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Carol Leigh
Online classes and schedule can be found here. You can take a look at Carol Leigh's blog here. Back to Photo Explorations home page. 
©Carol Leigh |
FALL
COLOR
IN CALIFORNIA
NOTE: Tioga Pass (Route 120 through Yosemite over to Highway 395) may, from time to time this fall, close because of snow. You can call (800) GAS-ROAD and key in "120" to check road conditions before you go. Online, click http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi
NOTE: While I'm on
the road right now (traveling with just an iPad, not a laptop), I cannot upload
fall color reports to this website. HOWEVER! I've set up a "California
Photographer" blog so that as the reports come in, I can simply copy and
paste your information to the blog. I tested it with a report that just
came in about Hope Valley and it works great. I apologize for
you having to click over to a different site, but I feel good about not
leaving you hanging. Here's the address for the blog:
http://calphoto.blogspot.com.
When I return home, I'll transfer the blog information back here so that
the fall color reports are all in one spot. However, I gotta say, using
a blog for fall color reports seems like a good idea, maybe one to continue using. So
go to the CalPhoto blog for
all my latest reports, at least until I return home. (And it sounds like
Hope Valley hasn't begun to reach its peak yet, so all's not lost for
those of you who fear you're going to miss it all.) The dry summer seems to have taken its toll. It would appear somewhere between 75 - 80% of the aspens have already turned yellow, but there are some greens for anyone willing to try next weekend. You are probably better off going from 395 to 108 up to about 5 - 10 miles past the pass and back. Chipmunk flats is the first spot for colors from the West side. [Located in Tuolumne County, Sonora Pass] The aspens just off the road, and along the river are yellow, but they were bright and brilliant. Right around 8500 - 9000 feet, and close to the 9000ft. markers on both sides, there were a lot of Aspens, mostly yellow, but some orange, and really brilliant in colors. Driving East, stop by Forest Road 077. There is a good 4ft rock right by the roadside as a marker. Colors are beautiful along this road, and a little to the right. I met a gentleman here who encouraged me to walk a half mile in, well worth it. If you do, you end up in a small meadow, with lots of impressive colors. The area around Leavitt Meadows [Sonora Pass] also has lots of colors if you have a good macro lens. Just past the US Marines Station, past the no parking zone, you can look to some brilliant colors. This has some promise as there is a good mix of green here. On Highway 395, I stayed along the freeway as I was pretty close to the end of the day, so I missed Lundy, Virginia Lakes, etc. The usual suspects - spots with vista points had very good colors. There were some reds, many oranges and quite a bit of yellows. All of this looked really good. The drive on 120, and the campground next to the highway, up to Yosemite also has yellows mostly. Eastern Sierra - 10/6/2012 - Sergey Buenitsky writes: Hi, everyone. I have spent a weekend in Eastern Sierra and visited a few spots. Please find update below. Bishop Creek. Rock Creek. Lower part: at peak. Higher part (close to Marsh Lake): leaves are gone. Lundy Canyon. Lower part: close to peak. Aspens near Beaver Ponds (first, second) are green. Conway Summit. At 70%. Groves below are in different state. Some are yellow, orange, some have bare trees, majority is still have green color. June Lake, Silver Lake. Most of trees are still green. Probably would be in peak next week or even week after. Canyon below Tioga Pass. Most of aspen are green, some are bright yellow. Current state is 20-30%. Napa Valley - 10/6/2012 - Nanci Knight writes: Not a great deal of color progress since last report on Sept. 26. Harvest has kicked-in to high gear, with red grapes starting to come in now. The grape clusters are dense, heavy and camera-ready for one wishing to snap some luscious fruit on the vine, but you'll need to get here in the next 7-10 days before it's all been picked. Grapevines are still mostly green with a bit of transition to soft yellow across upper canopy in some tracts. No intense colors yet. Eastern Sierra - 10/3/2012-10/4/2012 - Tom Kidd writes: I drove over Sonora Pass (from Merced) on Wednesday, and back Thursday. Just went as far south as Lee Vining. The Conway Summit groves and Virginia Lakes Road aspens in the first mile or so from 395 were about 1/3 great color in patches and the rest dark green. I didn't check Lundy. On Sonora Pass, color was good above 8500'. Examples: http://tomkiddphoto.com/Visgallery/displayimage.php?album=10&pid=341#top_display_media http://tomkiddphoto.com/Visgallery/displayimage.php?album=10&pid=342#top_display_media Yosemite to June Lake Loop - 20/3/2012-10/4/2012 - Ann Turner writes: 10/3 -- We drove from the Bay Area through Yosemite / Tuolumne Meadow to 395. The dogwood patch shortly after the entrance station was starting to show some color, but there was very little color looking down into Lee Vining Canyon. Patches of color were visible from 395 above the June Lake loop.
Hope Valley - 10/5/2012 - Steven Tze writes: Carol, I had a chance to see how the color was coming along in Hope Valley today (10/5). Starting from west to east: Woods Lake Road - everything you need to
see is within the first 1/4 mile, mostly around the old cow corrals Along Hwy 89 to Tahoe Luther Pass - 20%, all along the road Christmas Valley - 10-15%, interspersed among homes Thanks for maintaining your site! Eastern Sierra - 10/4/2012 - John Caffrey writes: Hi Carol hiked to Rainbow and Lower falls yesterday. Aspen groves coming back from the fire are colorful. Lee Vining is mostly green-higher up shows nice color. Lundy canyon has some color-look for the first grove as you drive up and en dirt road-reds golds yellow green. Rock Creek has nice color on north facing slope. Best. John Eastern Sierra - 10/4/2012 - Martin Beebee writes: Hi Carol, A quick fall color report from a trip last weekend – hopefully the info isn’t too out-of-date for you to use. We drove from the Tahoe area down as far as Lundy Lake over the course of five days. 9/28 9/29 9/30-10/2 10/2 Thanks for keeping the website going – lots of great info here! Cheers, Martin Eastern Sierra - 10/2/2012 - Sarah writes: Table Mountain Campground (18 miles southwest of Bishop, California), although a little bit of lime green leaves still exist, most of areas are filled with shiny golden and orange-peach leaves of aspen trees. Eastern Sierra - 10/2/2012 - John Caffrey writes: Just did dunderberg road-red-yellow-orange show stopper. Plus views from here to there and back again. Best viewing is from south to north. Had awd-passenger car could make it.John Eastern Sierra - 10/2/2012 - Phyllis Houghton writes: We covered some more of the canyons along 395 on Sunday: Virginia Lakes - great Lundy - too early McGee - early but enough yellow to make it ok. Better this weekend Convict Lake - great Rock Creek Lake - great Lee Vining Canyon - too early Saturday, mentioned earlier - Bishop Canyon - North Lake and Sabrina Lake were good but some past, South Lake road was fresh and beautiful Eastern Sierra - 10/1/2012 - John Caffrey writes: Hi carol-sabrina outlet looks good-9/30. Table mountain on way to south lake excellent. Lower elevations mostly green. Rock creek-Showing some nice color on the north facing slopes. Hope to get further north tomorrow. John Eastern Sierra - 9/30/2012 - Steve writes: Hello all, just thought I'd add my observations. My wife and I midway through a month long vacation camped at Silver Lake. there is finally some decent color starting to show around the loop. Probably still a week or 2 from peaking. I made the drive to the Bishop Creek area up to South Lake and so far this is the best show from Bishop to Bridgeport. Lot's of color, but it did seem to fade the higher I went and closer to South Lake. The other side from Intake 2 to Aspendell was not as good. The next best show was the drive to Rockcreek Lake. That's it for now, I'll post an update on the June Lake loop later this week. Eastern Sierra - 9/29/2012 - Phyllis Houghton writes: From Bishop Canyon - South Lake Road Beautiful North Lake - some trees past peak, but great Sabrina Lake - Beautiful even though they are draining the lake. Got altitude sickness really bad so I am taking sudafed and tylenol tomorrow and hope that helps like it did other times! Sierra County - 9/29/2012 - Bruce Gregory writes: 9/29/12.. Independence Lake Rd off Henness Pass Rd in Sierra County off Hwy 89, 16 miles above Truckee. Is probably 40% turned. Some trees further west on Henness Pass Rd are bright yellow, Willows in Perazzo Meadows have turned. In another week it should be a worthwhile trek. Perhaps a side trip for a trip up to Plumas County. Sorensen's