Tag Archives: 60

Rocky Terrain, Subalpine Lake

Rocky Terrain, Subalpine Lake
Rocky terrain and its reflection along the shoreline of a backcountry subalpine lake, Kings Canyon National Park.

Rocky Terrain, Subalpine Lake. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rocky terrain and its reflection along the shoreline of a backcountry subalpine lake, Kings Canyon National Park.

As I do from time to time, recently I was reminiscing about the Before Times when I headed into the Sierra backcountry for a week or more every summer with a wonderful group of fellow photographers — among whom are several who have been doing these trips for two decades. (Although I’ve visited the Sierra backcountry for what I vaguely refer to as “decades,” I only began to join this group in 2008.) All of us miss these trips, especially what would have been the one celebrating the second decade of the work, but it turns out that there are still discoveries to be made among the photographs we brought back.

On this trip we visited a fairly remote location in the Sequoia-Kings Canyon backcountry, one that took us a couple of days to get to. Once there we spent close to a week photographing the heck out of the place and surrounding wilderness, a high elevation place full of lakes and rocky terrain. We mixed photograph in our immediate “backyard” (sometimes only steps from out tents) with somewhat longer explorations. This photograph comes from a lake rather close to our camp. My weak knowledge of Sierra geology suggests to me that this monumental chunk of rock was probably overrun and sculpted by glaciers in the past.


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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Alpine Lake, Reflections

Alpine Lake, Reflections
Alpine terrain reflected in the surface of a small mountain lake, Kings Canyon National Park.

Alpine Lake, Reflections. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Alpine terrain reflected in the surface of a small mountain lake, Kings Canyon National Park.

This complex landscape is another from my 2013 summer expedition into the Kings Canyon National Park backcountry with a group of fellow photographers. Every summer (but not this past one, unfortunately) we have made our way to some interesting Sierra Nevada backcountry location and marooned ourselves there for a week or more, spending the time carefully exploring the surrounding terrain and photographing the heck out of it.

This particular trip took us into a high region of alpine and subalpine landscapes full of lakes, and required us to cross two very high passes to get there. We set up our base camp at the end of a lake in a small valley filled with similar lakes, and every day I wandered out into this increasingly familiar terrain. This photograph was made perhaps 10 or 15 minutes from my tent, in a place that was close to timberline. There were still some small trees here, but the surrounding slopes and ridges were almost entirely rocky.


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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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Alpine Rain

Alpine Rain
Midday rain at alpine Sierra Nevada lakes, Kings Canyon National Park

Alpine Rain. Kings Canyon National Park. September 13, 2013. Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Midday rain at alpine Sierra Nevada lakes, Kings Canyon National Park

Back in 2013 a small group of us escaped to a lake-filled basin high in the Kings Canyon National Park backcountry, in a location not that far from the crest. We set up camp at 11,000′ and spent most of a week exploring and photographing the surrounding region.

There are many differences between quickly photographing such a place as you pass by and lingering over it for a week. Most obviously, we had time to slowly meander across the landscape, looking for and finding things that would escape the notice of a more hurried visitor. In addition, conditions change over such a time period, especially this late in the summer. We had beautiful blue sky days and warmth, and we also had days with wind and clouds and rain. This was mixed day. When I headed out there was a combination of clouds and sun, but before long I could see rain working its way up the valley. Sure enough, it arrived as I photographed.


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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Timberline Meadow, Morning

Timberline Meadow, Morning
A small Sierra Nevada timberline meadow in morning light, surrounded by rocky alpine terrain

Timberline Meadow, Morning. Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park, California. September 13, 2013. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small Sierra Nevada timberline meadow in morning light, surrounded by rocky alpine terrain

This photograph comes from a long visit to the Sierra back-country in September of 2013. A group of photographers made our way into the high backcountry of Kings Canyon National Park (with the help of pack animals) and set up there to make photographs in this 11,000+’ region for the better part of a week. We remained camped in one spot for the entire time. That might seem less exciting that moving on and covering more ground in the Sierra — and experience that I have also had. However, by remaining in one spot we were able to learn the personality of that specific little area much more deeply and to see it in various conditions: morning and evening, rain and fair weather, and more.

This is a humble little photograph — no towering peaks, building clouds, dramatic weather here. However, I got to know this little spot quite well during our visit. It was right “in the neighborhood,” and on a morning like this one I could roll out of my tent, lift my pack, walk uphill for five minutes or so, and be in this meadowy glade, filled with granite slabs and boulders and backed by rocky slopes leading to a nearby ridge.


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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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.