Yes, there is still fall color out
there, and yes the weather continues to
be perfect for getting outside. But the
time has come to turn our attention to
the upcoming holiday season – and
helping out you folks in search of
silvertips!
So, today we begin our transition from
“Awesome Autumn” back to “Plumas
Buzz” – the year-round blog that
fills you in on interesting stories and
insider travel tips to Plumas County.
We want to THANK all the leaf-peeper
reporters – some 87 of you
– who contributed to this leaf-peeper
report, our
10th Annual. The Plumas County
Visitors Bureau was honored with an
industry award from the Western
Association of Convention and Visitors
Bureaus this year for this leaf-peeper
blog and the promotion!
We welcomed 352 visitors at our
center during October, answered 183
fall color phone calls and posted
over 100 photos. And seven fall
foliage bus tours came through the
county this year.
On
Halloween, we ran into this
leaf-peeper in costume – but Eva
Small tells us she was actually a “dryad.”
In Greek mythology, that’s a female
spirit of nature (nymph) that inhabits
the forest, or a tree, specifically an
oak. Dryads watch over trees and protect
them – they even punish a thoughtless
mortal that would try to harm a tree.
Well, we are so happy to know the nymphs
are protecting the deciduous forest –
but we hope they’re not among the
evergreens because we’re now into
Christmas tree-cutting season!
Thanks again to Mother Nature for
putting on such a wonderful fall
color show once again! We’ll see you
back for leaf-peeping tips in September!
November 2, 2007
For
those who want to come up this weekend
to catch some fall color you’re going to
have to work a little harder. We got a
call yesterday asking about aspen color
so after some research this is
what we found out - Bucks Lake
area is pretty much done but still some
nice color near Lake Davis. The
oaks are a bit more brown than
orange, but some great yellow
cottonwoods and willows along the
creek beds. Walking from the Visitors
Center in Quincy toward Spanish
Creek and then over the walking
bridge (above) is still pretty
colorful. We’re past the peak but the
weather is great and you can’t beat the
beautiful meadows surrounded by high
peaks throughout Plumas County.
We’re getting ready to turn our
attention to all that stuff that piled
up while we were focusing on those fun
leaf-peeper reports. We should be
thankful that leaf-peeping has a beginn
ing
and an end. Meet Karen, Suzi
(left ) and Ellie (right)
who made sure that you got up- to-date
reports
with the best photos we could
get for the past 37 days. Believe
it or not, Suzi, the Visitor Center
Director (in the brown jacket) has
been doing this for 10 years in a row!
Let
us know what you thought of the
reports. Were they helpful for finding
good leaf peeping spots? We’ll be doing
one more report on Monday to finalize
the leaf peeping season so stay tuned.
Ecotour:
A
little off the subject of leaf peeping
but the watershed restoration project in
our office, Feather River Coordinated
Resource Management, is offering a
fall tour to see “Watershed
Restoration In Action” on November 7
(Wednesday). You’ll visit three project
areas within the Middle Fork Feather
River Watershed. If you’d like more
information and/or want to sign up
contact Gia Martynn at (530) 283-3739 by
November 5th. You may
remember that Gia was the one who
bravely removed the snake from our
office.
There
should be some fall colors as an added
benefit of the tour.
November 1, 2007
Okay, Halloween’s over, and Thanksgiving
is just around the corner. The leaves
are still hanging on and now it’s time
to turn our attention to the green
conifers! Yes, believe it or not, today
marks the start of the
Christmas tree cutting season.
If you are out leaf-peeping in the woods
this weekend, keep your eyes out for
that perfect holiday tree as well. All
you’ll need is a permit and a saw and
you’ll have a great start on the holiday
rush. Permits are $10 each and you’re
allowed two trees per household. A map
of the cutting areas is included. If
it’s way too early for you to get into
the holiday spirit, don’t worry. The
permits will be on sale through December
24. You can pick up a permit here, at
the Visitors Bureau office in Quincy,
or at several other locations throughout
the county. It has
been getting colder here every day, so
be sure to layer your clothing and
bundle up. Check out the weather
forecast on our
website.
The holiday season will soon be upon us
and there will be a myriad of craft
fairs and events all over the county
that you won’t want to miss. The first
big shopping event will be this weekend
in Crescent Mills and Greenville.