Resort - 9/29/2012 - Steve Lathrop writes: HI: Went for a drive today, Saturday, over to the area of Sorensen's Resort near Hi 88 and 89 east of Lake Tahoe. Pretty! Mixed bag of trees that have turned, are starting to turn and very green. Camp ground down stream to east on 88 from Sorensen's has a very pretty mixture of colors. Woods Lake road near Caples Lake also has some very pretty colors just several hundred yards off the highway. Thank you for posting our comments. Eastern Sierra - 9/28/2012 - Matthew Pacheco writes: Took a break from my travels to update you. Amazing color all throughout the upper elevations of bishop creek. And I still see lots of lime greens too.... As of this moment. 12:12pm Friday afternoon North lake is a little dry.... Particularly up the slope... But lots of color. Still... Leaf tunnel was nice and orange this morning. I left there early... Because south lake was so wow. The road to Sabrina past the north lake turn off is stunning. Aspendel is still green, so I image there is more to come. The real winner here is the road to south lake.... Just before the lake.... Wow, it's on fire. Waterfall area and just past still lots of green patches... So I image there is still time for change here to. Trees near the lake seemed a little less vibrant as the road in, but, wow... The road in has some great orange and red areas. Heading to lee vining now... I'll report back later. Cold nights.... Very warm days. Hope this helps. Napa Valley - 9/26/2012 - Nanci Knight writes: Noticed the very first signs of grape leaf turn in the southern-most reaches of Napa Valley. Specifically, along Highway 121, the "Carneros Highway", I spotted the first bright red grapevine leaves of the season in a few vineyard tracts along Hwy 121 between Sonoma and Napa. Very minimal. Peak is probably a few weeks away. Eastern Sierra - 9/26/2012 - David Silva writes: Just back from 4 days in High Sierra: Halls Ecology Area/Bennettville; Saddlebag Lake/Mt. Conness Lake Basin; Mono Lake/Lundy; Cathedral Lake. Lundy color looks to be about 20%. Mostly the small, short, stunted aspen. Leaves turning brown/black spotted a lot. I think due to dry summer. Road to Virginia Lakes about 80% full color. Absolutely stunning sunset at Mono the night before. Eastern Sierra - 9/23/2012
- Kevin Lennox writes: My son and I went fishing at Lake Sabrina, South
and North Lakes on Sept. 23rd. Lots of fall colors as you approach the
lakes. Some pockets are near peak but still lots of lime green/yellow
areas. Here is a picture I snapped as we raced to our favorite fishing
spot! Eastern Sierra - 9/23/2012 - Mike Baker writes: Aspens near 108/395 very yellow. I drove down from South Lake Tahoe to Bridgeport yesterday - just wanted to report that the big stand of aspens up at Little Obsidian campground, visible as you drive south on 395 just as the hwy makes a big bend to the east, is almost solid gold. Patches of gold on the mountains around Bridgeport as well, but none yet on Sonora Pass itself. Eastern Sierra - 9/21/2012 - Jim Turner writes: I'm just passing along a comment from a friend who lives in Mammoth Lakes. I asked him to be on the lookout for colors and let us know the status. He expected colors to come early this year because everything else was early and it appears his prediction is correct. His brief message simply said: "The colors are revving-up. First week of October should be spot on." Eastern Sierra - 9/20/2012 - Kirk Keeler writes: Hi, Carol, Here's a write-up of my trip to the east side last weekend: http://www.kirkkeeler.com/2012/09/19/early-signs-of-fall-color-on-the-east-side/ All material copyrighted © by the individual authors and may not be reproduced without their permission. |
