The 395 and Owens Valley-Eastern Sierra Region

I know where that’s at…

 

Beautiful.
And a beauty in the first photo.

 

And who says Eastern Sierra has no fall color?

June Lake area.

 

beautiful!

 

I figured the first two photos would give some folks an idea of where it is. You ever been up there?

Great shot.

 

@Bent Wheel, I've never heard anyone say that

 

Spent the past week winging it through Yosemite and the Eastern Sierras after our original plans had to be unexpected scrapped. Beautiful as always.

 

Damn, ill be down there in about 2 weeks. im just gonna miss the colors!

 

9/25/24 From Mammoth Lakes:

0-10% - Just Starting
10-50% - Patchy
50-75% - Near Peak (Go Now!)
75-100% - Peaking (GO NOW!)
Past Peak - (You Missed It)

SAGEHEN SUMMIT
75-100% Peaking (GO NOW!)
Sagehen is the clear winner for fall color this week. The summit here is peaking and bright orange.

TIOGA PASS
75-100% Peaking (GO NOW!)
Above 9,000’ the aspens and bushes are peaking.

ROCK CREEK CANYON
10-50% Patchy
Huge mix! Trailhead is mostly past-peak, the storm zapped those leaves a bit but incredibly, just up the trail, are some lime green and yellow. Around the lake are mostly yellows. All along the road there is a mix of orange (between pack station and trailhead, but below the lake too), yellow, and still lots of green (the big groves that “tunnel” along the road were green). Absolutely beautiful patchy mix of colors there with lots of change to come.

VIRGINIA LAKES
10-50% Patchy
Along the road leading up to Virginia Lakes, there are sections of trees that are near peak. Around the lake, the trees and bushes are bright lime green.

MCGEE CREEK CANYON
10-50% Patchy
Near the trailhead there are some colors starting to change, but if you keep going back in the canyon you will discover quite a bit more fall color.

MAMMOTH LAKES BASIN
10-50% Patchy
Colors within the Lakes Basin are coming in closer to 50%. Aspens within the area have changed from mostly lime green to displaying patchy colors of yellow. Some aspens have bits of orange at their tops.

LOBDELL LAKE ROAD
10-50% Patchy
A few patches are near peak on the road up to the lake, with bright yellow colors and some red. However, the majority of patches are just starting to turn and are still a light green.

TWIN LAKES
0-10% Just Starting
Some beautiful spots with deep color in the upper elevations. A few trees around the lake starting to show but still mainly green.

CONVICT LAKE
0-10% Just Starting
Some trees are showing off fall color, but for the most part, this area needs more time for the aspens to make their colorful transition.

JUNE LAKE LOOP
0-10% Just Starting
Higher elevation is showing color. The drive through the town of June Lake has a variety of color already but for the loop overall, the aspens are just beginning to turn lime green with occasional splashes of yellow.

LUNDY CANYON
0-10% Just Starting
The trees are starting to turn lime green low down, but get up a little higher and you'll see more color progress.

 

Pretty sure that’s not from this year. Two weeks might still be pretty nice.

 

The date is 9/25 from Mammoth. They've had snow and a few cold nights.

 

Sorry if I was unclear, I think Jim @Stuck Sucks and I were posting at the same time.

@4xThad was worried that he wouldn't be able to see fall color in the Eastern Sierra in 2 weeks b/c of the photo posted by @Bent Wheel at June Lake. I was just saying that that photo is not from this year (I believe). There's still plenty of fall color to come in the first couple weeks of October, depending on where you are... (including June Lake)

 

yeah, I saw it snowed last week. I'm worried. Hoping to summit Whitney on 10/14

 

Snows up high is already gone. You'll be fine. You hiking it or climbing it?

 

Gotcha. But the freeze/cold nights tends to speed things up which kinda sucks.

I always think I guess right, and the colors are almost done. I’ll keep coming back

 

Rolling through the channels, I stopped at the science channel who tell us that Barcroft was at one time, a classified facility used for animal testing for the space program. Mostly monkeys. The Quonset hut was the kennel. Some of the outbuildings contain 55 gallon drums that simulated the various capsules and served as training--monkeys would be strapped into the capsule and flown to White Mountain Peak.

The program called the place abandoned and maybe it should be

 

Do you know if the road is clear over the summit into Nevada? Hoping to drive it before it snows shut for the year.

(And maybe see if there's fish in that lake...)

 

Dated info. On two occasions in the past, we got into snow descending to the East Fork crossing, then up in the first switchbacks. Both choke points had drifts in the shade of trees, and both were listing at an uncomfortable side angle.

 

Fall colors from a little further north in the Sierra...9,000-9,500ft is on now

 

From a day hike today. Circa 9500'.