Evening and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake

September 5, 2008 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening along the tree-lined shore of Moraine Lake in Sequoia National Park, California.

Moraine Lake is located on the Chagoopa Plateau in the Sierra Nevada backcountry of Sequoia National Park, between Big Arroyo and the deep trench of Kern Canyon. Aside from being a bit windy when I’ve been there, it is a very peaceful spot – and a good warm place (relatively speaking) to swim. No surprise given its name, the opposite shore is formed by a lateral moraine that must have come from a glacier traveling down Big Arroyo, and there are lots of rocks everywhere. In fact, along the near shoreline they form a couple of little peninsulas that enclose shallows cut off from the main lake and which support a few trees like those in this photograph.

Most recently I was here in in early August of 2008, when I and a group of friends camped for a night on our trip from Crescent Meadow to Whitney Portal via the High Sierra Trail. Technically (OK, literally), Moraine Lake is not “on” the High Sierra Trail, being instead on a lateral loop that leaves the HS Trail on the Chagoopa Plateau to drop down to the lake, and which then continues to the loop to rejoin a few miles later. Oddly, it seems to me that most people who hike through here probably do take the alternative route past Moraine, with the exception of some hard-core hikers who walk far enough in a day to not need to camp on the Plateau.

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Commentary, Locations

Sierra Time Starts Now

September 4, 2008 G Dan Mitchell 17 Comments

In many ways the best time to visit the Sierra Nevada starts right about now.

The period after the Labor Day Holiday brings wonderful changes to the Sierra. The number of visitors decreases tremendously, and this trend continues through mid-October. The mosquitos – including those who drove me mad at Young Lakes in July! – have virtually disappeared. Almost all of the lush green growth and wildflowers of a month or two ago have gone now – except in a few in wet area – they has been replaced by the beautiful tan, brown, yellow, red, and golden colors of the late season, and these will very soon be augmented by the astonishing colors of the aspens and other fall foliage. The hottest days are behind us, and most days are sunny and comfortable with softer light. The occasional dusting of snow on the peaks reminds us of how close the Sierra winter is.

It is hard to put my finger on precisely the cause, but I always have a feeling that everything relaxes and slows during this period between the end of the summer growth season and the coming of winter. It seems quieter and more peaceful, as if the mountains are settling in to wait for the snow to arrive.

I’ll be there several times during the next two months. I have one very short pack trip scheduled for late September, and I hope to chase the aspens at the end of October and during the first weeks of October. Later in October I plan to go to Yosemite Valley for its beautiful fall color season. And very soon I hope to join a group of photographers who even now are camped on the trail a day out from Tuolumne.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Rhyolite School Windows, Amargosa Range

September 4, 2008 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Color photograph of the Amargosa Range as seen through the windows of the abandoned school in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada.

This is a reworking of a photograph I made in April of 2008 while visiting Death Valley National Park, California. The building is the ruins of an old – and once quiet impressive – school building in this abandoned mining town. The view through the windows looks out on the Amargosa Range, which runs along the eastern boundary of Death Valley NP. While visiting and photographing this scene, and now while considering the photograph, I wonder about the lives of the children attending school in this stark but beautiful place in the desert.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada

High Sierra Trail, Big Arroyo

September 3, 2008 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The High Sierra Trail crosses a small stream as it begins to climb out of Big Arroyo toward the Chagoopa Plateau.

On this day our route traveled from the old cabin in Big Arroyo out to Moraine Lake on the Chagoopa Plateau. This section of trail was near the start of the day’s walk as we began our climb out of the Arroyo, through a trail section that was often under forest cover and was crossed frequently by small creeks. I’ve been across this trail section more than once, and this time I managed to avoid being surprised by the climb. When you arrive in Big Arroyo from Kaweah Gap the view convinces you that you have nothing but downhill between there and the Kern Canyon – but you are quite wrong. The trail does follow the bottom of the Arroyo for a few miles, but then it climbs – more steadily and more steeply than you might think – up the east side of the valley to reach the flat area of Chagoopa Plateau.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Evening and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake

Sierra Time Starts Now

Rhyolite School Windows, Amargosa Range

High Sierra Trail, Big Arroyo

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.