Cascade, Lee Vining Canyon. Sierra Nevada, California. October 7, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
North Lake, Piute Crags
North Lake, Piute Crags. Sierra Nevada, California. October 7, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
I had started this early October morning by photographing the first light at Sabrina Lake. After I finished up there – still quite early – I decided to head on over to North Lake, even though I was pretty certain that I had missed the best aspen color display this year. (North Lake is renowned for a “tree tunnel” as you arrive at the lake and for a huge aspen grove that rises up a gully on the far side of the lake.)
Sure enough, almost all the aspens had lost their leaves, and the few remaining were almost all brown and black. So I turned to a different landscape subject – snow-dusted Piute Crags with the shoreline of North Lake in the foreground.
Aspen Grove and Snow – Monitor Pass
Aspen Grove and Snow – Monitor Pass. Sierra Nevada, California. October 6, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
On my second aspen hunting weekend this fall I again drove over Monitor Pass during the late morning hours, having shot the Carson Pass/Hope Valley area earlier in the morning. There were several inches of snow beneath this aspen grove close to the summit of the pass.
Sunset, North Shore – Point Reyes
Sunset, North Shore. Point Reyes National Seashore, California. September 18, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
The shoreline along the road out to the Point Reyes lighthouse is especially wild, given its open northern exposure to the open Pacific. This is a classic view of this beach from the top of the bluff near the Point Reyes lighthouse.