Tarn between Ireland and Townsley Lakes. Yosemite National Park. August 27, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
This small tarn is located on a cross-country route* over a low ridge between Ireland and Townsley Lakes in Yosemite’s backcountry above Tuolumne Meadows. The plateau where this lake is located is one of may favorite parts of the park, and I visit it at least once each summer.
*For those wondering about the route: There is no trail between Townsley and Ireland Lakes, so you should only go here if you are comfortable with trail-less travel and have some experience with this. If you don’t, I’ll just point out that people have gotten lost and into other kinds of unfortunate trouble in places even more benign than this one. Please only regard this as a personal story and not as encouragement to travel here nor as a route guide.
That said, I often make my way to Townsley Lake from Fletcher Lake by any of the common routes and the many available variations, some of which almost look like faint trails. I like to either ascend the grassy slopes above (to the right when approaching from Fletcher) Townsley directly from the lake or else bypass the lake and head straight for the upper part of this slope. From the top of this slope a large alpine tundra area dotted by a few small tarns appears before me. I take a route that heads generally toward the left side of an apparent cone-shaped prominence on the ridge between me and Ireland Lake – there are many ways to get there and I don’t always follow the same route. Eventually I cross over some steep slabs to top out on this ridge, from which I pick out a reasonable route down to the trail coming up toward Ireland Lake from the left.
keywords: tarn, pond, townsley, fletcher, lake, ireland, mountain, ridge, meadow, rock, creek, alpine, sierra, nevada, yosemite, national park, backpack, hike, camp, cross country, landscape, scenic, stock
Lakes Below Duck Pass, Afternoon Showers. August 5, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
These lakes are perhaps a mile below Duck Pass in the Sierra near Mammoth Lakes. Duck Pass and, further on, Duck Lake is up the trail from Lake Mary. I was descending from Duck Pass after abandoning a 14-day pack trip on day 5 due to illness. (Of course, once I got out I felt fine and realized I could have continued. the longer story is posted here.)
It had rained on me at the pass a few minutes earlier and there were heavy showers to the north. Meanwhile, the sun was peeking through breaks in the clouds around the edge of the storm, and it was that light which was passing across the lakes in the foreground.
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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email
Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Flowers at Sunset. Purple Lake. August 4, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
Purple Lake is on the John Muir Trail just south of the Mammoth Lakes area. I was there on a recent pack trip with a group of friends.
Due to a late and heavy winter this year, the flowers bloomed a bit behind schedule and were at their peak while I was there. (The mosquitos were also thriving this year, but that is another story!)
Sharp-eyed observers will not be surprised that this photo is a composite of two images shot – on the tripod, of course – at different exposures. One was exposed for the bright sunset light on the peak and the other was exposed for the foreground grass and flowers. The two images were combined and tweaked in photoshop. This is my alternative to carrying the extra weight and bulk of graduated ND filters on the trail.
—–
