Stunning fall colors at Bishop Creek Canyon in the Eastern Sierra 9/29/24

Stunning autumn colors around the quaint little town of Aspendell in Bishop Creek Canyon high in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Fall is long in the Eastern Sierra. The topography of the region provides a slow shift into winter that starts first at the higher elevations and descends slowly over the open plains of the Owens Valley below. The cooling begins in September as daytime temperatures decrease significantly up high, while summer still seems ever-present in the valley.
The color change begins high too. Over the course of many weeks, often well into November, the color tumbles down the mountain and out across the plain like spilled buckets of paint.
Drops of yellow splatter the stands of aspen that grow near the tree line, around 12,000ft ASL (above sea level). Soon it spills into the groves and luminous yellow swaths appear with dribbles of bright orange and deep crimson. A blush spreads across the mountainside spreading a golden trim along the shores of sparkling blue mountain lakes, alongside streams, and tracing contours down the canyons. The dark green of evergreen trees mixes with the bright colors and the silvery grey granite crags rise above the surge of color.
Often large clouds gather and billow over the mountain peaks during the day. Then as evening approaches strong winds aloft lift, smooth and shape them into lenticular wave clouds and the setting sun creates a fiery display that rivals the show on the ground.
This spectacle in the sky is brief and unpredictable, but the colors on the landscape follow an established pattern in time and place that is almost as predictable as the nightfall after the sunset.

[@G.Photogirl]

Beautiful. I just returned from June Lake a couple of weeks ago. I missed the color transformation! 😢