First Light Above Tenaya Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. July 23, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
The first morning light begins to light the granite domes and peaks above Tenaya Lake in the high-country of Yosemite National Park, California.
Although it is still more or less pre-dawn in the forest down around Tenaya Lake, morning is well underway above where the distant summit of Mount Conness is in full sun and the light is beginning to strike the granite ridges and domes above the lake. I’m always amazed at how few people who are in the area manage to get out and see the special beauty of dawn in the Sierra.
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You can also see it beautifully from the Vogelsang/Fletcher Lake area.
Dan
Dan, in all the times I’ve been through Yosemite, I do not ever recall actually identifying Mt. Conness from its west side; I’ve seen it numerous times from the Hoover Wilderness. Your photo fills in that gap for me. Thanks.
Lovely photo, Dan with that light. I did not know that one could see Mt. Conness from Tenaya Lake. Since Mt. Conness is 12,590 ft in elevation I guess it makes sense that it could be seen!
Did you use about a 200mm lens for that image?
I didn’t realize that it was Conness looming in the distance until this year – which is ironic since I’ve backpacked right up behind Conness on a number of occasions. You are right that it takes a long lens to get this particular image. I was using a 100-400 on a full frame body and I think I was shooting in the 300mm range. (200mm would be about right on crop, I think.)