On a short, three day trip to the eastern Sierra’s I finally hit the timing right to see some fall color. We drove over Sonora Pass (Highway 108) to Bridgeport. Aspens were just beginning to turn yellow. Some groves (the ones farthest from water) looked dingy. Perhaps they are suffering from drought, and the leaves are just turning yellow/brown. There are some large groves over the pass before getting to highway 395, and if they turn bright yellows and oranges it will be spectacular.
Karen, on the trail heading up Mill Creek from Lundy Lake
We drove up to Lundy Lake and parked by the first little beaver pond, then hiked along the road to the trailhead. We continued up the trail, climbing a bit to where the above photo was taken.
The lower falls on Mill Creek above Lundy Lake
We stopped at the falls. Looking up the canyon we could see the color beginning but not yet widespread or intense.
The next day we headed up Bishop Creek. The Aspens at Aspendell were still green, although they began turning yellow just above it. At Lake Sabrina, the Aspen groves were probably at their peak color.
Bishop Creek just below Lake Sabrina
We hiked up to Blue Lake for lunch. This is an enjoyable six mile round-trip hike, but for some reason we both felt more tired than we have in the past.
Before heading back to Mammoth, we drove up to North Lake.
Along the road near North Lake
Wow! Just very pretty colors, but yes, I took some artistic license with the above photo and pushed the color saturation in post-processing.
The next day we hiked up Rock Creek into Little Lakes Valley. This is one of my favorite locations, but I have never been there this late in the year.
Unnamed lake east of Long Lake
There was hardly any snow on the peaks, the creeks (and the lakes) were low, and the meadows were brown.
By the way, we had two meals in Mammoth and they were both losers. Perhaps we need to stick with pizza and burgers when we stay there.
As we left for home we stopped first at Devil’s Postpile. What a mess the area is in from a freak wind storm last November. There were sustained wind speeds of 150 mph for several hours, with gusts estimated to be over 180 mph. Over 100 trees per acre (mostly the largest ones) were toppled.
We then drove through the June Lake loop. It was still early for any aspen fall color. Tioga Pass was much the same.
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