What’s Coming: Intake II
Often overlooked, because it peaks near the tail end of Bishop Creek Canyon’s show, Intake II is an area that Matthew Pacheco suggests adding to a list of must-photograph locations this autumn.
Intake II is less visited than many of the more popular locations up the canyon (South Lake, Lake Sabrina and North Lake), though it is reached easily and ringed with aspen.
He writes, “it’s an amazing place to just sit and watch people fish or listen to the breeze through crisp colored aspen leaves. With a little luck and a fresh hot cocoa bought in bishop, you could make your way out to the docks to catch the early morning light as it catches the Eastern Sierra reflecting in the chilly waters of bishop creek, or maybe you’re like me and think taking your chances on the road less traveled to the opposite side of the lake might catch you the prize, either way… you can’t go wrong at Intake II, morning noon or late day.”
For those who choose to walk around the pond to the opposite shore, there are plenty of good spots to set up without other photographers nearby.
A review of past postings indicates Intake II peaks between the last week in September and the first in October.
Matt notes, “At approx. 8,000 ft elevation, there’s plenty of time to catch this wonderland in all its glory, after the higher elevation laser light shows dim down.”
Here’s more about this great location:
INTAKE II
(8,103′) 16 miles southwest of Bishop
Managed by Southern California Edison, Intake II (aka: Intake No. 2) is the lowest lake in elevation in Bishop Creek Canyon. Easy to fish, Intake II is heavily planted during the season by CDFW with both pan-size rainbows and large trout. This lake is known as a great lake for both shore fishermen and tubers. The beautiful campgrounds at the west end of the lake are very popular. Intake II also provides wheelchair access for fishing with great opportunities for catching a big one. No boat rentals or services are available at Intake II.
How to Submit Photographs and Reports
Over 100 volunteer “color spotters” (our term for contributors) submit photographs and reports to CaliforniaFallColor.com each autumn. To be one of them is easy.
Email photos and reports, within a week of when you visit an area, to editor@californiafallcolor.com.
Reports and photos received more than a few days later are often superseded by submissions for the same location (particularly popular locations) that were received earlier that week. We do not publish undated photographs and rarely post photos older than a week.*
Please edit and send only your best photographs as .jpg files, eliminating duplicates. We rarely publish more than ten photographs for one location by a single photographer in a given week.
Photos can be sent as an attachment to your email or linked to a photo sharing app, such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
Submitted photos should identify (within the email by file name):
- The photographer’s first and last name,
- date each photo was taken and
- the location where each photo was taken.
CaliforniaFallColor.com is unable to compensate photographers for use of their images, though we attempt to always credit the photographer for his/her work.
In addition to bragging rights, many contributors have had their photographs republished leading to broader recognition/exposure, enhanced resumes/reputation, paid compensation from media and/or retail sales, not to mention bragging rights.
Each Thursday from the first day of Autumn through the Thursday prior to Thanksgiving Day, we send to leading California print and broadcast media for republication or broadcast (with selected photographers’ permission) a selection of photos deemed by CaliforniaFallColor.com to be the Best of the Week.
This selection represents both the highest quality of fall color photos take in the previous week and the most representative of the extent of fall color being seen across California.
Photographs and reports from lesser-known or photographed areas have an advantage in being included, because of our interest in showing the breadth of autumn color being seen across California.
California’s most-visited (popular) fall color locations generate the most photographs submitted to this site. Many photographs, including duplicates of the same spots, come from popular areas such as Bishop Creek Canyon, and June Lake.
We attempt to publish at least a few pictures submitted from each color spotter, but occasionally cannot do so because: the pictures arrived too late, similar photos appeared previously or because too many from a given area were submitted.
A tip to getting published is to: 1) send the photos as soon as possible, 2) send only your best photos, 3) send images that other photographers may not have taken, and 4) well-documented photos have a better chance of being published than those that miss identifying the location/subject, date or photographer.
Only high resolution photographs sized to at least 300 dpi or larger than 1,000 kb are eligible to be considered in the Best of the Week selection. **
Quality camera phones (Apple, Samsung, Google) take pictures of sufficiently high resolution for images posted on this site, though digital SLR cameras take the best photos for republication. Set your DSLR to Fine, .jpg.
Submitted reports should identify:
- % of color change for the location being reported (e.g., North Lake, Bishop Creek Canyon) – not for a specific tree or shrub (expressed as: Just Starting, 0-10%; Patchy, 10-50%; Near Peak, 50-75%; Peak, 75-100%; or Past Peak),
- the name of the location, roads (e.g., take Rock Creek Rd. east from US 395),
- date visited and
- any helpful information (e.g., “The trail is steep for the first 500′. but then levels out for the two mile hike to the lake. A grove of peaking aspen is found at the western side the lake trail.”).
