Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
7 reports came in from El Dorado County this week, 3 of them patchy color and 2 of them just starting. Our date held. See the county on the map.
Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.
Around Eldorado National Forest El Dorado County holds most of the forest and is still green today. Placer County, to the northwest, is 3 days behind. Amador County, to the southwest, is 2 days behind.By elevation The forest runs from about 3,194 to 8,517 feet. That’s 35 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 30, the low ground holds until about Nov 4, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 4,000 to 6,000 foot band.
8,000–10,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 3012%
6,000–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1042%
4,000–6,000 ftStill greenpeak Oct 2432%
2,000–4,000 ftStill greenpeak Nov 413%
SepOctNov
Height off 3DEP inside the forest’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the forest stands in it.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Friday 16 October to Saturday 17 October
You’ll find it fading up high, starting to turn lower down.
Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 30; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Nov 4. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
8,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 30
6,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 10
4,000–6,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 24
2,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Nov 4
Where to drive
Sonora Pass (Route 108), about 47 miles · June Lake Loop (Route 158), about 95 miles · US Route 395 (Eastern Sierra), about 115 miles
What turns
Fremont cottonwood, California black oak, white alder, willow, blue oak
What turns, and when
Fremont cottonwood22%
California black oak21%
white alder14%
willow14%
blue oak14%
bigleaf maple7%
Also named across California, outside what the canopy read measures here: Quaking Aspen.
Eastern Sierra aspens turn brilliant gold against granite walls, black oaks in Yosemite Valley go bronze and russet, and cottonwoods line the desert creeks in pale yellow.
This forecast is built from the species that stand here, their elevation and this September’s weather, and corrected in season by cameras, foresters and our own crew. Out here we score it against NASA's satellite record of when the canopy shuts down, read inside each unit’s own boundary: two dates in three land within 12 days of it. How this map is made
