Here's our most recent TR -- ten days of dry camping and boondocking:Blog postAnd if you are pressed for time and just want the headlines, this is pretty much what that part of the world looks like on a cold, windy, late afternoon in autumn:Click For Full-Size Image.

Thanks so much for the incredible pictures! One regret I have in life is that I did not move out West earlier when I would have been still capable of hiking those gorgeous areas! Please keep those spectacular pictures coming!

Great time to be out. I have two trips planned for October. Last year I camped in Yosemite in late October with a wall tent. We visited a remote stand of sequoia trees and saw one other person in 4 hours.

You sure pick the great places. Fantastic pictures. Don't know about your climate judgement however.

Cal, we live in coastal Southern Calif, where it is always warm and sunny. So we actually look for "more interesting" weather when we are camping, just because it's a change from the usual!!

Trip report: High Country of the Eastern Sierra

15 Replies

Busskipper
Explorer
Oct 22, 2019
Dan,

As always - great images and a Perfect time of Year to be Out.

Thanks for sharing,

Bill
profdant139
Explorer II
Oct 21, 2019
ppine, that is interesting about the day length. But now I can't figure out why the trees change at different times from year to year?? Some years the third week in Sept., sometimes the first week in Oct. Should be the same date each year, I would think, but that is not what happens.

The other miracle is that the fall color is just a lucky accident -- the trees do not benefit from vivid coloration. This is unlike wildflowers, which use color as part of their campaign to attract bees and so forth.
Naio
Explorer II
Oct 21, 2019
fantastic trip report! I love the photo of the little trailer in the dark. You do a very good job of 'bottling the feeling' :).
Ramblin__Ralph
Explorer
Oct 21, 2019
Dan, small world for sure! Would have been even smaller if we were there the same day. :)

It was my 3rd time there in the last several years. Have tried it a couple of times when it was full. I like the smaller CGs and especially those with a nice creek.
profdant139
Explorer II
Oct 20, 2019
Ralph, it's a small world! There are so many good campgrounds out that way -- and we chose the same little place with eleven sites?? What are the chances?

Very odd year for fall color -- much later than usual. Was it the wet winter? The warm temps? Random variation? Also, we found in several places that there was better color at 7500 feet than at 9500 feet, the opposite of the usual pattern.
ppine
Explorer III
Oct 20, 2019
Leaves on deciduous trees turn in response to day length (photoperiod) not temperture. That is their signal to stop producing chlorophyll and revealing the other compounds always present in the leaves.
Ramblin__Ralph
Explorer
Oct 20, 2019
Great pics of the best part of California! I spent almost 2 weeks there in Sept and crossed over Tioga Pass to the W side on Sept 28. Didn't see as much color as you did since the low 20s temperatures occurred after I left (which is why I left) :). Also stayed in Big Meadow CG on Sept 22. Nice CG.
Lwiddis
Nomad III
Oct 19, 2019
Great photos and narration. TY.
ScottG
Nomad
Oct 19, 2019
A refreshing thread - thanks!

Scott
Tiger4x4RV
Nomad
Oct 19, 2019
Thanks for the photos! I didn't get to take my usual Eastern Sierra fall trip this year, and your trip report helped to make up for the loss.