Could West's leaves be as lovely as those on East Coast?

Climbing N out of Kings Canyon along the Copper Creek trail, one of the very noticable things is that almost all of the autumn color is provided by maples between Roads End (el. 5.0k) and Lower Tent Meadow (el. 7.5k). Above Lower Tent, it is the realm of the aspens.

I've never had the opportunity to experience fall leaf color in either the East or Rockies though as a photographer over the years have viewed the books, articles, and seen large gallery prints. Here in California I have been pursuing fall leaf color long before the current hordes in this Internet age even knew such existed. There is no doubt the East has far more tree species with showy fall leaves over vastly greater areas. Thus much more variety visually including an abundance of red hued species. What the West has though is much better backdrops with its big impressive mountains. Thus for grand landscapes with foregrounds of colorful forests and backgrounds of rugged snowy peaks, the better pickings at least for photographers may be in the West. And in the West, that is certainly better in the Rockies than California. And likely even better in the Pacific Northwest than in California too. That said, one can still enjoy much in this state though a long road trip to the Sierra's Eastside is mandatory. I also work smaller landscapes on the Sierra western slopes later in the fall cycle and there is much to be found and enjoyed for locals of our state even though few beyond photography enthusiasts and local mountain communities seem to have a clue as to where, what, or how. Of course our tourist bureaus would be misguided if they tried to entice those living in other areas to visit our areas.

For a primer visit the below links and check my two large 4x5 galleries on my home page.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/Fall_2007/fall_2007.html


http://www.davidsenesac.com/Fall_2006/fall_2006.html



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2009 05:19PM by DavidSenesac.

The northeast wins hands down when speaking purely of color variety and depth but David is also correct that the west prevails in majestic background enhancement. There are so many tree varieties in the northest that provide multiple colors and they come on very fast after the first killing frost. There are numerous types of Oak, Maple, Elm, Ash, Birch, Alder, Beech, Wild Cherry, Hickory, etc.----each with a different color scheme. What westerners call Aspen we call Poplar. There are probably suttle differences but I believe they are part of the same major species. In the east one will not find large forests of just Poplars. Usually, you just come across small groves of them because they have to compete with so many other species.

Jim