Tag Archives: change

Commentary, Locations

Aspen Update 10/17/11

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I’m back from my second trip to the eastern Sierra in as many weeks, and I’d like to share a bit of what I observed.

A week ago I visited and/or photographed several areas including Bishop Creek, Rock Creek, McGee Creek, a few areas around Mammoth Lakes, and Lee Vining Canyon. I also got reports from others who were there at the same time, and their reports tended to be in line with what I saw that week, namely that the trees that had been turning were interrupted by the early winter-like storm, dropping leaves or turning brown/black, and that lower elevation trees were mostly still green. At that time my hunch was that not much more was going to happen up high, but that the many green trees would provide color over the following couple of weeks.

This week I visited the portion of Bishop Creek in the South Lake drainage, areas on and near Glacier Lodge Road, the north section of the June Lakes loop near Parker Lake, Lee Vining Canyon, and Conway Summit. This visit confirmed some of my expectations from the previous week but also offered some surprises.

  • The thought that the loss of higher elevation leaves might mean that they were done for the season turned out to be not quite correct. This week I saw a surprising amount of color up high. In many places along the eastern escarpment I saw groves of brightly color trees marching right up many ridges.
  • Although I did not return to North Lake, I even heard reports that it had improved. (Though the person sharing the report pointed out that this would likely not be an exceptional year there.)
  • The color of the middle and lower level trees seems to be progressing very quickly. I was expecting middle elevation trees to turn by this week, but I was surprised by how low the color extended. If forced to make a prediction, I might guess that the season is going to run its course a bit faster than usual this year. (Stable weather this week – especially if the winds are light – might sustain things a bit longer.)

I feel like every aspen season has its own “personality” – whether it starts gradually or suddenly, early or a bit later, whether it is interrupted by weather events, and how long it lasts. The personality of this year’s eastern Sierra aspen season seems to include the storm that interrupted the early color up high, followed by a very rapid development of color about a week later.

I need to offer a few disclaimers. First, I only visited a small percentage of the places where aspen color may be found in a typical season. Second, while I can make some guesses about how things will evolve going forward, no one really knows. Third, if you are going to head out there to photograph the aspens this season, I urge you to check others sources of information on the conditions before you go.

Commentary

Quick Eastern Sierra Fall Color Update

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I visited a few locations in the Mammoth-to-Bishop area today, and can add a bit of information to the general knowledge floating around on the net. I can’t speak about the whole Sierra, obviously, but some of what I saw today might give an indication of how things are evolving.

As a point of comparison, when I was in the area last week (the first weekend of October) the colors were tremendous at some of the popular, higher elevation areas around and a bit north of Bishop. In fact, the colors then were as good as I’ve ever seen. This was enhanced by the light rain and the overcast, both of which intensify the colors and reveal more subtle details.

Between then and now the Sierra had some serious early season snow and, at the lower elevations, rain. Partly due to this weather and partly to the normal progression of color, this week those higher areas have many leafless or nearly leafless trees – the colors there have pretty much run their course. The colors have moved down a bit in elevation, but have not yet caught up to what they were before. You can find good colors now, but you have to look a bit harder.

The good news is that there are a lot of very green trees in many of the middle and low elevation areas. This bodes well for the color prospects in the next couple of weeks.

I really prefer to photograph aspens in overcast conditions with subdued light. In fact, when it is clear I’ll often photograph the trees before the light is on them or wait until the evening and photograph them after the shadows from higher peaks move across the groves. This weekend, however, it is bright and sunny. On all counts except for aspen photography, it is beautiful weather! Today there were two somewhat special conditions. First, there is significant snow on the higher peak, and especially on the White Mountains across Owens Valley to the east. And this morning there was a fair amount of fog in the valley areas. In fact, this seemed so interesting that I chose to shoot these conditions out in Owens Valley this morning rather than chasing aspens!

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Yosemite

Corn Lily Leaves, Early Fall

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Corn Lily Leaves, Early Fall

Corn Lily Leaves, Early Fall. Cathedral Lakes, Yosemite National Park, California. September 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dry corn lily leaves and plants as Sierra Nevada summer plants go dormant at the beginning of the fall season – Upper Cathedral Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

On the first evening of my brief two-day visit to Upper Cathedral Lake, I wandered up a narrow ravine near where we were camped, hoping to eventually get up high for some photographs of dome-like formations and the lake and Cathedral Peak beyond. But almost immediately I became distracted by much more intimate subjects closer at hand in the shaded and diffused light of the gully. Near the top of a narrow section I came across a large bed of old corn lily plants that had reached the end of their short summer-season lives and had fallen over in interesting and complex patterns.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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News

Climate Change Behind Die-off of Aspens?

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An article in SF Gate discussed a decline in the number of aspen trees: “Climate Change Cited in Die-off of Aspens”

According to the report, there are a number of factors affecting the trees: fire prevention policies that stop the natural burn cycle, insect infestations, and climate change. The reports speaks mostly about trees outside of California, but those one wonders if these factors affect the trees here as well.