Seasonal Nature Report: Week of November 10

Fall colors near Merced have moved down to the valley floor this week: Merced County's walnut orchards are turning gold-orange, Yosemite Valley is still showing strong color but past its peak, sandhill cranes are at their November peak at Merced National Wildlife Refuge, and fall-run Chinook salmon are still spawning at the Snelling hatchery. If you want to see the season at its best, the next week or two are the window, before the first heavy storms strip the leaves.

This is the sixth weekly Seasonal Nature Report for Merced County and the nearby Sierra foothills, published every week through the fall color and spring bloom seasons. Each report covers what is happening in nature right now, where to see it best, and honest notes on what has not started or has finished. For more ways to enjoy the week close to home, see the weekend guide for November 13 to 15, and catch up on last week's nature report for the week of November 3 for the season's full arc so far.

Fall Colors Near Merced: The Walnut Orchards Are Gold This Week

November is the Central Valley's month for fall color, and this week is the peak of the orchard show closest to home. California Fall Color, the state's regional foliage report, calls the late-season walnut orchards "one of California's most gilded displays of fall color": the deciduous walnut trees turn orange, red, and gold in late fall and carpet the orchard floor with leaves, while pistachio blocks in the southern part of the county turn brick red. Cottonwoods still glow yellow along the county's rivers, and the same reporting flags the wildlife refuges themselves as November color stops, so the cranes and the color come together.

This week: the Highway 59 orchard drive from Merced through Snelling

The Highway 59 corridor north from Merced through Snelling toward La Grange is the commonly cited orchard-lined scenic drive around Merced, running through miles of walnut country with the Merced River crossing near Snelling. The Merced County Countryside Loop, a roughly 43-mile loop that starts near the La Grange Road junction, is a favorite in fall for the same farmland and orchard vistas. If you are heading south instead, the pistachio blocks around Chowchilla turn a striking red in November. Mid-afternoon light, when the low sun rakes through the rows, shows the color best, and the drives are all on public roads with no fees.

Still going up high: Yosemite Valley past peak, but strong

For the mountain version, this is the season's last clean window. California Fall Color's November 6 report was titled "Yosemite Still the Place to Be. GO NOW!," and color spotters who drove in via Highway 140 through Mariposa called the Merced River canyon "fabulous" as of this week. The National Park Service's fall color page notes the Yosemite season runs from mid-October through Thanksgiving, with some valley areas already past their peak and the show vulnerable to the first heavy storm stripping the leaves. The classic short loop is the Merced River corridor from Sentinel Bridge to Cook's Meadow for the maples' yellows and the oaks' gold against the granite, with Tunnel View for the wide view and Mirror Lake for the last of the dogwoods. The valley is about a 1.5 to 2 hour drive from Merced via the Highway 140 route through the foothill towns of Mariposa and Catheys Valley.

First Frost and Snow Watch: The Valley's Frost Season Arrives

Merced County's valley floor is entering its average first-frost window right now. Using 1991-2020 climate normals, Merced has about a 50% chance of its first 32-degree freeze by November 16 and an 80% chance by late November, so frost advisories become routine on clear calm nights this week. Tule fog season, which officially runs November 1 through March across the valley, is also underway, so give yourself extra time on the morning drives to the refuge and the orchards.

Up in the foothills, no snow has fallen yet this season around Mariposa or Catheys Valley: both towns have recorded zero season-to-date snowfall, and the snow level this week is forecast well above 6,000 feet, so any precipitation falls as rain at foothill elevations. The story is different in the Yosemite high country: Tioga Road (SR 120) has been closed from Crane Flat through the park's high country since November 2, the start of the seasonal closure that typically runs through May or early June. Highway 140 from Merced stays open all winter as the all-weather route; Caltrans reported no restrictions on the corridor this week with no chain controls in effect, though chains can be required above the foothills during storms.

