Just did a quick 3 night trip to Eastern Sierra in search of fall colors with a couple of friends in his 84' VW camper. Took Hwy 50 to Meyers and driving along the East Carson and over Monitor Pass there were barely any signs that fall was upon us. First stop was Virginia Lakes. The colors are just starting with the best along Virginia Creek. Upper Virginia Creek campground is at 8500" and had patches of snow and only saw one other camper. I was tent camping and it was cold!! I had my zero degree bag and had to get up in the middle of the night to put my down jacket on to get comfortable. The morning was clear and beautiful and no frost.
Headed to Tioga Pass 9/27 and drove up to just past the NP Entrance Station just to enjoy the views. Most of the fall colors were around the Aspen Groves at the bottom of the pass and are a couple of weeks away from peaking. I think the high snow year is the reason for the late fall colors this year. We camped at Saddlebag Campground just above Saddlebag Lake. The resort suffered severe damage from the 55' of snow this past winter and sadly didn't open this season. At 10,000" I was prepared for another cold night but was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I was.
Thursday 9/28 headed to June Lakes Loop hoping to get a shower at Silver Lake. No luck- sign at the entrance said campground full. The colors here were probably the best that we saw, but not enough for me to get the camera out. Looks like another week before the colors will be abundant and perhaps 2 weeks before peaking. So we continued around the loop and almost all of the campgrounds were full until we got to Oh Ridge. Lots of sites available but a very un-inspiring campground. So we decided to give Silver Lake one last shot before heading up to Sonora Pass. The campground entrance still said cg full but we decided to look anyway and found one site that was available for the night and we snagged it. The majority of the sites were occupied by trailers and motorhomes but on both sides of us were fellow tent campers. The evening was clear and windless. but probably the coldest night as we found one of our un-finished wine bottle frozen in the morning and my tent sagging from the frost completely covering it. Still, I had slept all through the night and never felt the least bit cold. Thank you good wine and boubon!
Reading the reports that Ski posted I'm kicking myself for missing Sonora Pass. I'll be going to Colorado next week with my honey and promised her a spectacular Aspen show!!