You can go to our
website
to see what is happening, or you can
call or email us to request a copy of
our Winter Holiday Events 2007
brochure that lists each activity by
city.
We had lots of faraway leaf-peepers
in on Tuesday to take in what ended up
being a beautiful day! The
"farthest-traveled" leaf-peeper award
certainly must go to Lauren and John
Woodward, of Naples, Florida. The
couple, originally from Chicago area,
make annual visits to the Lake Tahoe
area. Some folks in Tahoe told them
about Plumas foliage, and they even
ordered a leaf-peeper sign to put on
their rental car! Here they
are (leaf-peeper kit in hand), headed
out to visit the town, and check out
late foliage spots and train
attractions.
Another
couple were in from Los Angeles, who had
heard about our fall colors from an
article in the Korea Daily, a
Korean-language newspaper that's
distributed nationwide. They were kind
enough to bring in the article and
translate for us!
Finally
some photos of the of the Feather
River Canyon taken last weekend by
Tony Mindling. Fall is
not over yet.
October 31, 2007
Hsssssss!!!!!!!!!!
“Take the candy if you dare!”
says the racer snake. Guess who brought
us this ferocious critter? Our great
hunter cat, Baloo, proudly
brought the snake into the office last
week unhurt. Karen, a little squeamish
about snakes, wasn’t quite sure how to
get it out of the office as it was
coiled up on the floor not moving. She
didn’t want the next visitor through the
door to be greeted by the snake. We
promote a natural environment in Plumas
County but that woul
d
be a bit too much for most visitors.
But to the
rescue came Gia, from the
watershed restoration group in our
office, who happily picked up the little
guy. We couldn’t pass up the photo
opportunity of a snake in our candy
bowl. By the way it was a happy ending
– the snake slithered away when Gia
released it near Spanish Creek.
BOO! Happy Halloween!
Downtown Quincy, Portola, Chester,
and Graeagle will be filled with
little ghosts and goblins going door to
door during the merchants Safe Trick or
Treat this afternoon. Kids (and
even some parents) will be decked out in
their best Halloween finery charming and
scaring the merchants for a sweet treat!
October 30, 2007
One
thing
about the weather and scenery up here –
it’s always changing. This weekend
we had a full moon, some sun, clouds and
I heard that in the east near
Graeagle thunder was roaring
.
Richard McCutcheon, our very
important
leaf- peeper did get us a photo of the
full moon with some
fall color near Taylorsville.
He also captured (right) the brief but
ferocious thunderstorm that hit us on
Monday afternoon. Richard: “Wow we
just got plastered with hail and hard
rain, sound like a war around here for
awhile. The thunder was loud.”
Tony
Mindling was back with some
terrific shots of Indian Valley
with some happy folks who attended t
he
Dawn Institute Apple Fest. By the way
the apple trees in Plumas County
are loaded with all types of apples this
year: green and red. They all seem to
be delicious - walking down the streets
in Quincy you can taste several
varieties.
Joe Willis: (photo to the
right) “Here are my last
submissions,
most likely, for the fall.
Indian Creek by Dog Rock with a few
Indian rhubarb showing.”
A new leaf-peeper, Ram Kowshika, made a
day trip out of it from San Jose through
the Feather River Canyon to Quincy and
back to San Jose. Wow, that’s a lot of
driving. He posted some photos and
description of his
trip.
Halloween is almost here so bring the
kids for some small town treating.
We have a pretty scary photo for
Halloween so view at your own risk on
October 31.
October 29, 2007
The
Black Cottonwoods and willows are
turning on an incredible finale to
the fall foliage! While the rest of
the species are basically past peak,
these bright yellow flashes of color are
like the exciting, impressive bursts
that provide a climatic ending to a
fourth of July fireworks show.
Right now, a hot spot is on Hwy. 70,
between Graeagle and Quincy, mostly
along the Middle Fork Feather River
and its tributaries. Suzi Brakken
took a drive up Squirrel Creek road,
that leads to Arlington Lookout.
The yellow species are leading the
race, but the oaks also look
good, she says. Another great spot for
color is the newly-opened Massack
Rest Area -- be sure to get there
before it closes for winter! Other great
viewing areas are along the train tracks
at Spring Garden, and along
Old Mill Pond Road just outside of
Cromberg.
