I have to agree what the person said in the Calitrails.com report with the leafs that were changing in unprotected locations being freezer burned. The ones that are green still have a chance. There is some nice color up toward South Lake. North Lake appears to be past prime.
G Dan “OUR SPOT” all the aspens to the right of the person are bare.
There are always spots one can find near peak conditions to make any nice image. Have to wait and see what the storm Tuesday and Wednesday brings to the area.
slam05 wrote:
Here's how it looked this past weekend (Oct. 5-6). I was in the Tahoe area this weekend, so I swung over to Hope Valley to check out the colors. They aren't yet at peak, but there was definitely some color.
Finally, the area around Spooner Lake, including North Canyon just north of the lake seem to be just about at peak colors (I didn't have my camera with me, though).
Thanks for the update. I may get a chance to head out to hope valley this coming weekend.
As I got closer to Bishop, finally the cottonwoods and other trees were showing signs of color. Heading up the North Fork of Bishop Creek had lots of color. A few stands of Aspen were green, but the majority are at peak now.
The photos I am posting are from the iPhone. The first one is of a tree at the south end of Bishop that all the Eastern Sierra regulars will recognize. It gives a good reference. The 2nd shot was shot just after Aspendell on the North Fork.
One thing to note is that the water in the creek seems lower than normal. Perhaps as a result of Sabrina and South Lakes being drained.
Jim
JimFox wrote:
All the past photo's are great, but does anyone have any real time current updates to THIS years fall colors?
I just want to thank everyone for this thread. It has taken me 4 days to make it all the way through, but it has been worth it, and the project for next week will be the Colorado fall color thread.
What I really appreciate (though I am too tied up to do anything much this year) is the whole idea of planning a trip to the eastern Sierra to shoot fall color. What I can do (and this came up in some of the thread hijacking) is to visit some places in Arizona (such as Sedona or places along the Mogollon Rim and in the White Mountains) and see what is cooking here in my state. This could be the start of a good thing. Thanks.
PV Hiker wrote:
I quickly throw together three images from this past weekend.
#1 Top of Conway Summit grab shot to show conditions
#2 Beaver Ponds Lundy Canyon
#3 In the Aspendale area above Bishop
Hey Patrick!
These shots look somehow familiar
It's been helpful to get updates from you, Jim Fox and others, as to the conditions.
We're heading down 395 Friday to meet Ted, and the Ski3pins, and friends for a little FWC Fall Color Rally.
Sometime I'll have to run into you on one of our East Side forays!
I looked at the weather yesterday and showed more snow to the south of Lake Tahoe today, But how far south? It is a inside slider moving straight down from the north and don't know what it will end up doing. Winds look light and not any strong gust, but who knows?
Should still be able to find some nice smaller areas with color. Enjoy yourselves out there.
For a current update... It is snowing in Bishop, also McGee Creek. At McGee Creek it wasn't snowing when I got there mid morning, but about an hour later as I was eating my lunch that Shats Bakery had made for me, the snow hit at McGee, so I have it with and without snow...
Posting before and after snow shots at McGee Creek, these are straight off my iPhone.
Jim
PV Hiker wrote:
Thanks Andy
I looked at the weather yesterday and showed more snow to the south of Lake Tahoe today, But how far south? It is a inside slider moving straight down from the north and don't know what it will end up doing. Winds look light and not any strong gust, but who knows?
Should still be able to find some nice smaller areas with color. Enjoy yourselves out there.
Yes, snow today, but clear tomorrow. Drove a lot today and got snow over Carson and Monitor Passes, then all the way down to Bishop, where we are this evening.
There was still a lot of color today, though there were also some higher elevation and exposed trees that were bare in various places. Color is making its way down to lower elevations along the base of the eastern Sierra, though there are still green trees. I'll know more in the next few days.
Dan
(Photo is a quick share of something from lower Lundy Canyon.)
There is still lots of clouds up at Convict lLake. They have thinned out some, but still clouds around the peaks up and down the range. I was shooting some really nice backlit Aspen when I left about 30 mins ago.
Jim
gdanmitchell wrote:
And, yes, blue sky today. Beautiful sunrise. Lots of snow all over above 7000' or so, but not deep and will likely melt fast at lower elevations.
We managed to spend Monday and Tuesday down there without photographing any aspens. We went to the Alabama Hills Monday afternoon to scope out spots for Tuesday sunrise, then went up to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest for Sunset.
Tuesday morning Alabama Hills from about 5:30AM until 7:30, then started working our way back.
I wanted to check out McGee Creek and Lundy Lake but by the time we finished at McGee it was getting to the point where we needed to start for home, so we skipped Lundy.
I was kind of disappointed at McGee... almost no aspens there, and the ones that were there were green, but the cottonwoods (or whatever they are) along McGee Creek were very pretty and turning nicely.
JimFox wrote:
There is still lots of clouds up at Convict lLake. They have thinned out some, but still clouds around the peaks up and down the range. I was shooting some really nice backlit Aspen when I left about 30 mins ago.
Jim
Today's clouds - and we're seeing them south of you as well - are the "pretty clouds floating around the peaks" sort, which I like. :-)
June Lake loop is looking very good for aspen color - should be excellent this weekend. Some good color in lower Rock Creek area. Went to higher areas of Bishop Creek, where virtually all color was gone, though there is fine color lower down. Conway Summit area is not bad, but some trees are now bare. Higher up you'll find bare trees. Saw pretty good color in some areas at Monitor Pass, though it seems to be on the down side now. Good color in Hope Valley.
Cottonwood trees are turning in many lower areas, too.
I'm back from five days in the eastern Sierra, and in case anyone is still heading that way I'll share a few final observations. (See earlier posts in this thread - on this page - for more information.)
We saw a lot of color in the Sonora pass area yesterday, both in areas near the base of the pass but not on the main highway and along highway 108. (This is also a pass that provides some good color west of the crest in a few places.)
I won't go into specific details, but I can report that the Sierra itself is not the only place to find aspen color "out there." Those with a taste for a bit of adventure and poking around can find some beautiful aspen color a bit further east in what might be called high desert mountains. Some of these groves seem to display less of the brown spot and black leaf phenomenon that is sometimes seen in Sierra trees. They also provide a lot more solitude and a lot less likelihood that you'll be bumping into someone else's tripod. ;-)
If you are thinking of a visit to Bodie, you'll see some trees out that way, too.
Overall, the highest elevation trees in various locations are spent - many bare trees, with only a few leaves left, and some of them are brown or even black. Middle-elevation trees are in great shape in many places, though you'll find a mixture of very colorful trees and some that have lost most or all of their leaves. In many places, best bets for color are the mid elevation to lower elevation groves. Many of them are now producing brilliant color, though they are not spent yet, and there are still green trees about.
As of this past weekend, among popular and easily accessible locations, the June Lake loop seemed to be very popular, and for good reason. There was quite a bit of wind in places on Sunday, and we saw the number of leaves in some areas decrease quickly on account of it.
