Tag Archives: basin

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Cascade, Tyndall Creek

August 16, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

High in the Upper Kern River drainage, water dashes over the rocks of Tyndall Creek.

Tyndall Creek is in one of my most favorite areas of the Sierra Nevada. It runs between Shepherd Pass (located on the Sierra Crest a bit north of Mount Whitney) and the upper reaches of the Kern River in Sequoia National Park. It begins, more or less, in a small, barren lake right on the crest at the verge of the drop-off into Shepherd Pass, flows gently westward through alpine rock gardens as it descends towards timberline, and then drops more quickly to join the Kern a few miles later. It crosses the John Muir Trail where one encounters almost the first trees after descending from 13,200′ Forrester Pass to the north. Quite a few JMT travelers camp at this spot – partly because of the shelter of the trees and partly because of the terraced rocks over which the creek passes here.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Blue Ice, Alpine Lake

July 12, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Patterns of blue and white ice emerge as the frozen surface of an alpine lake begins to melt, Yosemite National Park.

Yes, I’m still working the series of photographs from my late June visit to a frozen alpine lake in the Tioga Pass area of Yosemite National Park – and there still may be one or two more to come. This is a tightly cropped detail of a section of the ice on the surface of this lake that was still mostly frozen, albeit in a somewhat slushy form. (Other photographs in this series play with the juxtaposition of ices and meltwater floating on the surface of the ice.) The very blue tone comes from the fact that the illumination was entirely from the very blue sky, with no direct sunlight hitting the ice at all.

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

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 100, f/18, 1/8 second

keywords: gaylor, lake, basin, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, tioga, pass, road, sierra, nevada, crest, mountain, range, alpine, blue, white, ice, frozen, melt, pattern, surface, landscape, nature, scenic, stock, tuolumne, evening, late, afternoon

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

Evening Clouds Reflected in Melt-Water Pools

July 11, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Melt-water pools in the frozen surface of a Sierra Nevada alpine lake reflect early evening clouds, Yosemite National Park, California.

This wonderful ice-covered lake provided me with a handful of photographs that I’m coming to like a great deal. We visited the lake, in the high-country of Yosemite National Park near the Sierra crest, on the evening of the second-to-last day in June. Because of the above-average precipitation of the previous winter and the wet, cold, and late spring storms, this lake was still almost completely covered with winter ice and the surrounding valley was snow-covered. However, the ice was well along in the melting process and the surface of the lake was covered with melt-water ponds holding water that took on the color of the sky. In this photograph the pools reflect some evening clouds that were passing near the peaks of the Sierra crest.

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

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/8 second

keywords: ice, melt, water, sky, cloud, reflect, pattern, blue, alpine, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, landscape, nature, abstract, evening, gaylor, lake, basin, tioga, pass, alpine, stock

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

Melting Ice, Cathedral Range

July 9, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Winter ice melts on an alpine lake with the peaks of the Cathedral Range on the skyline, Yosemite National Park, California.

We hiked to this 10,000’+ lake near the Sierra crest in the late afternoon on the second-to-last day of June to photograph in the evening light, and were surprised at the amount of ice remaining in the lake and at the amount of snow still filling this small basin. Although the photograph was made during summer, the scene looks distinctly winter-like!

The lake was almost completely ice covered still, though the surface was covered with melt-water pools and there was a small bit of open water right along the shoreline at one end of the lake. The patterns of alternating ice and water were endlessly interesting, and the color variations produced by ice and water reflecting the blue light of the sky changed as the hour became later and as a few clouds floated near the crest.

Tuolumne Meadows aficionados will recognize the snow-covered peaks of the Cathedral range on the skyline, especially the distinctive summit of Cathedral Peak at the far right.

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

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 82mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/25 second

keywords: cathedral, range, sierra, nevada, mountain, peak, ridge, alpine, ice, covered, melt, thaw, lake, pond, gaylor, basin, snow, field, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, blue, rocky, tree, timberline, water, pool, sky, stock

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