“Aspen Trees and Beaver Pond” — Sierra Nevada autumn aspen trees line the shore of a beaver pond.
When I first explored this Eastern Sierra Nevada canyon years ago, I went there to find fall color among the aspen trees. I found that in abundance, and I’ve returned every year since then. There were other interesting features, too, including small ponds flooding the canyon floor far up the canyon near where the road ended. Eventually I realized that these were beaver ponds, something I had not really seen in the Sierra. Although I have yet to actually see a beaver here, it wasn’t long before I figured out where their lodges are located.
“Aspen Grove and Pond” — Autumn aspen trees on the shore of a small Eastern Sierra Nevada pond.
I came to this spot rather late in the day, though that was partially intentional. I knew that rows of aspens here can glow in backlight in the late afternoon, and there is a short window of opportunity between the time that the sun moves behind them and when it drops behind the surrounding peaks. I arrived and quickly went to work, since I had my eyes on several of the groves.
These trees grow in a row on the far side of a beaver pond. You wouldn’t know it from the photograph, but it can be a bit difficult to find a camera position with a clear view across the water — lots of stuff grows along the near shoreline, and much of it is so wet and muddy that it isn’t easy to get to the water’s edge. When I made the photograph the far slopes of the upper valley had already fallen into shadow, and before long the light would disappear from these trees, too.
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.
The first snow of autumn falls on an eastern Sierra Nevada beaver pond
We began our October visit to the eastern Sierra aspens with a very long drive from the north, necessitated by an early season snow storm that swept across the range on the day of our drive, closing all of the passes that are not normally plowed – Tioga, Ebbetts, and Sonora. So we drove over Carson and Monitor Passes to reach highway 395. The snow started before we reached the summit of Carson pass and continued intermittently throughout the rest of the day – never enough to interfere with our driving (aside from the closed passes) but enough to make the photography interesting and to create an appearance that seemed more winter- than autumn-like.
As we headed south on highway 395, we stopped quite a bit to make photographs or even take a side road detour or two. Just before reaching Lee Vining we headed up this canyon, which is known as a good spot of aspens – and for a very narrow section of roadway that passes along the side of a so-called beaver pond. I’ve been past this spot many times, but this was the first time in falling snow. The gray skies and the falling snow created a very peaceful effect around the pond, and we paused to photograph it before making a brief visit to the trailhead at the end of the road.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
A beaver pond floods a low area of McGee Creek below the peaks at the edge of Pioneer Basin.
Unlike some so-called beaver ponds in the Sierra, this one really does appear to be the home of beavers. If you look closely near the far bank of the pond, just left of center, you can see the distinctive peaked beaver den.
This spot was a bit of a landmark on the trail up McGee Canyon on my mid-September backpack trip to Steelhead Lake. Before this the trail mostly crossed relatively dry and open terrain, but starting at this point there was more forest cover, and the valley gradually began to become more rocky and narrower. There is just a bit of early fall color in this photograph. The plants around the pond have obviously gone brown, and some of the aspens and other brush ascending the slopes of the canyon are just barely beginning to change – what I sometimes call the “lime green” stage where it starts to become clear that the real color change is not far away. The distant tall ridge marks the boundary between the McGee Creek drainage and Pioneer Basin. I’m not positive, but I think that the two high points on the ridge might be Mounts Stanford and Crocker, part of a group of four peaks ringing Pioneer Basin that are named after the four “railroad barons, the other two being Huntington and Hopkins.
Unlike most of my mountain photographs, this was essentially a handheld “snap” – though made with a good camera and lens. When I’m hiking I carry my camera and two lenses in a chest strap mounted front carrier so that I can make some photographs while on the move without having to remove my pack. This sort of shot, made at a time of less than optimum light, is an example of the sort of thing that I’ll occasionally shoot that way.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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