Bird Migration Watch: Cranes at Their November Peak

This is the peak week for sandhill cranes at Merced National Wildlife Refuge. Cranes are abundant on the refuge from September through March, and November is the peak month of the autumn build: the refuge can hold 15,000 to 20,000 lesser sandhill cranes through the month, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notes more than 15,000 gather by Thanksgiving. Ross's and white-fronted geese are arriving now, wintering ducks are building toward their peak, and the seasonal wetlands are fully flooded. The refuge hosts the largest wintering concentration of lesser sandhill cranes and Ross's geese on the Pacific Flyway.

The best place to see them is the refuge's free 5-mile auto tour route, entered at 7430 West Sandy Mush Road, Merced, CA 95341, about 15 miles southwest of Merced off State Highway 59. The one-way gravel route is open year-round, free, and runs from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset daily, with two elevated observation platforms. Early morning and late afternoon are the prime times, when cranes fly between roosting and feeding areas. Stay in your vehicle on the tour route, and bring binoculars. For the full lowdown on the refuge, see the Trail or Park of the Week feature on Merced National Wildlife Refuge.

A second option about a 40-minute drive southwest of Merced is San Luis National Wildlife Refuge near Los Banos, at 7376 South Wolfsen Road. Its wetlands are fully flooded in November, sandhill cranes are abundant, and the 8.5-mile Waterfowl Auto Tour Route plus the 5-mile Tule Elk route are open daily from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset with no fees.

Salmon Run: Peak Spawning on the Lower Merced River

The fall-run Chinook run on the lower Merced River is peaking right now. Spawning runs from roughly early October through December and peaks in November, and river-monitoring groups confirm wild Chinook are actively spawning in the Merced, Tuolumne, and Stanislaus rivers this month. California Department of Fish and Wildlife operates the run's public viewing at the Merced River Hatchery below Crocker-Huffman Dam, the upstream limit of the run. Use extra caution near the river during pulse-flow releases from the upstream dams, when water levels rise on short notice.

The prime spot is the Merced River Hatchery at 4998 Robinson Road, Snelling, about 20 miles east of Merced, where the fish ladder is open to the public and the hatchery welcomes visitors daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Note that the facility is off the main roads and can be tricky to find, so calling ahead (209-563-6410) is a good idea. Spawning fish are best watched below Crocker-Huffman Dam, which marks the upstream limit of the run, so head for the hatchery rather than the reservoirs up at McSwain and Lake McClure.

Not Yet / Done: What Hasn't Started or Has Finished This Week

A few seasonal phenomena are either still ahead of us or already past, and it helps to know the timing so you do not plan a trip around the wrong week:

• Done: the high-elevation drive season and the foothill bloom. The golden aspens along Tioga Road peaked in late September and early October, and with Tioga Road closed from Crane Flat for the season, the high-country color is behind us until spring. The foothill Gold Country is largely past its peak now; this week's color story is the valley floor's orchards and Yosemite Valley's holding color.
• Peaking now: walnut and pistachio orchard color on the valley floor, sandhill cranes at the refuge, and the fall-run Chinook salmon on the lower Merced River. Yosemite Valley is still strong but past its peak and could drop leaves with the first heavy storm.
• Just getting going: monarch butterflies. Mid-November is when western monarch clusters form on the California coast, and the peak viewing window runs from mid-November through December at sites like Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz and the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary, about a two-hour drive from Merced.
• Not yet: foothill snow. Mariposa and Catheys Valley have seen no snow this season, and snow levels this week are forecast well above 6,000 feet. Valley frost, by contrast, is arriving right on its average schedule this week.
• Later: spring blooms. Wildflower and blossom season returns in March through May. The Seasonal Nature Report will cover it then.

Enjoy the season, Merced. The orchards are gold, the cranes are massing on the wetlands, and the salmon are running in the river. And when you are ready to talk about your home, Monica is here, whether you are selling now or planning for the new year. Learn more about Monica's approach on her about page, and find the whole archive of guides on the blog.