Re: Fall Color in Yosemite Valley

Anybody been in the Valley since Weds.'s storm? How are the Fall colors looking, especially in that big grove of Oak trees on the west end of Cook's meadow near the old Superintendents cabin? Did the storm strip the trees of leaves?

Tom

Get there ASAP. There's alot of color.

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mtn man
Anybody been in the Valley since Weds.'s storm? How are the Fall colors looking,

They were looking great last Friday.



The aspen on the east side of the Sierra are good too:





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2009 04:05PM by eeek.

So how do the Valley colors look now after the wind storm? Pics.?

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mtn man
So how do the Valley colors look now after the wind storm? Pics.?

I've heard the dogwoods are doing well right now.

The oak groves held up through the Mono winds Tuesday night. The maples lost a lot of leaves...trails and paths are covered with them, but there's still quite a bit left. The birch etc. by the river are looking pretty wintery with but a few leaves left. Best get up to the valley within the next few days if you want to see it with a lot of fall leaves. It's warming up slowly, but nights are very cold. The moon is also nearing full.

Those Mono winds were something. At Upper Pines, you could hear the gusts coming down the canyon, sounded like a jet or flash flood.

The snow-cone at the base of Upper Yosemite fall is now underway with a good foundation. I was heading for the cave at the base, but it was too icy to chance for a solo hike without snow/ice gear. Another time. I have pics, since that's what I came for, but not ready to post yet.

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Gary
Yosemite Photo Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/yo

Looking at it this morning as I was leaving...

The black oaks in Cook's meadow (near the Lodge/falls) are doing great, very showy. The ones in El Cap meadow, so-so; not as impressive as some years, but nice. Bigleaf Maples are still showing, but many lost a LOT of leaves in the winds. I was watching for the outstanding show between the Lodge and 3 bros along Northside to see how it had held up, and I passed it before realizing I had passed it. Maybe just the time of day and light, but that section usually is something you can't miss. Mirror lake (almost) loop before the winds was nice, but not as showy as last year, missing a lot of the reds from the dogwoods...I don't know if they're just late, or just not showing off so much this year. I don't know about after the winds, didn't go back up there. There are still sporadic bigleaf maples up the trails out of the valley with lots of color (oddly, some were showing color in late September on the JMT below Nevada Fall).

Birches and cottonwoods, aspen, whatever along the river are pretty sparse, still trees here and there that show a lot of color, but many that are looking bare. There may be some nice color still west of the swinging bridge.

As far as the dogwoods in the valley, I sure didn't see much color in comparison to past years, but maybe I just missed looking in the right places. I looked in the usual places, and any red color was slim pickens. The canopy over the bike path past Ahwahnee meadow even lacked its usual glow. Many still have their leaves but not much color, but some are decently showy (Happy Isles and elsewhere). Fern spring area is less colorful than usual, but the yellow maple leaves are like a carpet, so it is still a pleasant sight.

Anyway, the weather is back to great, so might as well get up there and see for yourself.

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Gary
Yosemite Photo Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/yo

Thanks for the detailed report. Hoping to get up there Mon.-Weds. Was there the first few days of Nov. 2 years ago and was up there the last few days of Oct. last yea,r and both trips were spectacular. Was worried about the wind damage but it sounds like things are still looking good.

Tom

mtn_man,
This was last Saturday. Nov 7, 2009

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