Fallen Aspen Branch, Snow. Sierra Nevada, California. October 8, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A small aspen tree branch blown down by an early fall storm rests on snow, North Lake, California.
Time to share aspen photos again! Each fall when the aspens change colors I head to the eastern Sierra to go aspen hunting! I made my first foray of the season this past weekend. I visited a number of the usual places – Bishop Creek, McGee Creek, Rock Creek, and Lee Vining Canyon. I’ve come to think that every aspen color season has a personality, defined by how and when and with what intensity the color appears, along with the related issues of the changing weather.
This year I think (from what I’ve heard) that the higher elevation trees were just changing colors about a week ago… before a strong early season storm came across the Sierra, dropping temperatures and quite a bit of snow. Over the weekend I saw up to about one foot of snow in places, which is an unusual amount for so early in the season. The aspen color was not exactly astonishing, and I think that the weather may be at least partially to blame. It seems that many of the mature colorful leaves were knocked down by the storm, and others that might now be colorful instead turned black and brown. While there was some interesting color, in many places I saw trees with leaves missing or trees that were almost fully still green.
The good news to take away from this is that since the lower elevation trees are still very green, there should be some fine aspen color very soon.
But I’ve often thought that a single leaf can be enough to make a photograph, and sometimes the single leaf can make a more effective image than a huge, colorful grove spanning many acres. So when I find that the color isn’t what I expected, one response is simply to look harder. As I walked along the road that passes North Lake, many of the subjects that I might have expected to photograph were nowhere to be seen. There were not large, spectacularly colorful trees. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground. So I looked harder… and one of the subjects I noticed was this single, small branch full of intensely colorful leaves lying on the snow.
G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Thanks, Robin! If the photo works – and affects us – knowing about technique is not all that important, is it? :-)
Chloe, I’m going to have to see where that area is. I know Split Mountain… but only from backpacking on the other side of the crest! My recollection is that it is just south of Mather Pass, which would put it south of the Bishop Creek area and north of, say, Onion Valley. I haven’t gone south of Bishop looking for aspens, but I might just check it out this next week. Thanks for the suggestion!
Dan
Dan,
From Big Pine, head up Glacier Lodge Rd. Turn sharp left onto McMurry Meadows dirt road. High clearance 4×4 is recommended beyond McMurry Meadows (gorgeous!) to Red Mountain Creek. (It’s a very rough road) There is no access from Tinemaha Campground.
Chloe M.
Thanks! I may just give it a try on Sunday or else on Saturday late afternoon and evening.
Dan
I don’t know much about photo technique and such, but this is just plain gorgeous! The sheer beauty of the colours and the frost is a stark contrast to imagining oneself in such bitter cold conditions. Great shot!
Astonishingly beautiful!
In past years (early to mid-October) I’ve seen outstanding color along the canyons below Split Mountain/Red Mountain Lake area.
Chloe M.
Simple but yet so eloquent! I was ahead of you by about 5 days on my trip, taking my first trek to photograph the Sierra colors. Following your advice on locations, I viewed many beautiful scenes even at that time. The entire area was a buzz with talk of the approching storm, wish I could have stayed for the results. My best locatons were along South Lake Road, and of course, North Lake, which were just breathtaking! Thanks for the previous articles and your continued fine images.
Thanks, Richard! I think your choice to go a bit early this year may have been a good one. That storm interrupted the development of the colors for a bit, though I think that things will start to pick up again very soon. I’ll be that South and North Lake areas were amazing before that storm!
Dan