High Sierra Topix

It's got leaves like an aspen, but is sort of a bush. Found it in a couple of spots going up Horse Creek last weekend.

FWIW, the aspens along Horse Creek were still majority green.

Hey C9,

First semi-educated guess- Mountain Snowberry, perhaps: Symphoricarpos vaccinoides.

Do you have a closer-up photo? Calflora is failing on that species, but my old Jepson Manual (Higher Plants of of Cal.) text has at least 3 snowberry species that could be found in that environment. The Weeden text: A Sierra Nevada Flora has: "Mountain Snowberry"- S. vaccinoides, found in: "Rocky slopes, 5000-10,5000, Fresno Co. north..." and S. rotundifolius, found in Rocky slopes, 4000-11,000 Sierra Nevada (all)." "all" meaning all parts of the Sierra. Those are the most likely species of Snowberry.
Now did you climb up something?...that great "Whorl Mt?"

Nah, I don't have a better photo, but that seems like a pretty good guess to me.

Harlen wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:46 am Now did you climb up something?...that great "Whorl Mt?"

Yeah, saw these on the approach to Whorl. Chock stone route was really cool.

Hi C9
Amelanchier utahensis is my bet. It has serrations on the outer most part of the leaf margin and turns yellow in the fall - both like your plant. At high elevations this tallish shrub may be stunted to form a ground cover.
https://calscape.org/Amelanchier-utahensis-()
CalFlora says it is found in the region of Horse Creek. Amerlanchier alnifolia is also found in that region.

matthew wrote:

Amelanchier utahensis is my bet. It has serrations on the outer most part of the leaf margin and turns yellow in the fall - both like your plant.

I reckon matthew may have this right. I figured out the greater magnification, and now can see the serrations Matthew notes. This makes serviceberry a better choice. Thanks Matthew.