Lots of Halloween parties over
the weekend, and the kiddies are getting
psyched for the merchant trick-or-treat
events happening on Wednesday throughout
Plumas County communities! Here's
Emma as an Indian princess and
Sam the soccer player enjoying some
fallen leaves at a Halloween party
outside of Quincy.
October 27, 2007
Today,
Plumas County welcomed the last of SEVEN
fall foliage bus tours that have come
through during the past month.
Travel clubs
and
tours came from
Sacramento, Stockton, Davis and
Placerville to witness the foliage along
scenic routes. Most tours made a
stopover in Quincy to tour the popular
Plumas County Museum, shop and
have lunch. Some of the groups also got
a tour
of the majestic, four-story Plumas
County Courthouse, built in 1921,
the courthouse is adorned with liquid
ambers, some of which are still at peak.
DID YOU KNOW? The California Tour and
Travel Commission sent photographers
to Plumas County this week to shoot HD
video footage of fall foliage in Indian
Valley and the Feather River Canyon.
The footage will be added to the state's
Video Footage Library, which will be
distributed to television media and used
on the commission's website.
Carol from Oceanside called
Friday morning bright and early to get
the best route to Plumas County from the
San Diego area. After ensuring that her
house was safe from the fires she
decided to head north with her daughter
for some fresh air and fall foliage. She
usually goes to the East Coast for fall
colors but with the fire and all didn’t
make it this year. They were leaving
this morning going by way of Reno and
395 North turning off at Highway 70
towards Portola and Quincy.
Everybody
needs some time away from the
responsibilities of life. Meet Bill
and Chris Woodbridge, brothers from Half
Moon Bay, who took a few days off
from their families for fishing, off
road driving, and camping with no real
plans. Bill: “We didn’t realize it was
so beautiful here – great fall colors.
It’s great because we don’t care if we
get lost or if we don’t camp until dark
like last night at Berry Creek (off
Oroville – Quincy Highway). No one along
to complain about it being too cold.”
Challenge for
photographers:
Can you take a
dynamite photo of fall colors with the
full moon this weekend? Our prize will
be a posting of the best photo on our
leaf peeper reports and we might even
put up more than one. If it's
great we'll offer to buy it.
October 26, 2007
Plumas County
has been blessed with excellent weather
all week, and this weekend will be
spectacular as well! If you still
haven't had a chance to witness the
dazzling foliage here yet, this weekend
and into early next week may be your
last opportunity for the year. We're
starting to fade in parts of the county,
although things are still holding well
in Indian Valley and along lower
elevation creeks and rivers, including
the Feather River Canyon.
Ingrid
Kollmann of Brownsville and her
companion Bernd Schroder popped
in again to recommend Hwy. 49 as
a good route to/from Plumas County,
through Nevada City, Downieville and
Sierra City
.
Ingrid got these shots (left and right)
along that route. Said Bernd: "There is
such nice stuff on the lower portions of
Hwy. 49. Several canopies cover the road
for a turn or two." The pair of
leaf-peepers made several stops along
Hwy. 70 in towards Quincy, and ended up
in front of a local California Highway
Patrolman several times as he was
setting up speed traps. But they weren't
worried. Bernd said the patrolman was
laughing and smiling because of the sign they had in their rear window:
"Plumas
County Leaf-Peeper, Makes Frequent Stops."
Serious leaf-peepers know the value of
that sign!
We
haven't had a recent report from
Frenchman Lake/Little Last Chance Creek
Canyon, but it appears to be
raging in this photo (left) taken by
Plumas County Museum Director Scott
Lawson. Scott lead a bus tour of
ranches in the Sierra Valley, and
that wall of color shows the road to
Frenchman Lake. Scott prefers taking
photos of historic things, like this old
barn near Beckwourth (below), and
the stamp mill he found west of Bucks
Lake (right), but fortunately
this time of year he manages to include
fall color in his images!
Richard McCutcheon from
Taylorsville
also
had a report and photo (left) from
Last Chance Creek: "The willow is
so pretty along the creek."
Check out this sign
on a Quincy business! This unique
local store is called Lawrence and
Bradley (coincidentally located at
the intersection of those streets in
downtown Quincy), and that's shopkeeper
Tiffany out front. Tiffany says
she's had lots of leaf-peepers in
checking out her unique gifts and
gadgets!
