Aspens and Talus, Autumn. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Small stands of aspens with autumn leaves stand in front of a talus slope, eastern Sierra Nevada.
Is it ever too early to dream of aspen color? In a word, no.
Every summer around this time I start to think about fall color, and for me that primarily means eastern Sierra Nevada aspen color. I’m not quite sure what triggers the thoughts. Sometimes when I’m in the Sierra — and I am not there right now — it can be some nearly imperceptible changes in the light, the atmosphere, the patterns of annual growth, or even the sound of the wind. It might also be something as simple as my now innate “tuning in” to annual cycles, something that I think we are all more able to do than we might imagine.
On hot northern California days like this one, it certainly does not feel at all like autumn. Yet, I know that the first real signs of the seasonally change will appear high in the Sierra in barely 8 weeks, and the aspen color will arrive only a few weeks after that.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Dan, never too early to dream about Sierra fall color, my favorite season. I hope we have a longer more usual fall leaf peeping season than last year which got got cut short by early freezing temps and snow. I hope to get up there even more this season too as I only made two trips to the east side, one to Yosemite valley, and one long Plumas county one day road trip (new area for me). Can imagine the cool crisp air and beautiful silence watching the sun rise on our favorite Eastern Sierra lakes. Would love to make a trip to Utah for fall color like you did last year.
Wayne, I’m hoping to be able to get to Utah at some point during the color season there this fall — though that could encompass anything from the aspens near the end of September through the lower elevations color that comes much later. We’ll see!
I have little idea what will happen in the eastern Sierra this year. I have some hunches based on what has happened during the past couple of years — mostly around my guess that the color may again start a bit early. Things certainly seem to have trended that way recently.
If we are lucky and the optimistic predictions of some sort of El Niño conditions are fulfilled, perhaps we can hope for some early season storms.
Dan