locals to be ashen.
Laura explains that last year’s Carr Fire burned many of the park’s bigleaf maple, though green shoots sprouted from the bases of burned trees.
Like the Santa Monica Mountains NRA, written about earlier today, signs of recovery are occurring at Whiskeytown Lake.
Deciduous plants tend to grow back faster than do evergreens, and the first bright signs of hope are appearing as bigleaf maple and Indian rhubarb are now showing their fall colors.
As the deciduous trees mature, their show will only get better in future years.
- Whiskeytown Lake NRA (1,214′) – Near Peak (50-75%) GO NOW!
Hike of the Week: Mt Tallac
California Fall Color Hike of the Week is the Mt. Tallac at Lake Tahoe.
The trail starts at lake level (6,225′) and varies from easy to strenuous, depending on how high up you’d like to climb. There’s a 3,500′ gain if you summit out.
BearfootTheory.com recommends, “If you aren’t sure you can make it all the way to the summit you can hike 1.7 miles (one-way) to Floating Island Lake or also 2.3 miles (one-way) to Cathedral Lake. The stretch of trail from the trailhead to Cathedral Lake is great for beginners. After Cathedral Lake the trail gets more strenuous & steep.”
Michelle Pontoni sent photos of the lower section of the trail which is lined with peak aspen, bigleaf maple and willows.
Mt.Tallac is one of the taller and most prominent peaks in the Tahoe basin. It’s so lofty that fit adventurers will climb its snowfields for Independence Day ski runs.
- Mt. Tallac Trail, South Lake Tahoe (6,225′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Bishop Bows In Beautifully
As yet this autumn, Bishop Creek Canyon hasn’t yet reported one Past Peak, and yet now the town of Bishop bows in with Peak color.
In other words, it is peaking from 9,100′ down to 4,100′. That’s 5,000′ of PEAK along Bishop Creek!
We’ve never seen a fall like 2019.
Bishop color spotter toured the Buckley and Rawson Ponds, canals and neighborhoods that are presently filled with gorgeous peak orange and yellow cottonwood. Mariusz Jeglinski was equally dazzled by the peak color seen in the Owens Valley.
Sit back and enjoy the most amazing spectacle Inyo County has yet witnessed.
- Inyo County (4,150′ to 9,500′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Yosemite Autumn
Mark Harding follows up Gene Miller’s report on the Yosemite pioneer sugar maple with these images of peak native color in Yosemite Valley. More reasons to head to the mountains this weekend.
- Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park (4,000′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!