“Mono Basin, Wildfire Smoke, Dawn” — Smoke layers from a nearby wildfire drift across Mono Basin at dawn
Late summer and early fall are the wildfire season in California and especially in the areas around the Sierra Nevada. (That statement used to be more accurate than it is these days, as drought and anthropic climate change have now extended the fire season in the state.) Like most people who spend time in the outdoors I have complicated responses to wildfire. I hate to see forests and wild lands destroyed, especially by some of the recent super-hot fires that have done more serious damage. At the same time I fully understand that fire is a natural and even necessary component of the natural life in these areas. In recent years I have tried to find beauty alongside the destruction, and it has opened my eyes to seeing fire in different ways.
During my recent mid-September Sierra Nevada photography jaunt, mainly focused on visiting a few high places and scouting early aspen color, a very smoky fire broke out in the Owens River area. I first spotted in while driving down from Yosemite in the evening after a backcountry hike, and the next morning there was a big cloud of smoke over the lands southeast of Lee Vining. Mono Lake was still mostly clear, except at the south end, but beautiful layers of smoke were beginning to drift across the lake before and during sunrise, muting details and rendering more clearly some of the larger elements of the landscape. I moved around the lake and surrounding areas looking for vantage points for several hours, until eventually the smoke-filled Mono Basin so much that I decided to leave.
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Even though the calendar reports that a few days of summer still remain, and the thermometer here in the San Francisco Bay Area still reads hot enough for summer, the annual autumn color show is now underway in the Sierra Nevada. I’m just back from four days “over there,” and I’d like to share a bit of what I saw, along with a few hunches about where things might go over the next few weeks. (Disclaimer: Predicting fall color is very much an inaccurate science — kind of like predicting the outcome of the playoff games before they begin. Over the years I’ve been surprised many times, and we really won’t know how this year’s color plays out until it happens.)
Early fall color from aspens on rocky slopes in the Eastern Sierra Nevada
Between September 16 and 19 I visited the Yosemite around Tuolumne Meadows, a few spots well east of the Sierra with views back toward the range, the Mono Basin, US 395 between Conway Summit (just north of Mono Lake) and Bishop Canyon, and Bishop Canyon itself.
Acknowledging the risk of pronouncing this to be an “Early Aspen Season This Year!”, I’m going out on a limb and saying that it did seem like some of the color is progressing on an early than usual schedule. I usually wouldn’t both seriously hunting for aspen color in the Sierra this early, but I found a number of places with color worthy of photographing. In fact, I had the joy of photographing alone in some locations that will be overrun by photographers in a few weeks! (To be clear, and as I’ll clarify below, there are still lots of very green trees!)
For example, the photograph above was made up in Bishop Canyon at between 8000′ and 9000′ in a place that I visit every year. While these particular trees are often among the earliest in the area to change colors, seeing almost an entire slope of yellow/gold this soon is not what I would expect.
Most of the early color comes from small aspens, growing at relatively higher elevations, and often on what seems to be margins terrain — in very rocky areas, along talus slopes, and it areas that are typically dry. There is some extensive color in some areas east of the Sierra, areas that are drier and tend to support the smaller “scrub” aspen trees.
Would I recommend going up there right now to see the color? Not exactly, though if you do go you’ll be able to find some nice color if you poke around a bit in the usual places, emphasizing the higher and rockier locations. That said, there are still a lot of very green trees, and the vast majority of the bigger and taller trees are essentially still completely green. This is especially true in the low elevation canyons, where the trees often grow larger and are sheltered more from the elements.
When will the rest of the trees change? Good question! I don’t know, but I have some hunches. Typically they would get their color after the start of October, and some years ago I would look for the best color beginning a few days into October and continuing through the second week and possibly a bit later as the final good color comes to large, low elevation aspens. My thinking this year is that last year’s (2015) pattern may be a guide to this year as well. Color last year also started a bit early. Last year it also looked like some trees were stressed by the prolonged drought. But in 2015 many of the bigger trees in areas perhaps less affected by drought seemed to change on almost their typical previous schedule. This meant that at any given moment it might have been a bit harder to find the “perfect grove,” but that the season actually lasted longer due to the early start.
Speaking for myself, if I had a choice between going early in the usual time frame (starting near the beginning of October) and going later (say at the end of the second week of the month) I would be more inclined to gamble on the early time rather than the later this year. In round numbers, perhaps aiming of the first week of October would be a good bet — though I’m also confident that, barring weather surprises, there will still be color at lower elevations and among the largest trees later on, too.
If you want expansive views of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, head east of the range and up into the mountains. The White Mountains are renowned for providing such views, but there are many other ranges, too, and you can get some idea where to look for them by driving along US 395 and asking the question: “I wonder what is over there?” I ask that question from time to time, and it led me to this spot back in July, at which time I decided to return when the aspen color began. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting quite so much color, this still being mid-September — but I was pleasantly surprised.
This section of the crest features the prominent summits of Mounts Ritter and Banner — though technically these peaks are west of the crest and the lower and closer ridge is the actual crest. Further to the left of these peaks a bit of the Minarets is visible. The aspens in the foreground are the sort that seem to change colors early — relatively small trees in very high places and growing in drier areas. But even these small trees can produce intense color, especially when many of them carpet the mountainside. As a side note, I was exceptionally lucky to visit this place on this particular day. By the next morning smoke from a wildfire along the Owens River had socked in the whole eastern Sierra, and the view from this spot would have been, well, no view at all!
Late summer meadow and forest, Yosemite National Park
I missed much of summer in the Sierra this season since we were traveling. Soon after we came back to California I managed to squeeze in a few “going home” days in the Yosemite high country during the week following the exit of the Labor Day Holiday crowds. Following my midday arrival and camp setup (and a nap to compensate for my early wake up call that morning) I decided that I’d head out a familiar trail toward an alpine lake that I’ve frequently visited in the past. As it turns out I started a bit too late, and when I hit my predetermined halfway time I hadn’t made it the goal — so I just found a rock and sat quietly for a while before turning around.
Every summer, far before autumn actually begins, I see the early signs of the coming seasonal change. I missed the first hints since I wasn’t there in August. (Though I did see a few early leaves change color in Italy at that time.) But on this early September day the signs were all there. The meadows have turned that familiar golden brown color. Red bilberry plants glow in the low angle backlight. Corn lily plants have lost their green lushness and now turn brown and topple over. A few yellow leaves begin to appear on willows, and here and there it is even possible to find a few aspen trees with premature yellow leaves. Less concretely, there is something I’ve never quite been able to define about the light and the atmosphere, though it is plainly obvious to me that it has changed. Summer is ending in the Sierra, and the inevitable arrival of autumn and winter is just around the corner.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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