It wasn’t our typical outdoor weekend, but the fall colors in the Eastern Sierra only show up once a year and it shouldn’t be missed. We threw some generic car camping gear into the truck, grabbed our cameras, and hit the road. Friday night we drove over Tioga Pass, and since it was dark we had no idea if the colors were even worth the long drive through annoying traffic. After a few hours of sleep at Glass Creek, we awoke to a brisk morning chill and immediately headed for a hot spring.
As we drove south along 395 toward the spings, we could see that the aspens were indeed putting on a good show, and we weren’t dissapointed. That afternoon we were able to head up Bishop Creek, first to South Lake, then to North Lake and Lake Sabrina, and snap some nice and colorful shots while we watched the clouds build.
As evening approached we found ourselves a campsite at Horton Creek (great BLM campground outside of bishop – really basic (outhouses and no water), but fantastic views and close to everything. Shhh – don’t tell anyone).
Saturday evening we were given a spectacular sunset show by Mother Nature, helped significantly by the clouds we kept expecting to dump rain on us. The temps were nice and warm in the valley as well – it never got below 60 degrees. No rain fell, but the gusts went nuts in the middle of the night. Sunday morning we awoke to the same conditions we had gone to sleep in, and we left early and headed north to check out Hot Creek, Mono Lake, and some other aspen-ey valleys.
We watched the storms build over the mountains all day and made it back over Sonora Pass before all hell broke loose. It looked like it was trying really hard to snow around the pass, but it wasn’t quite cold enough. I wonder if it ever got going…
