Cascade, Detail. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
An alpine Sierra Nevada stream rushes over rocks and boulders.
These little cascades are among the most characteristic features of the Sierra Nevada high country — that region close to and above the treelike dominated by open views, rocky terrain, and (during the summer) the water from melting snow. Such streams range from barely-flowing rivulets to features large enough to qualify as creeks — but they are all rather small at these elevations, and they often take circuitous routes across the alpine landscape. Their scale invites close inspection, perhaps hoping across on rocks, stopping to admire plants and flowers on their fringes, and pausing to take in their sound.
This stream could be almost anywhere in the Sierra high country, but in this case it was perhaps less than five minutes walk from where we base-camped for a week of photography near the end of August and the beginning of September. We established a camp with water on all sides — a lake wrapping around us to the south and west, and flowing water in the remaining directions. As I write this in December, I’m thinking about how much different this landscape looks right now!
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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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