Natural Wonder- Fall Colors in Eastern Sierras

Fall color is one of the wonderful things I have seen in California- Eastern Sierras. One weekend I thought of driving up to the Mono County and check out what I see in the pictures of fall colors is really a truth. And I found out it was amazing, just like in the pictures!

I really didn't have a fixed plan on where I was heading to, I just drove to Yosemite National Park and took the Tioga road towards Mono Lake. It was raining very heavily but there was no option to stop at Tioga road and so I went on. Poor visibility made it more difficult to drive on that steep graded road. Wherever I went it was raining and everything was covered with fog. 

I thought of stopping the madness of driving in the rain, took a room in Mammoth Lakes. Spent all the evening watching TV sipping a mugful of hot chocolate. I was hoping the next morning would be gorgeous.

And it was! There was continuous drizzle but everything looked so clean and colorful! I drove all around June Lake Loop. There were cabins in the midst of that fiery colorful aspen fields! Some day I would spend a week there, I thought. I stopped at every spot I could and took pictures. But, still there wasn't that Aha moment for me. One of the photographers suggested me to head to Bishop area for Lake Sabrina and two nearby lakes in the higher altitude. I thought of checking them out!

And there it was- A heaven. Painted with pale green, bright yellow, light orange and intense gold. The roads to the lakes were lined up with colorful trees on either side. Walking on the trails covered with golden leaves of aspen was a great experience. At times it felt- it wasn't real :) I took few pictures and then didn't bother much about photography. I wanted to enjoy the bigger picture than looking through the viewfinder. I walked up till end of the roads, then I went on the trails to the lakes. 

I wanted to stay there forever watching those clouds covering up the mountain tops, the colorful trees which painted the mountain slopes. But, the rain approached like an announcement and it was time for me to leave. I remembered a quote by Lisa St Aubin de Teran- Traveling is like flirting with life. It's like saying, I would stay and love you, but I have to go, this is my station. How true?

A word of caution would be to drive carefully in the storm on some of the narrow roads leading to the high altitude lakes and viewpoints. Also there are many steep grades which heat up the engine of your vehicle. Give it some rest and cool it. There are many websites and blogs dedicated to provide information on fall color status. Check before heading out for the peak time and also the weather forecast. 

It is definitely a heaven!

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Scrapbook- A Travel Blog by Kusum Sanu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.