One Of California's Top Destinations For Fall Foliage Is A Dreamy Forest Of Golden Aspens And Alpine Trails

That eastern side of the Sierra Nevada is something special. Hot springs and desertscapes dot the 395 Highway as it skirts up the edge of the Cali-Nevada border, weaving between the 14,494-foot summit of Mount Whitney and the phalanx of the White Mountains to the east. It's breathtaking stuff, arguably never more so than in fall, when the colors begin to change and the light draws in. In fact, one corner of the region is regularly hailed as one of the top places in the state — and even the whole country — for lovers of all things orange and yellow leaves: the Inyo National Forest.

This vast stretch of protected area spreads out on both sides of the Owens Valley, dashing for 165 miles from north to south through everything from lakes and woodlands to desert and glaciers. Many agree that it flaunts top-notch autumn displays in the weeks following the September equinox, giving a show that's unlike anywhere else around. It's unique here because you won't be looking at a sea of color. The mountains loom above, lakes glint below, and the trees do their thing in little pockets here and there.

The hip, high-desert Californian city of Bishop is the largest town in the region and makes a perfect base camp. To get there, you're looking at driving times of over four hours from Los Angeles, or nearer to six hours from San Francisco. These days, it's possible to jet right into Bishop's Eastern Sierra Regional Airport (BIH), which now hosts arrivals from both San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Denver International Airport (DEN). Other than that, the closest major international airport is in Reno, located three and a half hours' drive to the north.

Go snooping for local recommendations on the top leaf-peeping spots in Inyo County, and you're likely to get recommendation after recommendation for Bishop Creek Canyon. It's under 30 minutes' drive from the town of Bishop itself, where it splits into three legs, each occupied by its own creeks and lakes that all have their own unique form of fall foliage viewing.

In one part, the area around North Lake gives a glimpse of what autumn is like in the High Sierra. That means craggy granite summits like Mount Emerson towering over dashes of aspens that turn a gorgeous shade of saffron yellow. In another part, you can find South Lake, where even the road in showcases a montage of trees in all sorts of vivid colors.

Bishop Creek isn't just about forests that burst with yellow and orange for one part of the year. This canyon hosts some of the state's most stunning secret campgrounds, which sit beside Bishop Creek under stands of quaking aspens. It's also the gateway to the epic high-alpine hiking that awaits in the John Muir Wilderness, which could be at its prettiest in the fall. Come to hit the Bishop Creek Trail to join with the Pacific Crest Trail if you want to set foot on one of America's most legendary paths for just a day.

There's something in the geography and topography of the Eastern Sierra that helps to make this corner of the Golden State such a doozy for leaf lovers. What you get here is different to what you get in the seemingly endless sweeps of forest over in Maine, Vermont, and all the other top U.S. destinations to see fall foliage.

The main difference is that this isn't blink-and-you'll-miss-it sort of stuff. While hotspots in New England have a window of two full weeks — if that — to catch the prime displays, the forests of Inyo County can do their thing for months and months on end. You've got the Sierra Nevada to thank for that. They spread the woodlands over a huge variety of altitude zones. And since fall colors tend to migrate from high to low elevations, autumn hits the region's higher reaches earlier before cascading slowly down to the valley floor, meaning you'll always have some beautiful fall colors to see in the Sierras.

And then there's the simple beauty of the scenery offered by the peaks and summits, valleys, and hiking paths. Just imagine being able to see auburn-tinged woodlands as you take the trail up to the jagged tops of Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous U.S. That's only doable here in Inyo!