I arrived at North Lake October 1, only to discover that I missed the peak color by a day or two due to a wind storm that blew off the best red to yellow colors on the far hillside. The color present a few days ago seems to have partially blown off the trees, partially turned towards brown, but there were still some green leaves, leaving the possibility of more color in a few days.
You can find decent color in patches if you look hard enough, but the best color might not be until more of the green starts to change at lower elevations, perhaps late next week?
By the time I returned here Sunday morning, there was about 2-3″ of snow by the lake. The same thing happened last year, a dusting of snow around the end of September, early October. It was a little heavier this time, and there were prints from a dozen horses and mules as the packer started in around dawn to rescue their customers from the likely 4-6″ of snow higher up. There were about 6-8 snow-covered cars in the parking lot by the pack station, people off in the backcountry, most likely experiencing heavier snow. I’d like to see their pictures!
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