Sunday morning I left San Francisco very early in the morning, headed up Hwy 50 to Mormon Immigrant Trail (MIT). Climbing up MIT, I started encountering snow on the ground and the trees, and by the 7000 foot level there was a LOT of fresh snow. It got to the point where I had to engage 4WD because I was slipping and sliding all over the place, and almost fell down three times when I stopped to take photographs. The snow cover continued all the way over Carson Pass on Hwy 88, then became just a dusting on the eastern slope.
I was looking for aspens turning. I checked Hope Valley, Monitor Pass, down 395 to Conway Summit, nothing, they were all green with an occasional tree that had a few yellow leaves.
After Conway I turned onto the Virginia Lakes road and explored the Aspens in that area, same thing, a few with some yellow, no all yellow trees that I could find. I even 4WD up some dirt roads as far as I could go, same story.
It wasn\'t looking good so I detoured out to Bodie and wandered around there for a couple hours trying to find stuff I had not photographed on previous visits.
I checked Dunderberg, June Lake Loop, Lundy Lake, and continued checking all the spots I knew about on down to Bridgeport. It wasn\'t until I got to North Lake very late in the day that I found any real color. In that area yes, the change is underway. Most trees are yellow, many are orange. Looks like it will be in full glory in a week or so.
I didn\'t go to Lake Sabrina or South Lake, I figured they must be similar to North Lake and I really didn\'t want to see them in their drained state.
It\'s looking to me like my planned return on Oct 7th may hit it just about right.
I\'ll give a detailed report later with photos.
Sep 23, 2013 at 08:36 AM
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