It is still summer here in the San Francisco Bay Area — but something changed this past week, and it is clear that summer is on the decline now. Autumn, my favorite season, arrives in a matter of a few more weeks.
We have had some very hot weather here in the West, but this week things were different. Although the smoke of western wildfires is still adding haze to our air, the edge is off of the heat here. One morning the furnace actually kicked on for a few minutes before I woke up and shut it off. About a week ago sunset was earlier than 8:00 PM for the first time in months and the rate at which daylight hours shortens continues to accelerate. Over the weekend we walked to a nearby store to get ice cream in the evening, and we wished we had brought jackets. (As a long time California resident, I’m not completely fooled though. Even though the signs of change are here, I know we still have more hot spells ahead of us.)
Right on schedule, photographers’ thoughts turn to fall colors. In the last week I’ve seen a substantial increase in the number of shared photographs from previous autumns, featuring those beautiful colors that we hope to see again this year. People are starting to post questions — where is the best color? what is the best time to go? what will happen this year? Reports of “the earliest color ever!” have started to appear — as they do ever year at about this time! (Though with global climate change and a historic drought here in the west, I won’t be surprised if colors arrive on a somewhat different schedule this time. On the other hand, there are false alarms about “earlier color this season” almost every year.)
For my part, I start recalling past falls spent chasing color in the Sierra — the thrill of spotting those very first yellow leaves in (typically) September, the crisp air and brilliant light while wandering though an October aspen grove, the early sunsets of autumn, the almost inevitable first dusting of snow, the discovery of new groves, finding a new way to photographically see a place Ive visited for years, the clear understanding that summer has gone and that winter is on the way.
There is more fall color in California than many people know, from the high elevations of the Sierra right down to sea level. For most of us who chase fall color here, the aspens are the biggest show. The typical pattern is for the best colors to appear during the first half of October and perhaps last a bit past the middle of the month, but we start watching the signs much earlier in an attempt to predict annual variations.
Frankly, our predictions fail most of the time. I’ve been trying to figure it out for years and I’m still surprised most of the time. But I still watch and speculate. This summer has been odd: in a terrible drought year at the end (we hope!) of a string of four such years, we were surprised by a much wetter than expected monsoon season that brought a lot of summer precipitation to the Sierra. Things are still terribly dry, though perhaps slightly less so than might have been the case.
As early as August I start watching for signs of seasonal change in the Sierra. Long before aspens change color en masse, corn Lilies begin to wilt and turn yellow and brown. Willow trees get gold leaves. Eventually the ground-hugging bilberry plants create a red carpet in meadows and near lakes. Here and there a few odd aspen leaves may turn yellow.
I took a short backpacking trip into the eastern Sierra during the second week of August. Our trailhead was in a valley known for abundant aspens, and we hiked through groves of small aspen trees on our way to a back-country lake. I stopped and thought about the transformation that these trees will soon undergo. There was notcolor on any of them —not surprising at that early date — but I did notice some leaf damage that suggested that some of the trees were under stress, probably from the drought.
On the way to and from the trailhead I saw riparian plants in several areas that were starting to get yellow leaves already. That was a surprise — I’m used to seeing some of those early signs weeks later but never this early. I’m not in the Sierra now, but today I saw a report that a few eastern Sierra aspens have started showing some color, and there were photographs to prove it. That is very early!
How do I think this aspen season will play out? I have some hunches, but I wrote earlier that I’ve probably been wrong as often as I’ve even right! I do feel that the start of eastern Sierra fall color has been gradually trending earlier. In the past few years I’ve found more color than I expected right at the beginning of October, color that I would have looked for almost a week later in the past. So I won’t be surprised if the color continues to arrive a bit on the early side again this year. I’m concerned about drought stress for many of the trees, and I wonder if this will set off an early change and perhaps diminish some of the color in places.
To anyone who is trying to lock in a “best” schedule to be in the eastern Sierra for fall color this season, I say… “good luck!” But in all seriousness, during that first half of October period, I might be aiming more for earlier than for later — given the very dry conditions, the general multi-year trend toward slightly earlier color, and the appearance of some color at very unusually early points in the season. If possible, I think it will also be a good year to try to remain flexible, and to head out on rather short notice as color reports start trickling in. If you do miss the first great color, don’t despair. The color works its way down from the highest elevations to the lowest over a period that is normally several weeks long, and you can often still find good color past the middle of the month.
For my part, I’m going to try to be ready to be there as much as possible between the very end of September (shortly after I return from a week photographing in the backcountry) through the middle of October. Maybe I’ll see you out there!
Oh, and if you miss the aspen show? Yosemite Valley color usually peaks a few weeks later, right around the end of October and the very beginning of November. Yeah, I’ll be there, too, looking for cottonwoods, maples, dogwoods, oaks, and more!
I have a fall color page here at the website: Sierra Nevada Fall Color. You’ll find links to other articles I’ve written about photographing fall color in the Sierra, along with periodic updates while the season is underway.
Finally, since you’ve made it this far, I know you are passionate about fall color. I have just the book for you! My new book on Sierra Nevada fall color is out: California Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra. It is available in many California bookstores, including several in the Sierra, directly from Heyday Books, and from Amazon.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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