If you know the foliage seen in the photo (particularly if it is unusual or wouldn’t be evident to us), please describe it (e.g., quaking aspen, bigleaf maple, black oak, silver willow, etc.). If you do not know the plant, we will attempt to identify it.
We will make every effort to publish your report, particularly if it is from an unusual or lightly reported destination.
When multiple photographs are received from heavily visited locations, we are able only to publish the first received, the best or the most unusual report. Occasionally, we will post a portfolio of historic photos, but often only when fresh images have not been received. Photos may be cropped or adjusted for best presentation.
CaliforniaFallColor.com’s style is vivid and photojournalistic. Images that tell a story or that show human activity in relation to autumn are best.
Reports and photos can also be posted on CaliforniaFallColor’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Though, emailing photos and reports to editor@californiafallcolor.com is the best way to get them on this site, and the only way to get them considered as among the Best of the Week.
Thank you and happy fall color spotting!
* Historic photos, like Michael Beatley’s shot of Spanish Creek (seen above), are published – on occasion – days or even years after they were taken, but only to illustrate an article that is not time-sensitive. Fall color reports only use photos taken during the previous week, in order to present what can be seen at that location.
**A high resolution photo is one that is 300 dpi (dots per inch). A photograph of 1 megabyte or larger is usually large enough to be considered to be high resolution. Please don’t hesitate sending a photograph just because it isn’t 300 dpi. Pictures taken by camera phones often get included in our reports. Small (72 dpi) images – the common setting for websites and devices – are too small for reproduction in print media, though they might be selected to be posted on this website.
Whoomp, There It Is!
Whoomp, there it is! The first leaf of autumn has been posted officially by Mono County color spotter Jeff Simpson.
Jeff said it was 24 degrees Fahrenheit in Bridgeport (the county seat) yesterday morning, causing him to leave the office and tour Rock Creek, Sagehen Summit and the Virginia Lakes in search of fall color.
He found mostly green to lime-colored coverage, though a few bright spots of yellow and orange aspen and golden willows were seen on his brief tour.
Jeff estimates that substantive change will appear near 10,000 feet near Rock Creek Lake in the coming week with areas between 9,000 and 10,400′ in elevation as the first to be worthy of “filling the card.”
Now, how does this compare to previous years?
At this time last year we were reporting about the same amount of color change … very little.
We had received reports of willows, ferns and shrubs turning golden, similar to what we reported last week. As, ground covers are the first to change their autumn colors.
So far, this autumn seems to be right on schedule, but then California is – if anything – consistent about its display of fall color. Here’s what Jeff found:
Virginia Lakes (9,819’) – Just Starting (0-10%) A few leaves have begun to turn yellow. It’s still very early with almost foliage dressed in green or lime.
Sagehen Summit (8,139’) – Just Starting (0-10%) Saghehen is still mostly green and lime. This location is often one of the first to reach full peak in Mono County. Jeff is predicting Near Peak and a GO NOW! designation within 7-10 days.
Rock Creek Road (9,600’) – Just Starting (0-10%) Some yellow leaves are present around the lake level and in the upper elevations of Little Lakes Valley. Mostly green and lime green with another 5-7 days away from any real change.
At lower elevations in the Sierra, little to no fall color is yet visible. Color spotter Sylvia Wright drove Hwys 89, 88, 50 and 49 on a loop between Tahoe City and Auburn, finding zero color, “except for the bright new umbrellas at the Kirkwood Inn.”
Fall and Flannel
If ever a fabric is associated with a season, it is flannel with fall.
Soft and light, yet warm, flannel fits autumn. It is comfortable, outdoorsy and the perfect weight for days that vary from chilly to warm, then back to chilly again.
Now, MagnaReady introduces a line of flannel shirts that open and close through the use of magnets hidden below false buttons. The magnets allow the shirt to click together easily, while still providing the style and durability of a buttoned shirt.
The shirts were designed to help those with difficulty undoing and closing buttons, but they’re a boon to photographers and nature viewers who otherwise have their hands full and could use a little help loosening or closing a button.
By layering MagnaReady’s flannel shirt with a tee, greater versatility and warmth is provided on days when it’s chilly in the morning and evening, and warm midday. Also, the magnetic buttons, hidden beneath real buttons, make it convenient to loosen or close the shirt while in the field.
MagnaReady’s shirts come in a number of stylish patterns, fabrics and colors for men, women and children. They can be purchased online at magnaready.com and through major online retailers.
