I’ve just returned from my first trip of the season to photograph Sierra Nevada fall color, and I have a few impressions and observations to share.

Autumn Aspens, Eastern Sierra Gully. Sierra Nevada, California. September 26, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

In a typical year the peak of the Sierra Nevada aspen color generally occurs around the first two to three weeks of October, so I would not usually head up there to photograph the fall color in September. But this is not a typical year. After four years of historic drought conditions in the Sierra, the normal seasonal cycles seem to have been disrupted. With that in mind I felt it might be worthwhile to go a bit early this year, and my visit was rewarded with some excellent early color.

Some Speculation

Every season brings reports that “the color is coming early this year!” Eventually I figured out that this is quite often a matter of folks becoming overly exuberant when they see the first early signs of the color change, and that things tend to play out on roughly the same schedule almost every year. There are variations, but they are most often rather small.

This year I’m prepared to go (a little ways) out on a limb and say that things do seem to be different this time, though I’m a bit cautious about overdoing the extent of the difference. The photograph at the beginning of this article embodies features of the pattern that I believe I am seeing. Notice some trees without any leaves at all, some trees that already have intense color, and some trees that are still quite green.

Here is my sense of what is going on. Note that this is essentially personal speculation and guesswork based on what I see, and that I can’t guarantee that I’m right or that things will play out as I imagine they might. That said, I’m planning my own eastern Sierra aspen hunting around these assumptions until I see evidence to the contrary. 

• Some groves have dropped all their leaves early. My impression is that these are trees growing in more marginal — rocky and dry — areas that may have been stressed the most by the ongoing drought. You can see such trees in the middle of the photograph where the gully narrows. I wasn’t there to see it happen, but I suspect that some of these trees may have lost their leaves all of a sudden, and perhaps without much of a color transition at all. While you will see such groves right now, fortunately they are still a distinct minority of the trees.
• Some groves are definitely changing earlier than I would have expected. The particular grove shown in the photograph has changed perhaps a full week earlier than I have seen in the past. Right now there is a lot of color at the highest elevations, especially among very small aspens growing in rocky and exposed areas.
• Many trees are still completely green. While the earlier start to the color transition is striking, a closer look reveals that the great majority of trees have still not changed, and there are many groves of lower elevation trees (that were perhaps also less stressed by the drought?) that are not showing much of any sign of color change yet.

My hunch at this point is that the very early color change mostly affects high elevation trees and those most stressed by local manifestations of the Sierra drought. The lower elevation trees and those that are better situation relative to moisture sources may well not change much earlier than usual. If I’m right this could mean a longer than usual aspen color show that may stretch through the third week of October at lower elevations.

What I saw

My recent brief visit took me through Yosemite over Tioga Pass, down through Lee Vining Canyon, south on US 395 to Bishop, and up into Bishop Canyon where I camped and photographed. On my return I visited a few side canyons and other well-known aspen locations and then crossed the Sierra via Sonora Pass. What follows is a brief summary of these late September observations.

Yosemite Valley  — I actually began with a very brief (two hours!) visit to Yosemite Valley, where I saw some very early color from dogwood and maple trees, some cottonwood trees that had already dropped leaves, and some dry-looking oaks. Since the typical color peak in The Valley usually comes a month or so from now near the end of October, I’m going to be interested to see how it plays out.

Tioga Road — Tioga Pass Road in Yosemite National Park is not typically a hotbed of fall color, at least not if you are looking for aspens. I checked out a few spots along the road where there are aspen trees, and they are mostly green though a bit of color is stating to show.  The color potential increases as you cross the Sierra crest, so I was interested to see what would happen on the descent from the pass into Lee Vining Canyon. Some small trees up high near Elery Lake and along the road’s traverse across upper Lee Vining Canyon were rather colorful. Farther down in the groves of Lee Vining Canyon the trees were still almost completely green, with only a bit of color here and there.

June Lake Loop — I passed this area twice on my way to and from Bishop. I did not drive the June Lake Loop, so my observations are based on what I could see from US 395. I saw color up high in the Parker Lake/Parker Bench area — most of it appearing to be above locations accessible by road. There are some very colorful groves near where the south end of the Loop rejoins with US 395.

Bishop Canyon — There was quite a bit of color high up in the Bishop Creek drainage. A lot of color was visible above North Lake, South Lake, and Sabrina Lake in areas not accessible by road — a hike could get you to some of these areas. There was also quite a bit of good color along the upper portions of the roads to these locations. A few groves may have been at peak, while others still have a ways to go. The slopes high above Parchers Resort are full of small trees with a lot of color. In many places, alongside the trees that are colorful are some groves that have no leaves at all and many others that are still quite green. The lower elevation areas, not surprisingly, are still very green. There is almost no color in the trees at Aspendell, though color does start right above Cardinal Resort.

Rock Creek — On my return trip I tried to visit several of the popular aspen areas. Rock Creek is usually a pretty reliable location, covering a wide range of elevations as it ascends from US 395 to the road end. However, ongoing construction was slowing traffic, and I decided not to wait around. (I have seen recent photographs from the area showing some good early color.)

McGee Canyon — I drove up to the trailhead in McGee Canyon. Aside from a few trees, the aspens here are largely still very green. There was just a hint of color at the trailhead parking area, but the peak is still a ways away. From here I could see a lot of color further up the canyon in areas accessible by trail. (This wasn’t a surprise, as I have backpacked up there in late season and the trail passes through a number of aspen groves.)

Lundy Canyon — I made a quick visit to this canyon, going as far as the (closed for the season) “resort” at the upper end of the lake. Starting into the canyon I was surprised to see a bit of low elevation color — not a lot, but it had me anticipating unusually early color up higher. But that didn’t happen. The trees are mostly still very green, with some signs of color beginning to show in some locations.

Conway Summit — Since I was on a schedule to photograph at Sonora Pass, I only stopped at Conway long enough to make some quick observations. What I saw here seems to be typical of this evolving aspen season. I was surprised by a few groves that were almost completely leafless — again, I suspect that these may be groves stressed by lack of water. A few had changed color. But the majority of the trees were still quite green, suggesting that there is plenty of color potential for later on. Far up on the flanks of the higher peaks I could see that some of the high elevation groves had changed color.

Bridgeport Area — As I passed through this large valley on my way north, I did not check the color all that carefully. However, I noticed that one valley north of Bridgeport that I sometimes visit was still nowhere near its peak color.

Sonora Pass — There were quite a few colorful aspens along the climb up the east side of Sonora Pass, many growing in mixed stands with conifer trees. About two miles from the pass where the terrain opens up I stopped to photograph a few quite beautiful trees.

Predictions

Perhaps guesses would be a better term that predictions! Nature operates on its own schedule, and while we can see trends we end up working with whatever nature gives us. I’ve been wrong often enough to know that while planning can increase the odds of being in the right place at the right time, nothing is certain.

With that in mind, here is some of what I’m thinking based on what I saw.

• Color is, indeed, starting earlier than usual. You can find good color right now in a number of locations in the eastern Sierra, about a week earlier than I might typically expect.
• Some trees seem to have been adversely affected by the drought to the point that they dropped their leaves very early. Most trees were not affected in this way, but the appearance of the groves that were affected is striking.
• If you go now and can hike a bit, by going up high you can find some wonderful and very colorful small aspens in exposed, rocky areas.
• Judging by the number of still-green trees, I think that the season my continue almost as late as it normally does, right on into the third week of October.
• If I had only one opportunity to go to the eastern Sierra this fall for aspen color, I might make it a bit earlier than usual. I’m pretty sure that there will be a lot of good color around the first weekend of October. By the second weekend I think there will still be a lot of good color, though the highest elevation trees will likely be well past their peak. By the third week of the month, your best bets will likely be at the lowest elevations.

Happy aspen hunting!

Be sure to see my Sierra Nevada Fall Color page for a lot more information on the subject. Questions or comments? Leave them below and I’ll try to respond.

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If you are looking for a detailed guide to photographing fall color in the Sierra, I have the book for you!

California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra, my book on photographing fall foliage in California’s Sierra Nevada,  is available from Heyday Books and from Amazon.) The book shares a lot of what I have learned about finding and photographing Sierra Nevada fall color, along with a large collection of my autumn photography.

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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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