There was hardly any fall color.
On Saturday there was snow most of the way from the first cable car crossing below Agnew (lot more bare trail on Sunday!).
So I camped at Gem Lake, after deciding I didn't want to trudge through any more snow. And got some nice pictures along the Tioga Road, both going and returning (yea Caltrans and NPS for getting the road opened just in time!).
I got to Olmstead Point about 20 minutes after sunset Friday and took this:
Here's the view of Gem Lake from the ridge north of the dam:
For my campsite I found what was obviously a camping area underneath the snow (9-12 inches), shoveled the snow, waited a couple hours for the ground to dry, and set up my tent.
Conditions were changing fast on south facing slopes, there was a lot more bare trail on Sunday than on Saturday. On north-facing slopes, not much appeared to be changing despite the warmth. In fact, both days there was a dangerous section of ice patches where the trail is cut into northeast-facing rocks between the two cable track crossings.
On the way back along the Tioga Road...here's the Dana Fork:
