California's Gold: Aspen, Willow, Oak & Friends

Autumn might just be my favorite season in the Sierra Nevada. Maybe. Gone are summer's long, lazy days of exploring creeks in cutoffs and swimming in mountain lakes. But I'll make the exchange, for golden leaves swirling on the breeze and crunching underfoot, chilly nights with starry skies, cozy flannel shirts and woolly mittens holding warm beverages around the campfire...

We spent last weekend on the Eastern side of the Sierra, taking in the sights and reveling in the beauty of the season. And I can safely say, fall is in full swing: now is the time to get out and see the fall colors!


California is known as the golden state for the obvious reason: gold was discovered here, triggering a booming gold rush during the mid-to-late 1800's. But I'd like to add a few more of my own reasons for the nickname.

In spring, golden carpets of wildflowers spread across hills and valleys in varying hues: California poppies, goldfields, tidytips and their yellow composite kin. As spring fades into summer, grasses turn from green to gold. (Not "brown," mind you. Gold.) Mile after endless mile of golden hills reach nearly every corner of the state, blanketed in these sleeping grasses (which are mostly introduced annual species, but that's a story for another day). Even during the winter months, seemingly endless golden sunshine streams down on this land called California.

Gold medallions! Aspen leaves shine in the sunlight.

And during this season of changing autumn winds, as the heat of summers wanes before the coming winter, the predominant fall foliage color in California's varied woodlands is gold.


Without a doubt, the undisputed star of the autumn show in California and across the West is the aspen.

A grove of golden aspens

Tall, stately trees with smooth, elegant white trunks and masses of gracefully trembling leaves, the quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) easily steals the show, lighting up canyons, creek beds and lake sides of the Sierra Nevada with brilliant gold foliage.

The beautifully smooth, white bark of the aspen

The aspen certainly deserves its reputation as the golden star of the west.

A grove of aspens, tucked in a low spot in the Bodie Hills

But there are other, more humble deciduous trees and shrubs that are worth praising as well, as they quietly contribute critical background harmonies to the aspens' brilliant melody.

Creek-side willows showing their fall colors

Various species of willow (Salix spp.) turn lovely shades of gold in the autumn, and can be found lining nearly every damp place throughout our wild lands. Pictured above, rusty gold willows line a peaceful creek.

Golden fall leaves of black oak

Black oak (Quercus kelloggii), above, and Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum), below, are both important elements in the autumnal symphony of the west. Both are majestic trees with striking foliage that turns golden (and even red and rust-colored, in the case of black oak) in the fall, and both are scattered throughout the mountains of California, in mixed evergreen and yellow pine forests; big-leaf maple is likely to be found in riparian areas as well.

Bigleaf maple leaves, just beginning to turn from bright green of summer to autumn gold

Related to quaking aspen, black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) and Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) both display golden fall color as well, and are more widely distributed across the state.


One of our few native trees with truly red fall foliage is the mountain dogwood (Cornus nuttallii), found growing as an understory tree in pine forests throughout the Sierra and mountains of northern California.

Mountain dogwood, just beginning to turn, in Yosemite Valley

Red fall foliage of mountain dogwood (pictured here in the snow, near Calaveras Big Trees

But the forests are painted gold by more than just trees. Currants and gooseberries (Ribes spp.), thimbleberries and other brambles (Rubus spp.), wild roses (Rosa spp.) and even ferns add a delightful touch of unexpected color to the understory and forest floor.

Ribes sp.
Rubus sp. (Thimbleberry)



Golden ferns


Rosa sp.

 Late summer and fall is also the season when rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) really shines. Brilliant gold late-season flowers are followed by golden-tan puffy seed heads. These subshrubs are found in dry, mostly arid parts of mountainous regions and are common throughout the Great Baisin desert, east of the Sierra Nevada.


Rabbitbrush, near Mono Lake
Rabbitbrush in the Bodie Hills



Autumn is certainly a wonderful time to take a walk in the woods! I recommend the following places in central California:

* Eastern Sierra: One of my favorite places on the planet (though I've been known to say that about many places...) Mono and Inyo counties are well-known for their splendid show of aspens, which generally reach peak color in mid-to-late October. Check Mammoth Lake's website for more ideas, and download their Fall Color Map. The Eastern Sierra is really the place to go to see aspens in all their autumnal glory.

* Western Sierra: My stomping grounds. Lassen, Plumas and Tahoe National Forests put on a display of mellow fall color in October and even into November. More southerly national forests are worth investigating as well, like El Dorado, Stanislaus and Sierra National Forests. In my experience, fall color in Yosemite Valley seems to peak during the first two or three weeks of November. Try Calaveras Big Trees State Park for red mountain dogwoods.

* North Coast: Not to be left out, Big Leaf Maples and other trees color the north coast forests of California as well. Near the Bay Area, Big Basin Redwoods State Park has miles of hiking trails and a mild climate year-round.

For more fall color locations, the California state parks system has published this no-frills list of parks.


In California's forests, expect pockets of color rather than sweeping New England hillsides of fiery red maples. Often, hidden gems of color are found along rivers and streams. Weather plays a big role in intensity and timing of fall colors, so no two years are quite the same. But the fall color show lasts quite a while in California, slowly progressing from high elevations to low over the season.

A perfect day for a walk in the woods!

 Check out this website, dedicated exclusively to California fall color. It even has a map showing locations where fall color is at its peak!

I highly encourage you to get outdoors and explore the beauty our golden state has to offer this autumn!

Comments

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like:

Birds of the Desert: Residents & Spring Migrants

Image
Nearly everyone knows the desert as a barren, desolate land of extremes: high heat, low precipitation; little available food and water; prickly, spiny, unfriendly plants growing in a sea of rocks and sand as far as the eye can see.  But for those who stop and look closer, the desert reveals itself as the beautiful, incredible, mesmerizing place it truly is, teeming with unexpected life. Juvenile male Costa's Hummingbird visiting chuparosa blooms next to our campsite in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I particularly love the desert in the spring, when the annual wildflowers, cacti, flowering trees and shrubs are all in bloom.  (I've experienced the desert in the searing 120 degree heat of summer, and the rainy, even snowy cold of winter... and spring wins every time!)  Eric and I just returned from a week in the Colorado desert, exploring the imperiled, accidental Salton Sea (more on that coming soon), the vital wetlands of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refu
Read more

A Shorebird Primer: Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels

Image
For those of us living in the Great Central Valley, autumn is the time to head to the coast.  Of course, there is no bad time to visit California's magnificent coastline.  But as the heat and haze of summer drag on in the Valley, the sea becomes increasingly tantalizing: September and the onset of autumn bring sunny weather and an abundance of migratory seabirds and shorebirds to our coast. A new birder visiting California's Central Coast will undoubtedly be met with a splendid array of very confusing birds.  Among these are small shorebirds like  "peeps" (sandpipers), Sanderlings and various  plovers .  But the larger birds can be just as confusing, until you learn a few distinguishing features.  Four large shorebirds that are commonly seen (and commonly confused) along California's Central Coast are Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels. Marbled Godwit (upper left), Whimbrel (upper right), Long-billed Curlew (center front) The distinguishing featu
Read more

Birding in Adverse Weather Conditions: Wind and Rain

Image
Though I often extol the virtues and merits of winter in the Central Valley , especially when it comes to birding, the whole truth is that we experience "bad" weather also, just like anywhere else.  But even when the winter weather rolls in, the birds are still out there!  And sometimes, despite our best planning efforts, a birding day happens to coincide with crummy weather.   In that case, what's a birder to do?  Usually, we go birding anyway!   Birders far more intrepid than I regularly brave the ice and snow of northern winters to see their favorite birds, so perhaps you should look to them for real tips on winter birding!  For those of us in the valleys of California, the worst weather we see - wind and rain - is really comparatively mild.  Birding on an extremely windy day! I don't know of anyone who actually likes birding in the rain.  But I would argue that birding in the wind is just as aggravating as trying to bird in the rain!   Wind can be utterly infuri
Read more

What's Wrong With This Tree?

Image
If you've spent any time in an oak woodland (and I sincerely hope that you have!!) you may have noticed something odd: strange growths on the branches and leaves of oak trees.  You might wonder if the trees are sick or diseased, or plagued with a dangerous pest. But not to worry; these fascinating growths are a normal part of a healthy oak community.  Spined Turban Gall on Valley Oak, with a bonus gall: the tiny orange sphere to the left of the larger gall might be a gall of the California Jumping Gall Wasp (inconclusive) These growths are in fact galls, and are caused by a variety of cynipid wasps.  Galls form when a wasp lays eggs in a plant's tissue, releasing chemicals which stimulate the plant to use its own tissue to form protective structures around the eggs.  As the insect larvae develops, it feeds on plant tissue from within its cozy gall home.  Galls form on a variety of plants, including alders, poplars, willows and even sagebrush.  But the best known and m
Read more

Joshua Tree Woodlands: A Tale of Sloths, Moths and the Trees that Need Them

Image
In 1844, early California explorer John C. Fremont gave a somewhat scathing review of Joshua trees when he wrote, "...their stiff and ungraceful form makes them to the traveler the most repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom."  Rather unkind, don't you think?  But when Joshua trees were formally described by scientist William Trelease in the 1890's, he noted that Joshua Trees are "the most attractive of all the Yuccas."  I am inclined to agree with this sentiment, and must disagree most heartily with Lieutenant Fremont! I, for one, adore Joshua Trees, with their whimsical shapes and great ecological significance!  If you struggle with plant identification, the iconic Joshua tree, hallmark of the Mojave Desert, is a good place to start.  With densely spiked tufts protruding from the ends of gangly arms stretched towards the heavens, this looks like a plant straight from a Dr. Seuss book.  Native people called these trees “humwichawa,” and used thei
Read more

Invasive Species: European Beachgrass

Image
Visit a beach in California, particularly in the northern half of the state, and you are likely to come across stands of European Beachgrass ( Arundo arenaria ).  It looks so innocuous, picturesque even, waving in the Pacific breeze and blurring the line between land and sea.  But this grass, a plant you've probably never thought twice about, is much more than it seems.  Innocuous it is not.  European Beachgrass is one of California's most wanted offenders: an introduced, aggressive invasive species. This picturesque photo of the California's Pacific Coast has a secret...  Most people won't notice that the grass seen here is an imposter; it's not native to the area, but a species that doesn't belong in this ecosystem. The main crime this grass is guilty of is being too good at its job.  In 1869, European Beachgrass was planted around Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and since 1900, it has been introduced to other parts of California's coast in an
Read more