Last weekend I was in the eastern Sierra Nevada chasing fall aspen colors. Photos will appear here soon – in the meantime I have posted a few at my dan’s outside and gallery sites.

Timing is everything when it comes to photographing the aspens as they turn from green to yellow, gold, and red in the Sierra. Many factors affect the exact timing – some are large scale patterns that may be somewhat predictable, some are related to specific locations and can be learned over time, while others are ephemeral and cannot be predicted.

This year the macro issue is the dry (extremely dry in the southern Sierra) conditions of the past season. The summer growth cycle peaked early, was short, and was weaker than in most years. Frankly, I don’t really yet understand the specific effects of this on the aspens. I do know that certain other plants seemed to be in a fall-like state much earlier this year, but I cannot say that this was the case with aspens based on a few Sierra trips as recent as last week.

I’m beginning to learn some of the regular patterns. For example, in the past I’ve arrived too late to see great color in the extensive stands on top of Monitor Pass. After trying a few times I figured out that they tend to peak a week or so before many nearby lower stands such as those in Hope Valley. (They looked pretty good last week, and I’m guessing they’ll be past prime by this weekend.) I also have missed the small aspens in upper Virginia Lake canyon several times. Even though I went earlier this year they had already lost their leaves… while most other aspens in the Sierra hadn’t even turned!

There there are the “ephemeral” and unexpected immediate conditions. For example, it is apparently snowing today in the Sierra and on the east slope and I hear it was earlier quite windy. There is a good chance that groves that were exposed to the wind may have lost quite a few leaves. On the other hand, the snow and wind may provide an opportunity for photos juxtaposing colorful aspen leaves and white snow.

I’ll be going back up there – very soon – and I’ll have more to say and show when I return.

Over at my dan’s outside web site I’ve just recounted what it is like to drive from the SF Bay Area to the eastern Sierra and back in a day – all to photograph the aspens.

Again on the theme of trying to catch the eastern Sierra aspens at their peak, I saw an interesting post today that suggests that some of the trees are beginning to change colors in a significant way. Photographic evidence is included, in the form on a photo in the post and links to additional photos. It looks like the North Lake, South Lake, and Sabrina Basin areas are actually coming into form.

This is only a hunch, but I’m wondering if the peak is going to come a bit on the early side this year – partly due to the stress of a much drier than usual summer and partly due to the cold front that came through last week.

For my part, I may try to get to the Monitor Pass area on a one-day blitz sometime this weekend. The top of Monitor has one of the largest and most accessible aspen stands around, and I’ve often found that it has reached its peak a bit earlier than some of the other aspen locations.

Aspen Leaves. Bishop Creek, California. October 1, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

For many of us who photograph California, an important question this time of year is “when and where will the aspens reach their peak?” There are many pockets of astonishing aspen color in the Sierra Nevada every fall, especially in the eastern Sierra. In my somewhat limited experience, the peak typically happens during the first week or two of October, although there can be variations brought on by climate, the passage of storms or a cold snap, along with elevation and specific location within the range.

So I start keeping my eyes open for the first signs of a change when I visit the Sierra as early as September. I was in Yosemite earlier this week, and while I didn’t spend a lot of time in areas where there are many aspen groves, I did pass by a few familiar groves along Tioga Pass Road. Not surprisingly, the aspens have not turned color yet. (Though quite a few other alpine plants are showing definite signs of the autumn change.) However, I did see the first hints in one grove where the veins in some of the leaves were just barely starting to pick up a lighter shade that presages the switch to shades of gold and red.