Foster Focuses on Fall
Lee Foster is among many travel and outdoor writers who are now focusing on fall: when to go, where to go, how to best see autumn’s show and other tips.
This week, Lee writes about the Eastern Sierra in his blog at Foster Travel Publishing.
The color seen in Lee’s photographs can’t be seen right now, but in a week to two, it will be glowing up the canyons west of U.S. 395.
On The Go with KGO
Legendary California travel reporter John Hamilton of KGO-810 in San Francisco invited CaliforniaFallColor.com to talk about this autumn on Sunday.
Listen to the report HERE (Fall Foliage, Sept. 8).
Blight at Martis Creek
Passing Martis Creek Meadow (CA 267 between Northstar and Brockway Summit) on the Labor Day weekend, quaking aspen along the edges of the grove appeared to be approaching peak.
However, on closer inspection, these aspen are blighted. The yellow and orange seen above is not fall color change. It’s aspen blight.
There are numerous types of blight that affect aspen. The most common is Marsonnina blight, which appears as black dots on leaves, eventually speckling them and ruining their autumn show.
In Martis Creek’s case, the trees surrounding the grove have brown tinting along their edges, but those nearest the oft-photographed Martis Creek Cabin off CA-267 show no signs of blight.
The blight is most akin to Ink Spot disease, though only a few of the leaves exhibit the tell-tale march of overlapping drips of blight which give the disease the name, “ink spot.” By this time in summer, the spotted sections have dropped out of the leaves and become holes as seen on the center-most, upper leaf in the closeup photo.
Groves in the meadow to the east of the cabin have been badly affected with numerous trees now brown or having dropped their leaves. Overall, the blight has ruined about a third of all leaves in this popularly photographed grove.
That is not to say that you should skip visiting Martis Creek Cabin this autumn. The blighted trees have their own stressed beauty and once the unaffected green aspen leaves begin to turn, the contrast of colors is likely to be beautiful.
No where else at Tahoe did I find the same condition, and I was not able to visit the Hope Valley on this North Tahoe sojurn. So, the condition may be localized.
As to their longterm impact, such blights are often a year-to-year situation resulting from how wet the area was in late spring or whether the area experienced drought, anything that might encourage fungal growth or stress the trees.
A gardener could do some things at the appearance of aspen blight to mitigate the disease, but as these trees are in a forest, the discoloration is a natural aspect of nature’s painting.
Martis Creek Meadow (6,500’), Just Starting (0-10%) – A third of the trees are blighted, have turned brown or dropped leaves. Willows near the creek are glowing yellow-orange and near peak. As yet, no significant color change can be seen in the Sierra, though occasional spots of yellow color are beginning to appear.
Fall Events: Inyo County
In our series of reports on great fall events, we end where autumn begins … in the Eastern Sierra.
Inyo County is California’s dramatic backbone. It rises from the lowest point in North America (Death Valley, -282.2’) to the highest in the contiguous 48 states (Mt Whitney, +14,505’).
Because of that extreme elevation difference, fall color has been seen peaking in Inyo County from mid September to January. Prime peak, however, occurs up Eastern Sierra creek drainages from mid September through mid October.
U.S. 395 travels between Death Valley and Mt. Whitney through the Owens Valley. Along the route, the towns of Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine and Bishop and their locales hold one-of-a-kind events that celebrate the region’s cultural and natural history.
Inyo County is a place made famous for its western films, towering mountains, high plains, cattle and sheep ranchers, mountaineers, anglers, wranglers, native people, scenic touring routes, food and zest for fun.
Follow US 395 and this list to combine fall color viewing, festivals and events, this autumn:
- Every Thursday – Bishop Paiute Community Market
- Sept. 6 and Oct. 4 – First Friday Markets. Downtown Bishop on Academy Street, between Main Street and Warren Street. Handcrafted items, crafters and artisans, local produce, kid crafts, wine tasting, food booths, local beer and distillery and local bands.
- Sept. 20 – 22 – Millpond Music Festival
- Sept. 27 – 29 – Pabanamanina Pow Wow
- Sept. 27 – 29 – Curley Fletcher’s Birthday Poetry Rendevous
- Oct. 4 – 6 – Fall Colors Classic Car Show
- Oct. 5 – Choo Choo Swap Meet, it’s like 100 yard sales in one location.
- Oct. 5 – John Wayne Grit Series, Alabama Hills Half Marathon & 10K
- Oct. 10 – 13 – Lone Pine Western Film Festival, this is Cannes, Montreal and Sundance for Westerns.
- Oct. 11 – 13 – VCMC Dual Sport Motorcycle Rally
- Oct. 19 – Downtown Bishop Chocolate Art Walk, delicious to the tongue and the eye.
