California: Leaves popping with color at Idyllwild and Lake Hemet
With Halloween today and the Day of the Dead starting Saturday, there may be little time for a leaf-peeping trip. Fortunately, some of the best color this weekend isn’t so far away. Lake Hemet and Idyllwild are reportedly at peak or a little past -- and they’re within a day drive of Los Angeles.
“Fall has been more like a scalding summer, but signs abound that the seasons finally changed this week,” Bob Pratte of the Riverside Press-Enterprise wrote Thursday. Oaks and cottonwoods have turned yellow, and the San Jacinto Mountains seem to have turned all at once, his sources reported. Good place to see the trees: Drive to the town and head north on Highway 243.
Farther south, Lake Hemet off Highway 74, which has low water levels because of the drought, has “intense fall color” right now that’s expected to last for the next few weeks, CaliforniaFallColor.com reported.
The website also said that the L.A. County Arboretum in Arcadia is starting to show color too. It’s about a third of the way to peak, it said, but too early to say how the rest of the season will go.
Still, the garden has scheduled Fall Foliage Tram Tours on Nov. 22. Tickets cost $14 per person, which includes general admission. Call (626) 821-4623 to reserve a spot.
Other places in California on the “go now” list: Greenville, La Porte and Quincy in Plumas County; Susanville in Lassen County and the Mt. Shasta area in Siskiyou County. The show’s pretty much over in the Eastern Sierra, but it’s almost ski season anyway.
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