Monthly Archives: July 2008

Equipment, Reviews

Lowepro Rover Plus AW Review Updated

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Earlier this week I realized that my review of my Lowepro Rover Plus AW pack had not been updated since I first wrote it – two years ago and after having just purchased it. Since I’ve now used this pack extensively on the trail for over two years I decided it was time to update the article.

(For those who may not know, this pack is designed for use while hiking, etc. and can carry a fair amount of photo equipment along with non-photographic gear – all of which means that I use it quite a bit for landscape and other photography done on foot.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Yosemite Falls and Glacier Point

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Yosemite Falls and Glacier Point
Yosemite Falls and Glacier Point. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Yosemite Valley and Yosemite Falls early on a hazy spring evening, with Glacier Point outcropping in the foreground. (color version – black and white version was posted yesterday.)

keywords: california, national park, Sierra Nevada, Spring, Yosemite, valley, falls, glacier point, rock, boulder, mountain, evening, afternoon, haze, tree, forest, view, meadow, mist, usa, travel, scenic, view, landscape, stock

Stories

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Mosquitos, Too.

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Just back from a few days in the slightly smoky (nothing compared to the rest of California) Yosemite high country in the Young Lakes area. At the moment I’m wading through hundreds of emails that came in while I was gone – so if you emailed me you can expect a reply before too long.

The three Young Lakes are at about 10,000′ and a one day hike in from Tuolumne Meadows in the Yosemite NP. I’ve the area quite a few times in the past, usually in late-August though about mid-October but this is the first time I’ve gotten out there in early July. I was looking forward to photographing a particular panorama of the Cathedral range from a beautiful lupine-filled high meadow where the trail crosses Dingley Creek. It was beautiful, but about a week shy of being “lupine-filled” and the brownish haze floating up from the Central Valley was not quite what I had in mind. Maybe next time!

About those mosquitos… Has anyone else noticed that the intensity of the Sierra wildflower displays is almost perfectly proportional to the density of the mosquitos? Until this trip I had three Really Awful Mosquito stories I used to tell – two from the Sierra and one from The Yukon.

Now I have four. They were awful at the lower Young Lake, which isn’t surprising considering the much of the shoreline is essentially a bog. I spent about 13 hours in my bivy sack the first evening/night to escape them, and the next morning thought I’d see if the middle and upper lakes were better. They weren’t. I finally got a bit of relief by climbing a good distance above the upper lake, but then it was time to descend.

Although photo opportunities were somewhat limited by the smoke, I’m hopeful that I’ll have a few to post from this trip before long.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Yosemite Falls and Glacier Point

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Yosemite Falls and Glacier Point

Yosemite Falls and Glacier Point. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Yosemite Valley and Yosemite Falls early on a hazy spring evening, with Glacier Point outcropping in the foreground. (black and white version – color version will be posted tomorrow.)

Note: It seems a bit ironic that this photograph would appear from the queue on the day I return from a Yosemite trip that was very much affected by the terrible wildfire smoke covering much of California right now. While this photograph depended on some haze, it sure would not have looked like this yesterday!

Double irony: As I shot this very interesting and hazy scene, there were lots of other photographers there firing away at the obvious – and not too interesting – view of Half Dome to the right. Always good to look around and see what else is there to shoot! :-)

keywords: california, national park, Sierra Nevada, Spring, Yosemite, valley, falls, glacier point, rock, boulder, mountain, evening, afternoon, haze, tree, forest, view, meadow, mist, usa, travel, scenic, view, landscape, stock, black and white