Brooke and I had been talking about heading up into the Sierras this Fall to take pictures of the Fall colors. Early to mid October is usually the best time to see the aspens changing in canyons and hillsides allong the Sierras from Bishop to Lee Vining. So we decided to make a couple trips up there this Fall to make sure we got some good shots. Since Brooke headed up to Washington to visit family and go recruiting for China Lake, I headed up to Mammoth to scout out some good locations and colors. We planned on heading back up the next weekend as well. Here are some of my shots from two full days of exploring and taking pictures. I managed to drag myself out of bed and get up to Minaret Vista by 6AM for some sunrise shots. I had hoped for some nice alpenglow on the Minarets. Instead I was treated to this view East towards the White Mountains. Another shot looking East from Minaret Vista. Some nice looking lenticular clouds formed to the North. After sunrise, I headed North. I made a stop at the Parker Lake Trail on the North end of the June Lake Loop. The colors were nice in some areas, but not quite peak yet. I found some nice spots along the creek to get some pictures though. After leaving Parker Lake, I headed up to Conway Summit, just north of Lee Vining. The aspens up there were really yellow, with a little green left still, and some red in a few areas. There were many large patches of color. I spent most of the day in that area. Another shot from the same area. After exploring some back roads in that area, I headed up to Virginia Lakes. There wasn't a lot of color up there, so I took the Green Creek Road back to Hwy 395 since I'd heard there was a lot of color there. The dirt road wandered down the hillside through many large groves of yellow, orange, and red aspens. I stopped to take some close-ups too. I got back to Hwy 395 with just enough time to head back down to Mono Lake for Sunset. Apparently everyone had the same idea. There were photographers eveywhere when I showed up. This was a great way to end an already perfect day of photography... I was too tired Sunday morning to get up for sunrise, so I slept in and headed back North to Lundy Canyon. I found a few interesting spots to take pictures, but really wasn't all that thrilled with the color there. I thought this little leaf looked kind of neat... A little farther up the creek I found this spot. Most of the aspens in the lower portion of the campgrounds were yellow, and made for a nice looking scene down the road. After leaving Lundy Canyon, I had intended on heading down to Bishop Creek since that was supposedly where the best color was and I really wanted some more shots of colorful aspens along the creek. As I was heading South I decided to check out Lee Vining Canyon real quick. I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon there and never made it to Bishop Creek. This was along the road that leads to the power plant at the end of the canyon. I thought the contrast of these yellow aspen leaves against the pine tree trunk looked neat. It was a bit difficult to get this shot. But after jumping onto a rock in the middle of the creek, and setting my tripod up on two rocks I managed to get it stable enough. Although, it was a balancing act to keep myself from falling backwards into the water every time I looked through the viewfinder. I was on my way out of the canyon, and thought I might make it to Bishop Creek after all. Instead I stopped here and spent a while getting shots with the red leaves. I hadn't seen too much red, so this was kind of nice. Another one in the same area. I shot a few more close-ups here too. One more close-up... I left Lee Vining Canyon at about the right time to get to the Alabama Hills for sunset. It was looking real stormy, and the Sierras and clouds above them were looking very blue. I turned up Moffet Ranch Road just North of Lone Pine and took this shot of Lone Pine Peak on my way in to the Alabama Hills. As it got darker, the clouds started to look more ominous.