On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether youâre traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
?BillinGlendaleCA
They say that California has no seasons, but in October the changing color of the leaves in the eastern Sierra precede the winter snow beginning in the higher elevations early in the month to the lower elevations later in the month.
This set features the landscape around North Lake, a small lake above the small town of Aspendell, on highway 168 southwest of Bishop California. It’s a pretty hair raising drive up a steep one lane(with turn outs) dirt road but the pay off once you reach North Lake is worth the drive. I parked at the day use lot just south of the lake and walked along the dirt road that traveled around the lake ending on the north end of the lake.
Traveling along the dirt road as it heads west south of the lake you start to see the changing color of the trees along the lake contrasting with the pine trees further from the lake and the gray peaks of the Sierra.
Further up the road, small pathways cut through the trees and lead to North Lake.
The grove to trees that had turned dark orange across the lake was really striking.
I walked a bit off the road to capture this grove of trees.
The color of the different trees nicely framed the road in this shot.
The green pines dot the sea of golden trees.
Looking south across the lake we see some folk fishing along the shore.
That same grove of dark orange trees contrasts with the Sierra peaks in the background.
Baud
Very nice, Bill.
raven
awsome
worn
Wow, those are truly some beautiful shots of an incredibly gorgeous landscape. Thanks for sharing, Bill!
TinRoofRusted
Stunning! Â So far Fall is a dud here in the NYC suburbs but we still have time.
HinTN
You live near lovely country, Bill. You capture it beautifully. Thanks for sharing. We’ve had the first hard whiff of Autumn here last week, with a nice cold snap following a long slow rain.
JPL
Beautiful.
MomSense
So beautiful.
Wag
Great photos. Â I love aspens in the Fall
marklar
Gorgeous. Â Thank you letting me travel with you!
SiubhanDuinne
Those are beautiful pictures of a spectacular landscape. Thank you as always for sharing with us.
arrieve
So beautiful. Fall is running late here on the East Coast, but now that it’s finally chilly, the colors may finally be on their way.
Dagaetch
Wonderful!
UncleEbeneezer
Lovely pics. Â We actually were up there that same weekend but didn’t arrive until that evening. Â Smoke was bad the following day so we went to Rock Creek Lake, instead.
J R in WV
Nice work in an unbelievable location. We don’t have bare rock peaks above the tree line so much east of the Mississippi. But we do usually have extreme color variety in the fall, every shade from dark green, oranges, reds, scarlet, depending upon the tree species. Maple, sweet gum, sourwood, all can get an extreme scarlet red color if the weather cooperates just a little bit.
Years ago I was checking into a motel over in SE Ohio, and the folks ahead of me were concerned that they might “miss the fall colors” they had come across the continent to see. But they were headed north, while the fall colors were headed south, so I tried to explain to them that it would be nearly impossible for them to “miss” out on the fall colors. They were bound to collide head on with the color extravaganza.
But somehow they couldn’t understand the ease and inevitability with which they were bound to see colors of trees in the next few days as they headed north, and the colors headed south from New England, where they were headed. Strange, I thot.
Thanks, Billin, for the swell photo set of the Sierras in fall~!!~
Barbara
They are all really lovely, but the third and the last one really jumped out at me — it must be that pop of orange.
Almost Retired
These are awesome photos. I have never heard of North Lake, so I’ll add that to my list on our next trip to Mammoth. We went to Mammoth last year for some California-style leaf peeping, but left early because of the terrible smoke from the Creek Fire. And, yes, I appreciate the irony of rushing back to Los Angeles for the superior air quality.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Thanks.
@raven: It’s pretty country up there, I made my third trip up there last Friday.
@worn: Thanks, and you’re welcome, there will be more.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TinRoofRusted: Thanks, the change usually happens around the first snow. North Lake is at about 9,000 feet, they got their first snow about a week after my visit.
@HinTN: It is about a 5 hour drive up there, but totally worth it and I’ve driven up there 3 times in the past 3 weeks. The fall color is pretty much over in the higher elevations now and have moved to the lower elevations and further south.
@JPL: Thanks.
@MomSense: Thanks, but wait, there’s more. My next set will be from Lake Sabrina and I thought it was the best color I saw that day.
mvr
Nice! Was going to go to the Sierra Madres in WY this past weekend but a Blizzard made that inadvisable given the elevation (9000 feet) we were going to. These photos aren’t exactly compensation but they do remind me why I like mountains.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Wag: Thanks, there’s more to come. I was up in the Sierra again last Friday.
@marklar: Thanks, glad you’re enjoying the ride. The eastern Sierra is magical.
@SiubhanDuinne: Happy to share, it’s a special place.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@arrieve: I’ve been up to the eastern Sierra 3 times in the past 3 weeks and you could see the fall color move down in elevation as the weeks progressed. At the beginning of the month, you’d only see the color change above 8500 feet, on my last trip I was seeing the leaves change down in the Owens Valley at about 4000 feet.
@Dagaetch: Thanks.
@UncleEbeneezer: Yeah, the smoke got really bad in the afternoon, especially since it was in the same direction as the sun. The one place for fall color that I didn’t visit was Rock Creek.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: Glad you like them, the fall color in the Sierra moved from north to south, but also down from the higher elevations to the Owens Valley below. The difference in elevation between North Lake and Bishop on the valley floor is almost a mile.
@Barbara: Yeah, that caught my eye too so I included it in several shots.
@Almost Retired: Thanks, I thought the area around Lake Sabrina was probably the best on this trip up there. Last Friday, I headed up to Glacier Lodge west of Big Pine, really a nice place for color, but it’s best if you do some hiking. For the trip up there when I took these shots, the smoke got really bad in the afternoon and you could see it coming over the mountains near Mammoth and could smell it. Yes, the clear air in LA.
@mvr: As I noted above, the Friday after these shots were taken, they got their first snow up there and it also snowed last Monday. There’s more snow expected next Sunday and I don’t think most of the upper elevations will be open after that.