Carson River Resort

River Cabin is the last of the seven on the row and the only one with a bedroom of its own: a queen behind a door, a full bed in the main room, and a wood stove that earns its keep this time of year. The building came down from Monitor Pass in the early 1900s. Nobody wrote down who moved it or when, and it has stood beside the East Fork ever since.

The covered porch looks out over the water. There is a charcoal grill on the patio and a firepit down at the river's edge, which is where most evenings end in late October. The days are short and bright, the nights are cold, and the passes are still open.

River Cabin sleeps four, takes dogs, and is open year-round. Weeknights are $250 and weekends $280, booked direct with the office at (530) 694-2229.

Monitor Pass is the road east out of the resort, up through sagebrush and aspen to 8,314 feet and down the far side to the Antelope Valley and Highway 395. From the top you can see across the valley into Nevada.

It is a summer road. Caltrans closes Highway 89 over the pass after the first real winter storm — since 2010, somewhere between the last week of November and the last week of December — and it stays closed until spring. Until then it is open, quiet, and at its best in the low light of late afternoon.

Fill up and pick up what you need at the store before you go. The resort is the last stop for services before the pass. Check road conditions before you drive, since an early storm can close it with little notice.

By late October the East Fork is at its lowest of the year. The water is clear enough to see every stone, the gravel bars are dry, and the rainbows hold in the deeper runs and along the seams.

The stretch in front of the cabins is stocked and fished under general regulations, so you can walk out the door with a rod. Below Hangman's Bridge, two minutes down the highway, the canyon water is wild and unstocked, under special regulations.

Fish the warm middle of the day, go light and small, and keep a low profile on the bank. The store has tackle and the latest word on what's working.

Hope Valley sits up Highway 88 from Woodfords, a wide meadow at about 7,000 feet with the West Fork of the Carson winding through it and aspen groves climbing the slopes on every side.

The aspens turned early this season and peaked in the first week of October. By the time you read this, many of the leaves will be down. What is left is the valley in its late-autumn colors: tan grass, white trunks, dark pines, and the first snow on the peaks behind.

It is a short drive from the resort and an easy afternoon. Bring a jacket. The wind comes down the valley cold once the sun drops behind the ridge.

The bear on this issue's cover is a black bear. In the Sierra many of them are brown or cinnamon, and visitors often take them for grizzlies. California's grizzlies have been gone for a hundred years.

In the fall, before they den up for the winter, bears spend their days eating, and they cover a lot of ground doing it. That is why you are more likely to see one along the river now than at any other time of year.

Give them room, keep food and coolers locked in your car or cabin, and never leave trash out overnight. The office can tell you what has been seen around the resort lately.