Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Fall in the Eastern Sierras, California

Fall colors in the Eastern Sierra
Fall colors in the Eastern Sierra

You don’t need to travel to New England to see fabulous fall colors – a tank-and-a-half of gas away, California's Eastern Sierras are on full autumn display.

A very early snowfall, up to 19 inches in some places, dumped on the Sierras on October 5, forcing the Quaking Aspen trees to begin their change from yellow to a bright burnt orange. The colorful poplar leafs contrast drastically with the always-green pine trees, as the groves of color charge up the mountainsides.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In early fall, daytime highs may still be in the shorts and t-shirt zone (September 13's high was 81 at the 7,000–8,000-foot resort elevations.) But overnight lows will put frost on the car and a chill in your bones. Bundle up! Temps can drop 30 degrees in an hour at sundown.

All along Highway 395, from Bishop to Bridgeport, the summer resorts and private campgrounds have closed for the winter. However, most of the Inyo National Forest campgrounds will try to stay open until the end of fishing season – November 15 – weather permitting.

But the local motels in Mammoth Lakes, June Lake and Lee Vining are wide open this time of year, and the towns are quiet and peaceful, waiting for the arrival of ski season madness. Hwy. 120, Tioga Pass, the east side entrance to Yosemite National Park, remains open, but will close for the season as soon as a big snow becomes too heavy to plow.

By Thanksgiving, the colorful leaves will be gone. Mammoth Mountain Ski Area will be in full operation; June Mountain expects to open in mid-December.

Locals predicted a snow-filled winter again this year, because the aspen trees started turning slightly yellow after Labor Day. Since then, weather forecasters have agreed, due to the cooling La Nina condition that will carry over from last year, which produced record snowfalls and river runoff and ended SoCal's drought.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much
Next Article

Didja know I did the first American feature on Jimi Hendrix?

Richard Meltzer goes through the Germs, Blue Oyster Cult, Ray Charles, Elvis, Lavender Hill Mob
Fall colors in the Eastern Sierra
Fall colors in the Eastern Sierra

You don’t need to travel to New England to see fabulous fall colors – a tank-and-a-half of gas away, California's Eastern Sierras are on full autumn display.

A very early snowfall, up to 19 inches in some places, dumped on the Sierras on October 5, forcing the Quaking Aspen trees to begin their change from yellow to a bright burnt orange. The colorful poplar leafs contrast drastically with the always-green pine trees, as the groves of color charge up the mountainsides.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In early fall, daytime highs may still be in the shorts and t-shirt zone (September 13's high was 81 at the 7,000–8,000-foot resort elevations.) But overnight lows will put frost on the car and a chill in your bones. Bundle up! Temps can drop 30 degrees in an hour at sundown.

All along Highway 395, from Bishop to Bridgeport, the summer resorts and private campgrounds have closed for the winter. However, most of the Inyo National Forest campgrounds will try to stay open until the end of fishing season – November 15 – weather permitting.

But the local motels in Mammoth Lakes, June Lake and Lee Vining are wide open this time of year, and the towns are quiet and peaceful, waiting for the arrival of ski season madness. Hwy. 120, Tioga Pass, the east side entrance to Yosemite National Park, remains open, but will close for the season as soon as a big snow becomes too heavy to plow.

By Thanksgiving, the colorful leaves will be gone. Mammoth Mountain Ski Area will be in full operation; June Mountain expects to open in mid-December.

Locals predicted a snow-filled winter again this year, because the aspen trees started turning slightly yellow after Labor Day. Since then, weather forecasters have agreed, due to the cooling La Nina condition that will carry over from last year, which produced record snowfalls and river runoff and ended SoCal's drought.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Summit Fellowship wants to be a home of belonging

Unitarian Universalism allows you to be exactly who you are in the moment
Next Article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.