I’m in Bishop, California as I write this – taking advantage of a wireless connection point in a coffee shop and offloading RAW files to my laptop. While I’m waiting, how about a quick aspen report?

I drove up on Friday, arriving in Bishop rather late – fortunately I had made a reservation at a cheap hotel rather than doing my usual camping thing. An early-season front came in over night. I felt the first of it as I stopped at Tioga Pass on the way over, and the wind was howling as it only does when a front is coming in.

I was up way before dawn on Saturday and on the road to North Lake. The stars were out in Bishop, but clouds were extending out from the Sierra crest, and by the time I got to North Lake it was cloudy and gray. However, the air was still and since I like shooting in the very earliest light I got my gear out and started to work. I could see that the well-know aspen grove extending up the opposite hill from teh lake was in good shape. Within minutes the wind whipped up and it began to rain – and the rain quickly turned to snow. Not great shooting conditions, so I got back in my car and holed up waiting for a break.

Within an hour the weather broke a bit, turning into intermittent light snow, partial clearing, occasional sun, and wind, wind, wind. That big aspen grove on the other side of the lake appeared to lose half of its leaves in the first hour or two of this wind! That said, there are some great colors along the road at North Lake right now – but I think these leaves won’t last a long time.

Later in the day I went up toward South Lake, and the colors along this road were quite good just about everywhere, although the lowest trees in the valley had not turned yet. I’d say that this area is in its prime right now with only a few good days left in the upper section.

This morning I went back to North Lake and later visited Sabrina Lake. There were still wonderful colors throughout this area, with conditions ranging from some trees that have lost most leaves (something I like to photographs) to some that are still almost all green.

It was interesting to note how quickly the leaves change. The area around Aspendell, which is lower in the canyon, has seemed completely green yesterday. Today the section right above Aspendell was showing a lot of color, and some was starting to appear in the large grove at Aspendell itself.

Later today I’ll head back north, perhaps stopping at McGee Creek and/or the Rock Creek area, both of which I’ve been told have some very good colors. Then I’ll pass through the Conway Summit/Virginia Lake area before continuing north, with a current plan of shooting at Monitor Pass in the early evening.