It doesn’t spell the thrill of first-nighting, but an October hike by Pacoima Creek offers a paint-box of California fall colors. We do have seasons here, and they can be dramatic, but like most Easterners, I had to learn to appreciate these dry but diverse and teeming landscapes. It took me years to see “all that brown” as surging with life-forms that are perfectly fit for their eco-system (Alluvial Fan Foothill Chaparral, I think, classifies this habitat.)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11KI3fS1kbBjYobLvRT3-5aZHiAeWnCoN/view?usp=sharing
Remember our visit last spring: the creek was rushing, and the valley was green and full of lupines and wildflowers. (Click the link above for awesome footage of the Mighty Pacoima.)
Today the valley floor is streaked with rust-red buckwheat, slowly ripening to burnished orange-brown. The hills are brown and tan and olive and sage. The bunch grasses glow green-gold against the gray dust, and the broom is tipped with yellow and puffing out white. The huge papery leaves of the sycamores are just beginning to blaze yellow. Enjoy the View!
Beautiful buckwheat 
I caught a hummingbird — top right.
The bush mallow is still going strong.
The Valley Village View 