October 25, 2007
Fall colors and events galore this
weekend!!
Why Leaves Change? According to
an Indian legend, celestial hunters slew
the Great Bear in the autumn, and his
blood, dripping on the forests, changed
many leaves to red. Other trees were
turned yellow by the fat that splattered
out of the kettle as the hunters cooked
the meat. Now we know that the change is
the result of chemical processes but
that’s not quite as colorful.
You
can’t beat fall biking in the
crisp air. Plumas County offers paved
country roads plus miles of decent dirt
roads for mountain biking. Karen
Kleven recently did some easy
mountain biking with great vistas on
Mt. Hough Road near Quincy.
Lots of oak in this area and
you’ll even come across a pretty
waterfall if you take a left at Four
Corners (off of Mt. Hough Road).
Tony Mindling, our newest
photographer for the Indian Valley
area, caught some folks biking on
the North Valley Road. You can find some
wonderful bike routes in the Indian
Valley area, including North
Arm and Genesee Valley area.
Halloween Parties everywhere!!
You can
choose among four and maybe more
Halloween Parties throughout the county
this Saturday, Oct. 27. Don’t miss the
haunted house near Portola off of A-15.
For the faint of heart or young kids go
before 7:30 pm on Saturday or Halloween
night, but for those who really
like a good scare go later. For more
details check out
Fall
Events.
Apple
Pressing Party at the Dawn Institute:
Bring the family Sunday for the
annual Apple Fest – music, potluck, kids
crafts, apple pressing. If you have an
abundant apple crop bring your apples to
dump into the presses. A fun local event
open to all – share some Plumas County
culture. It starts at noon going until
dark and can be reached by heading on
Highway 89 going north towards
Greenville turning left at the Indian
Falls town sign. Hopefully there
will be a sign on the main road making
it easy to find.
UPS pilot Joey Andersen of Loomis
provided this stunning aerial photo
of yellow and orange over Beckwourth
area. Joey flies a Cessna 404 daily
from Sacramento to Reno to Susanville,
Quincy, Chico and finally, back to
Sacramento! Lucky for him, there’s some
beautiful scenery on his route.
A report from Scott Lawson,
Director of the Plumas County Museum:
“The main Bucks Lake Road is
looking good. Oranges and reds with
oaks, maples, and willows.
October 24, 2007
The fall colors
are far from over in Plumas County! We have reports and
photos from throughout the County.
Toni
Morris from Portola: "For the
Smith Peak viewing on the left, go
3.8 miles up West Street from route 70.
For the view below take dirt road
across the street from sign “Lake Davis
Recreation area” and park and walk
northwest. The higher you go, the better
views of Beckwourth and distant peaks,
“P” hill, and small clumps of aspen
sprinkled in the distant hills.
Joe Willis: "The hike I guided for
Trails for Plumas last Saturday was
delightful. The weather broke from the
previous night's storm, and, although
more leaves were on the ground, more had
new color and many had photogenic dew
drops on them. Several visitors
suggested you do a spring wildflowers
theme as flowers begin to emerge in the
lower canyon." Joe sent us a photo
from his trip in the Big Thompson Creek
canyon off the Quincy-La Porte Road.
More on Indian
Valley: Check out Tony Mindling’s
extraordinary
slide show of fall in Indian Valley
with music.
Don’t forget
Chester near Lake Almanor as there
is some great color on the North Fork
of the Feather River. The photo
below, taken by M. Kate West, is found
on the corner of Feather River Drive and
Wagon Road in Chester. Thanks to Feather
Publishing for permission to use
the photo.
October 23, 2007
This is the week for oaks!
What appears to be unusual this year
is that the oaks are ahead of even
willow and cottonwoods, especially
around the Quincy area and Indian
Valley.
Suzi Brakken got these shots
along Chandler Road (upper right),
where oaks are going, yet there's
still plenty of time for the mighty
cottonwood and willows that grow
along Spanish Creek. Indian Rhubarb
also appears to be past peak on this
route. Brakken found some of the
best color by heading out to Feather
River College (upper left) , just
west of Quincy off Hwy. 70.
But
it’s not just about the oaks!
