Eastern Sierra Fall Color Report 9-26-09

Before I go into the details of the fall color and the locations I visited, I wanted to warn anyone going, be careful. I seen more reckless drivers over this past weekend then I've seen ever. On Rock Creek Road above the lake, I was almost hit head on a few times by people driving 30-40 mph on the one lane section. Most of the drivers wouldn't even move to the side of the road and slow down. The worse section of road was near Lake Sabrina, one guy driving a large truck ran me off the road.

But by far the worse thing I saw was a woman driving a Ford Taurus wagon almost running over a pedestrian. Just below Lake Sabrina, 2 female photographers pulled over on the one side of the road near a bridge. When one of them was crossing the street, the driver in the taurus doing about 30-40mph came up behind her. Instead of slowing down, they floored the gas as they went around the pedestrian, scaring her because she couldn't hear the car comming. So watch yourselves out there.

Ok onto the report. My trip started out friday night (Sept 25) when we drove up to Eastern Sierras from Big Bear Lake. I decided we'd camp in Rock Creek area. So we drove up Rock Creek Road. All of the smaller campgrounds were full, so we stayed at East Fork, which was less then half full. Next morning we woke up at 5am and drove to North Lake in Bishop Creek Canyon. Most of my best photos were in this area. I'd say most of the trees are near peak or peak here. There are still some green trees around, but all and all I'd say it's good here.

The sunrise was great.
As the sun came up farther in the sky, it lit up the area. And I took this panoramic.


This is from a meadow near North Lake.
The road from North Lake to the campground.

After North Lake and the area's around there, I went up to Lake Sabrina. Some good color here.

After this area the sun was up pretty high and the photography wasn't as good, so we returned to the campground in Rock Creek. The trees in East Fork Campground were half yellow half green. The trees above Rock Creek Lake were peaking or past peak. Some of the leaves already fell off the trees. But there was good color here and there.

Panoramic of Rock Creek Lake

Panoramic of Rock Creek between the lake and Mosquito Flat

We left later in the afternoon to head home. On the way I stopped at Convict Lake and took this shot. There's a little color here but it's got a way to go yet.

You can see the rest of the photos from our trip on my Flickr album.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42490701@N05/sets/72157622343043947/

You can see my other photography at my website.
www.luminous-exposure.com/pics.html

Trip To Rock Creek June 2007

Last weekend, I took a trip to to Rock Creek. Rock Creek Canyon is one of my favorite locations in the Eastern Sierras. With a trailhead at approx 10,500 feet above sea level, the creek itself is clean, clear and really cold. The trail travels into an area called Little Lakes Valley, which is a valley comprised of a series of alpine lakes. Each lake has it's own unique look and beauty.

My wife and I left early in the morning to start our hike. Unfortunatly we missed the pre sunrise time period, but we did arive at the trailhead before 5:30. The temperature was cold, still in the low 30s from the night before.

A few hundred yards from the trailhead the trail follows the creek. Seen in the image below. The peaks in the background of this shot are approx 13,000 feet high. Even in June they still have snow. The creek here is Rock Creek, there are lots of small brook trout throughout this lake, a great place forfishing. Alot of anglers and fly fishers love to fish here. The fishing is also good at Rock Creek Lake.

Rock Creek Lake which is about 1 mile before reaching the trailhead along Rock Creek Road, is a popular place for fishers. The lake has lots of large Rinbow and Bown Tout. Most of the back country lakes and the creek itself contains smaller Brook Tout, as well as some Rainbow and the very beautiful Golden Trout.

After about 15 mins of hiking and enjoying the peace and quiet of the early morning, we came to the second lake. Marsh Lake. The water of this lake was smooth as glass in the still morning air. Makes for a great reflection shot. I arrived here at Marsh Lake just as the early morning warm sunlight was disapating.

After walking a good ways from Marsh Lake we came upon Heart Lake. This one was one of my favorites. There's a beautiful meadow near the lake with a few streams flowing in and out of the lake. Very beautiful area. We stopped off near the shore line and I took this shot here.

Because these lakes are at such high altitude, the water remains very cold even through summer. Since there is nothing above these areas, the water remains unpolluted and crystal clear. Hopefully these lakes will remain clean and pollution free forever.

We hiked a total of 2 miles each way on our trip, our last stop was Long Lake. When at Long Lake we saw a few trout swimming around near the shoreline. At one point we were lucky enough to find a trout that was feeding off the surface of the water. I took the opportunity to snap off a few shots.

Little Lakes Valley is a beautiful Gem located in the Eastern Sierras of California. I enjoyed my trip and look forward to heading back there again.

Next time I'm there, I'm hoping to start my hike a little early to catch some of the better early morning light.