Leon Turnbull Photography

It is difficult to plan in advance a get-away weekend to the Eastern Sierra in the Fall because you don’t really know when the Fall colors will peak. Especially if you are coming from Australia.

Such was the case for us this year. My friend Neal from Aussieland was making his annual trip to California this fall, and we were joined by his friend Luke, and my family as well. Neal was really wanting to see some great Fall colors in the Eastern Sierra this year. but it has not been a good year for Fall Colors in the west (not just California, all over the western U.S. has been bad this year). The Aspen trees have been very slow to turn this year, and some just did not turn from green at all. Perhaps it is due to the drought we’ve had the last 2 years? or the very hot September we had? or an early freeze? or all of the above? I don’t know the reason, but I do know it is a sub-par year for Fall Color in California.

Of course we didn’t know that when we made plans in September to spend an October weekend in Lee Vining. Another thing we didn’t know (of course) is what the weather would be like. And unfortunately, the weather did not co-operate fully.

We did not even bother going to photograph Mono Lake. There were no clouds in the sky pretty much all weekend. Though I do not have a good photo of Mono Lake, and I do indeed want one in my portfolio, but there needs to be good cloud and light, or it is just not worth it to me. (especially when Mono Lake would be jam packed with photographers at sunrise and sunset all weekend).

Neal felt the same way about Mono Lake, so we avoided it like the plague all weekend. Instead, we went to other spots to photograph Fall Colors, and in fact, I think we came away with quite a few dandy photographs. I was pleased overall with the amount of good shots I obtained, and we were able to avoid crowds for most of the weekend.

The first stop that Neal wanted to make was Lee Vining Creek and the cascades that are on this creek. There are a couple small waterfalls on Lee Vining Creek, and I was very surprised at how well they were flowing this late in the year. The canyon gets no sun late in the afternoon either, so the shade made for some good photograph possibilities for the waterfalls.

This is the first waterfall we went to, called Aspen Falls. In order to make this photo, I climbed out on a big log in the middle of the creek, then tried to set up my tripod in a sturdy position to take the photo. I’m not sure what Neal and Luke were thinking about my crazy antics, but I think my family was wondering if I’d be falling off that log into the creek. As it turned out over the course of the weekend, I realized Luke was probably more insane than myself; Neal was probably the only sane person out of the three of us.