Fall Events: Shasta Cascade
UpStateCA (the vast northeast corner of California, also known as the Shasta Cascade region) is California’s hidden gem.
In autumn, vibrant pockets of fall color brighten lakes, rivers and forests, which attract every type of outdoor recreation one can imagine. This is an outdoor paradise for anglers, hikers, boaters, photographers, RVers, backpackers, off-roaders, mountaineers, sightseers, hunters, wildlife viewers and anyone out for an adventure.
Twenty percent of California’s landmass is contained within the Shasta Cascade – an area the size of Connecticut – yet UpStateCA comprises less than a percent of the state’s population.
It’s an area the size of Connecticut with, Mt. Shasta, Lassen Peak, Shasta Lake, six national forests, 11 state and national parks and California’s most spectacular footbridge (Sundial Bridge), but with fewer people than live in Bakersfield.
Given all those outdoor wonders, the lucky few who reside in UpStateCA know how to celebrate, and they do so throughout Autumn at these events:
- Sept. 3 & 10 – Sunset Through the Trees Run
- Sept. 7 – Fashion Show Gala
- Sept. 7 – Shasta Renaissance and Fantasy Faire
- Sept. 14 – Family 2nd Saturday
- Sept. 14-15 – Balloonfest 2019
- Sept. 21 – Redding Beer and Wine Festival
- Sept. 27 – Best Sci-Fi International Film Festival at the Cascade
- Sept. 28 – Redding Fire Festival
- Sept. 28 – Oroville Salmon Festival
- Sept. 29-Oct. 13 – Riverfront Playhouse Frankenstein
- Oct. 5 – Manton Apple Festival
- Oct. 12 – Big Bike Weekend
- Oct. 12 – Lemurian Classic
- Oct. 12 – McCloud Harvest Festival
- Oct. 12 – Susanville Rails-To-Trails Festival
- Oct. 12 – Quincy Mountain Harvest Brewfest
- Oct. 12 – Trinity River Salmon Festival
- Oct. 13 – Burney Falls Heritage Day
- Oct. 18 – Think Pink Week
- Oct. 18 – Redding Roots Revival Festival
- Oct. 19 – Return of the Salmon Festival
- Oct. 19 – Sac River Trail Run
- Oct. 20 –Ron White at the Civic
- Oct. 30 – Viva MOMIX at the Cascade
- Nov. 1 – Roses and Rust Vintage Market
- Nov. 10 – SWITCHFOOT at the Civic
- Nov. 16 – Two Peaks Run
- Throughout Fall: Plumas County Barn Quilt Tour
Direct flights to the Shasta Cascade Visitors land daily in Redding, from San Francisco and LAX on United Airlines. By land, drive north on Interstate 5, east on CA-44 or west on CA-299 or ride Amtrak to Redding.
For an off-the-beaten-path experience where people celebrate nature in one of California’s most beautiful places, visit Redding and the Shasta Cascade.
Come A Little Bit Closer
Neil Young implores his lover to come a little bit closer … “On this harvest moon” and go “dancing in the light.”
Harvest moons are the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (in the northern hemisphere). TimeandDate.com reports that the next occurs on Sept. 13 (Sacramento), rising at approx. 7:32 p.m. (confirm for your location).
Harvest moons are called such, because they put out a lot of bright light in early evening. Traditionally, that has helped farmers bring in the harvest, the Old Farmer’s Almanac tells us.
Rising near sunset, harvest moons glow warmly from sunset light, and when the moon is near the horizon it appears bigger than usual.
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 near sunset and 30 minutes later than the previous day.
The short difference in moonrise during September explains why it can appear that there are multiple full moons in a row.
A great thing about harvest moons is that leading to and following the full moon are several moons that appear to be full. So, if you miss photographing it on Sept. 13, shoot on the 11th, 12th, 14th or 15th and it will look pretty full, though not as good as on Sept. 13..
To photograph this year’s harvest moons, use your longest lens (>200mm) then zoom closest to the moon. Set the ISO at 100 and the aperture between f/11 and f/16, whichever is sharpest. Shutter speed should be between 1/60th and 1/125th. Focus manually and at infinity. Secure the camera on a tripod, and use a remote release or timer to avoid camera shake.
Before you set up, visit TimeAndDate.com to know the direction from where the moon will rise. Then, consider the foreground behind which the moon will rise. Will it be buildings, hills, a lake or farmlands?
If you happened to photograph this year’s harvest moons, send images to editor@californiafallcolor.com. We’d love to share them, “’cause we’d like to celebrate, see it shinin’ in your eye.”