Tag Archives: backpack

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Reflection, Topsy Turvy Lake

Leave a comment
Reflection, Topsy Turvy Lake

Reflection, Topsy Turvy Lake. John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. August 6, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Golden evening light from surrounding peaks reflects from the surface of rock-studded Topsy Turvy Lake.

This is my first photograph from my early August “backpack trip that almost didn’t happen but somehow worked out in the end.” Originally we had planned a week-long excursion into the far reaches of the upper Kern river drainage in the heart of the Sierra Nevada. However, for a variety of reasons those plans began to collapse a couple weeks before the trip – so three of us salvaged a shorter trip into the Sabrina Basin area above Bishop, California. Then, the night before this trip – while I was packing! – I cracked a tooth. At that point I thought that the trip was off for sure, but my dentist agreed to see me the next morning. By noon I had a temporary dental fix in place and I completed last-minute packing and other business and was on the road at 2:30, arriving to meet my hiking partners at Four Jeffrey Campground above Bishop at 9:00 p.m.

On top of all that, the Sierra weather forecast included the possibility of snow, in the form of an autumn-like weather system passing across the northern portion of the range. Undaunted – but equipped with a bit more cold weather gear than we might usually carry in August – we headed up to Blue Lake on the first day and then moved on to Topsy Turvy lake on day two. While it never did snow, it was very windy and quite cold on the first two nights.

This photograph of rock-filled Topsy Turvy Lake was made in the early evening when the light had already left the lake’s surface but was still illuminating the ridge to the east and creating striking and colorful reflections in the lake’s surface.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

keywords: topsy, turvy, lake, rock, boulder, morraine, water, ripple, surface, reflection, gold, evening, sunset, island, shore, talus, sierra, nevada, sabrina, basin, california, usa, landscape, scenic, travel, hike, backpack, camp, shadow, stock, john, muir, wilderness, area

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Lodgepole Pine Forest, Morning, Lower Young Lake

Leave a comment
Lodgepole Pine Forest, Morning, Lower Young Lake

Lodgepole Pine Forest, Morning, Lower Young Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. July 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell all rights reserved.

Morning light illuminates dense lodgepole pine forest near the edge of Lower Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

As hard as it is to crawl out of a warm sleeping bag on a cool morning, I managed to do it on this morning. Just as the sun was coming up I was wandering along the shoreline of Lower Young Lake. While I made some photographs of the lake itself, I ended up becoming most interested in the area around the outflow stream. It features a rocky trail crossing of the stream, a small open area of meadow, and very thick surrounding forest. I thought I’d try another in my recent series of very dense and detailed composition here, this one including a thick stand of lodgepole pines just as the sun rose high enough to begin to cast some light on the forest floor.

(To be honest, I’m pretty certain that this one is going to work far better as a large print than as a small jpg… but there you go! )

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: pinus contorta, lodgepole, tamarack, pine, forest, tree, boulder, rock, log, branch, needle, trunk, twist, flora, grass, flower, plant, morning, light, dense, vegetation, lower, young, lake, yosemite, national park, california, usa, intimate, landscape, scenic, travel, nature, hike, backpack, camp, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Shoreline, Upper Young Lake, Sunset

2 Comments
Shoreline, Upper Young Lake, Sunset

Shoreline, Upper Young Lake, Sunset. Yosemite National Park, California. July 29, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light on shoreline trees and rocks below rocky hillside above Upper Young Lake, Yosemite National Park.

This is another in the series of photographs I made on this late-July evening at Upper Young Lake, my favorite of the three in this string of Young Lakes in the Sierra Nevada back-country out of Tuolumne Meadows. This photograph was shot in the last moments before the sun, shining through a bit of smoke from a wildfire in the park, dropped below the rim of the high meadow holding the lake.

I probably could have stayed at this lake and photographed post-sunset light for another half hour beyond sunset. However, the thought of hiking in the dark down a mile-long trail that in places is more cross country than actual trail convinced me to pack up and leave shortly after this.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: shoreline, upper, young, lake, tree, grove, forest, flora, grass, plants, flower, meadow, rock, boulder, talus, scree, cliff, bush, water, surface, reflection, ripple, pink, light, sunset, dusk, evening, yosemite, national park, california, usa, hike, backpack, wilderness, nature, landscape, sierra nevada, range, mountains, snow, stock, travel, scenic, stock, Pinus contorta, murrayana, lodgepole, pine, tamarack

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Upper Young Lake

Leave a comment
Upper Young Lake

Upper Young Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. July 29, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early evening light on Upper Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

The first section of Upper Young Lake that you come to – at least if you approach from west side as I did – is especially beautiful. After climbing to the level of the lake you cross over gentle meadow hills spotted with small groves of alpine trees and eventually descend very gently through meadows to the lake shore. This side of the lake has an especially interesting shoreline – there are clumps of boggy, partially submerged meadow, slightly higher sections of firm ground containing wildflowers, good sized rocks and boulders embedded in the meadow and the lake shore, and a long string of rocks cuts across a rounded bay.

In this photograph I’m shooting from the slightly higher and drier meadow across one of the boggy shoreline sections on which a small, solitary tree grows next to a large rock and some wildflowers. Beyond is the the bay that is bisected by the string of boulder islands, with more small clusters of trees and glaciated rocks on the far shore, backed by the lower reaches of a tall and rocky ridge than runs along the far side of the series of Young Lakes.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: Pinus contorta, murrayana, lodgepole, pine, tamarack, upper, young, lake, tree, forest, grove, small, grass, flower, meadow, shore, shoreline, rock, boulder, grass, talus, scree, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, backpack, hike, nature, wilderness, flora, water, reflection, granite, alpine, travel, scenic, landscape, evening, light, stock