Fall color hotspots 2012" (BLM Bishop Field Office reports)
The fall colors are beginning to show up and down the Eastern Sierra. As of this past weekend (9/21-23/2012) small pockets of aspen were beginning to turn yellow and orange throughout the area. Places to check out include Bishop Creek (the aspen stands above Apendell, Lake Sabrina and North Lake), the Rock Creek Drainage, Hilton Creek near Crowley Lake and Lundy Canyon up near Mono Lake.

More reports

The drive up to end of the road along Rock Creek (west of Hwy. 395 from Toms Place) has good patches of color throughout portions of it. At the higher elevations many of the trees have lost their leaves but overall there was a lot of good color.

The road up to South Lake (off Hwy. 168 west of Bishop) still has amazing color with more trees turning a golden yellow, orange or red. However by the time you reach South Lake many of the trees have lost their leaves. Based on what I saw this weekend and what other areas were doing a week ago, I would still guess that the road up to South Lake offers some of the best overall color.

My guess is that the trees at Conway Summit (Hwy. 395 north of Mono Lake) would be coming into peak color and I would think that the North Lake area (off Hwy. 168 west of Bishop) would be at the tail end of its color.

With the weather that is predicted for this next week I expect that many of the trees may lose their leaves. At 8,000 feet, snow is predicted for several of the days this week with a chance of rain at lower elevations. I expected the colder weather and precipitation will turn many of the leaves to black or cause the trees to drop their leaves. However, a dusting of snow should create some great photo opportunities for trees that still have their leaves.