Exploring the Eastern Sierra Nevada

A day trip along a scenic highway brings rustic locations for rest, meditation, and rejuvenation.

As summer wanes into October, my husband and I take advantage of the crisp days to travel the eastern Sierra Nevada. While this scenic stretch of Highway 395 attracts visitors throughout the warm weather months, we like to explore where the autumn colors flow down canyon drainages in golden rivers. There are several places where a short hike will take us to a waterfall or a meadow of wildflowers. Warrens of back roads lead us to surprises that will never be experienced by those who whiz along the highway between L.A. and Reno.

Autumn is perfect timing for many reasons. The kids are back in school, so tourist crowds have changed from tired, whiny children to retirees plying their skills at photography or plein-air painting. Nights are brisk and days are still warm and sunny. Campgrounds are nearly empty or already closed. As official tourist season ends, a slower pace settles over the communities from Topaz Lake to Lone Pine. Only the ski resorts of June Lake and Mammoth uptick the area's heartbeat in winter. Autumn is the time to stand and gaze at the panoramas of gold.

There is a deadline, however. In the past, the leaves had been achieving "peak" colors by mid-October. During the past decade, though, drought sucked the vitality out of trees by mid-September. Leaves went from green to brown then blew away in the first solid windstorm of October. This year, patches of yellow tease the edges of a fully green tree that's not yet ready to surrender.

Today's leaf-peeping journey rewarded us with spectacular russet leaves at Conway Summit, but the line of cottonwoods pictured above hadn't even started thinking about changing its clothes. Every year has set its timer to a different weekend, if ever.

Nevertheless, the one thing that doesn't change is the mood along this corridor. Highway 395 is the back of beyond. The range is actually a fault scarp of ancient earthquake action. While the ascent to the high Sierra Nevada on the western slope is long and slow, what we see on the eastern side is abrupt and bears evidence of volcanic and glacier activity. It's scarred and rugged where the western side is blanketed with marine sediments that cover the debris blown from earth's explosive energy. Development of small towns fills up that western slope, while communities on the eastern side remain static, changing little and acting as service stops for travelers.

Thus, the Sierra Nevada provides a long, high barrier to the bustling human activity of California’s cancerous growth. Few roads offer an easy thoroughfare to cross the mountains. Most of them close during winter forcing people to seek highways accessing near Reno, or use far southerly routes near Lancaster. This dilemma actually encourages a rejuvenating, almost meditative retreat to a rustic cabin or campground.

World events disappear in the autumn haze as visitors explore hundred-year-old mining towns or the geologic wonders that created this jagged mountain range. People lose track of time. News reports fail to reach folks in the folds of the mountains. Wild flowers still bedeck alpine meadows. Fish tempt the erstwhile fisherman in crystal lakes. Curvy roads call to motorcyclists for that last wind-blown ride of the season. The shoulder season of autumn allows a quiet transition into the gloom of winter.

When people visit this margin between snowdrift and desert, political forays, wars, and stock market crashes lose their sting. Several hot springs dot the route, offering an invigorating way to wash off the dust, whether it’s from Burning Man or urban angst. It's a good time to take a closer look at colors in the "weeds" and the shapes of stones piled in erratic formations. The aroma of sage and pine cleanses the soul. Silence is so palpable that the heartbeat thrums softly behind the ear. One is tempted to just sit and stare.

Daily responsibilities, whether at the office or home, require a break to fully recharge. Even long vacations become arduous, failing to provide the rest modern people need. A simple day trip along the eastern Sierra Nevada provides places to just sit and remind us of the benefits of Silence.

Frederick shares his autumn memories, an illustration from Frederick the Mouse by Leo Lionni

That’s why I am always drawn to the eastern Sierra Nevada when the days begin to shorten and the sunlight casts a golden glow through the leaves. Winter is coming with its gray moods.  Much like little Frederick the Mouse, I need to collect that final blast of brilliant, eye-popping color to keep me warm and alive during the coming months.

All photos by Jeff and Sue Cauhape

If you enjoyed this post feel free to explore other poems, essays, and stories in the Ring Around the Basin Archive.  I also love to read your comments, so please share your thoughts. Let’s start a conversation. And if you wish to support my writings, please consider subscribing or upgrading to a paid subscription. It’s now only $50/year.

All my books, Paradise Ridge, When the Horses Come and Go, and Ghost in the Forest are currently available on Kindle. 

Ghost in the Forest, is also available in paperback for ten bucks. Paradise Ridge is out-of-print, but the Kindle version is re-edited and better quality. Hard copies of “When the Horses Come and Go” are gone unless that dusty box in the corner still has some.

Book Review of Ghost in the Forest:

E.R. Flynn, Illustrator, Cartoonist, Storyteller and Creator of "Escape from Clowntown Comics" here on Substack.

"Ghost in The Forest" is a great read! Take note People. If you love stories about environmentalism and nature, its clash with urban mindsets, as well as personal transformation, this is the book for you!

"Ghost in The Forest" is a quick 126-page read. It's the story of Dori, a woman trapped in a mix of grief over parental loss and refusing to accept how her hometown and her friends have changed over the years. Because of this, Dori has become a recluse and a self-imposed misanthrope who finds more comfort amongst the hiking trails around her hometown of Morristown than in her dealings with the raw reality of other humans.

The book, in some ways, resembled Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire” in that the story follows a protagonist's love of nature and angst about humans encroaching on it. In this case, it’s how Morristown is transforming into a mountain biking destination where cyclists run rampant on trails and nature.

However, a tragedy involving said mountain biking becomes a major pivot point for Dori, leading to a series of events that eventually bring about personal evolution and discovery.

If you're a nature lover, this book is a must-read. It beautifully portrays the clash between environmentalism and urban mindsets and the journey of personal transformation. The book's vivid descriptions of nature and the protagonist's love for it will surely intrigue you.

Paradise Ridge Review by western author D. B. Jackson:

If you draw circle roughly around an area that includes northern Nevada, southern Oregon, and southern Idaho, within that circle exists a culture and people who live a lifestyle largely untouched by modern values. These are the "buckaroos" and Basque characters author Sue Cauhape brings to life in her literary novel, "Paradise Ridge".

Leandro, the illegitimate seventh son of patriarch Xavier Arriaga and his mistress, Gisela, is at the center of this intriguing story that travels exceedingly successfully at both the personal level of the characters, as well as the compelling level where the story is told.

Cauhape writes in a literary style that reminds me of Annie Poulx. Paradise Ridge, on the surface, appears to be an upscale Western novel...once inside the pages, you will soon discover a potential classic waiting to be discovered.

I rated this book a 5...because that's all the stars there were.