Aspen are still at peak over
in Eastern Plumas, and
Toni Morris of Portola sent over
these shots of quaking aspen stands
along West Street that heads north
toward Lake Davis. Says
Toni: You’ll
start seeing aspens, poplars, and
willows just after the “Wildlife
Viewing area” sign; the dramatic
stands of aspen are at about 3.5-3.8
miles north of Hwy.70.
Tony Mindling also shot some
aspen last weekend near
Bucks Lake (take the Big Creek
Road which flows into the Oroville –
Quincy Highway).
Toni Morris also sent
in these photos of bushes in
front of Portola’s Bank of
America building on Hwy.
70:. The burning bush
to the left is probably
euonymus alatus.”
Photographer Tony Mindling got this
great shot near Genesee over the
weekend. "While I was photographing
the rustic cabin, a woman came out
to jog her two dogs down the road.
The older one decided to pass on the
jog, and when I came back that way
he was still waiting in the road for
their return."
Bonnie Epstein of Danville
dropped in to say the Feather
River Canyon route from Oroville
to Quincy was just spectacular!
“It’s a beautiful road anyway, but
it was just like, WHOA!,” Epstein
reported. And that’s high praise,
considering she’s a native of
Connecticut!
Also reporting on color seen from a
plane was Chris O’Neill and Rusty
Stodtmeister, two guys from Reno
who just flew into Quincy to have
lunch. “There was some very bright
orange at the top of some of the
peaks,” pilot Chris said. “And some
yellows and light browns coming in
at the opening of a valley. You can
tell where the temperature changes.”
They flew in for the “$100 dollar
hamburger” as pilots call their
jaunts to get a bite to eat.
October 22, 2007
It was a beautiful weekend to be
in Plumas County!
The
storm blew through on Friday but
Saturday and Sunday heralded in that
clear crisp blue October sky. Even
better for those who are heading up
this way – the weather should be
blue sky and sunny through the
weekend with a few clouds starting
on Thursday but no rain projected.
Those big billowy clouds can add to
the fall feel. We invite you to
come up in the next two weeks so you
don’t miss the show as the leaves
won’t wait.
We have so many leaf peeper reports
from the weekend that we’ll have to
save some for tomorrow.
Thank you leaf peepers for your
photos and reports because we
couldn’t do it without you! The
photos today are extraordinary so if
you can’t make it up this year you
can enjoy our awesome autumn
vicariously.
Photographer
Tony Mindling from Cool,
California : "I ran into Richard
McCutcheon near Taylorsville while I
was photographing about sunrise this
Sunday who suggested I send you a
few pictures. I spent the morning in
Indian Valley (north arm - photos to
left and right), then got over to
Genesee Valley in the afternoon (top
left photo). The oaks were at
their peak, with the cottonwoods
coming on
strong.
Thanks for the great website, it
probably clinched my decision to
head up there this weekend. "
Elaine up at the Caribou Crossroads
Café called in to tell us that the
colors along
the Feather River Canyon are
spectacular right now! She said
that the drive along Highway 70
through the canyon looks just like
New England to her. Said Elaine:
"The bright yellows and golds are
just gorgeous as you look into the
valley!" By the way, Elaine
says if you decide to take this
wonderful drive, stop in at the
Caribou Café for a great meal,
wonderful company and great
leaf-peeping tips!
"I just love
Plumas County for the
fall colors. I took a long ride via,
Hwy. 80 to 49 to 89 to Truckee and
then back to Sacramento. It was
raining up on hwy 49 (hard to see
the fall colors but they were out
there) but when I got to Plumas
County with blue in the sky with a
few clouds, it was absolutely
beautiful. I continue to like the
Indian Creek County section (after
driving through Graeagle, Quincy),
always beautiful. I agree with you
the La Porte Road was nice (worth
the drive). I did feel adventurous
I took a road (not paved) with a
steep canyon. I don’t have my notes
on me but it was something like
Devil’s ….. with numbers 1, 2 , 3,
4, etc. on the trees. Thank you for
suggesting Chandler Road. It was so
pleasant, I am planning on doing
this again this coming Sunday. "
Mary Martin from Sacramento
“My husband and I celebrated our
anniversary in Quincy and enjoyed a
hike to Indian Falls. This
photo was taken of the beautiful
foliage and Indian Creek on October
13. We vacation in the Indian
Valley in the summer and are now
looking forward to an autumn trip as
well.”
Bonny Martignoni, Atlas Peak
Photography, Napa County
