Tag Archives: big arroyo

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Moraine Lake

March 22, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Moraine Lake shoreline in evening, Sequoia National Park

I have only been to this remote lake twice, but as I think back on it now it seems a special place. My two visits were separated by decades. The first was when I was in my twenties and one half of a young couple on our first very long Sierra pack trip, a trip that had us taking two weeks to cross the Sierra from west to east. When I think back to pack trips from so far back, I realize that I have forgotten many details but this lake remains. On the second visit I came here on a trip retracing that earlier trip, though this time with a larger group of friends who had not been here before. It takes me a solid four days of walking to get this place, and the route covers some spectacular country and takes me into and across some very high places.

That route, and the contrast between it and what I found at this lake may account for the special feelings I have for this place. Both times on this route, the first day was a hard one under a heavy, long distance backpack load. The second day is about the same length, but it ends with a moderate climb to a lake. Day three starts right out with a brutal climb up the walls of the cirque above the lake, then crosses a high pass, drops into timberline country, and descends mostly open terrain to a camp where the trees grow thicker. Then on the fourth day things ease up. Much of the trail is though Sierra high country forest, mixed with open views, and then it leaves the main trail and takes a lateral out through more forest to this lake. I recall an expansive area of open forest along the shoreline, a shallow and pretty lake with forest on the other size, and a few peaks in the distance to catch the morning and evening light. From the right spots I could catch my first views of the summit of Mount Whitney, where I would stand a week or more later. And from this second trip I recall a slow and quiet evening with my hiking partners, hanging out in camp and sitting lazily on shoreline logs.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

The Kaweahs

March 21, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ridge and Waterfall in the Kaweah Range near Kaweah Gap on the Great Western Divide.

This photograph comes from the High Sierra Trail, an east-west route across the Sierra between the west slopes of Sequoia National Park and Mount Whitney on the eastern Sierra crest. (Although it is technically not part of the route, I regard the final ascent to Whitney on a lateral trail and the descent from the crest to Whitney Portal to be part of the route.) While the north-south John Muir Trail has rightfully become relatively well-known, the High Sierra Trail is not as popular — though in many ways it is the same league. It covers an extraordinary route, climbing from the forested and gradually rising west side slopes up the immense canyon of the Kaweah River, crossing Kaweah Gap in spectacular fashion, descending Big Arroyo to the grand canyon of the Kern River, which if follows north to Junction Meadow before ascending once again to join the John Muir Trail heading south and then finally climb to Whitney Trail crest.

The trail up into the Kaweahs is stunning, with remarkably rugged and alpine scenery on the ascent from the west. It is, frankly, as impressive as anything else in the range. This section climbs the cirque above a popular lake destination, rising on a trail that follows an improbably route high into the mountains in the photograph before turning to cross Kaweah Gap after passing through a garden of small meadows and rocky tarns.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Granite Cliffs, Alpine Lake

March 20, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Rocks fallen from vertical cliffs line the edges of a deep blue alpine lake

As I write this tonight for posting tomorrow, winter is over and spring is a few hours old. It is perhaps for that reason — the start of spring and the inevitability of summer — that I found myself looking though some old photograph files from a summer about eight years in the past. There is a practical reason to revisit the old files from time to time; I often find photographs that now look pretty interesting that I apparently skipped over originally, for one reason or another. But it is also an opportunity to revisit the older memories as well, since looking at the photographs brings back the recall of many other details of such Sierra trips.

On this trip I crossed the Southern Sierra from west to east with a small group of long-time trail friends. I am not sure why, but I had not been back on this trail in the decades since my first visit — so I was excited to revisit this spectacular route. Today I began tracking the progress of the trip via the old photographs, starting on the first day and looking at photograph up through day three, when we climbed from a beautiful lake to cross the Kaweah Mountains and head east. I came to this photograph, which is a vertical orientation interpretation on a scene in another of my photographs that may be somewhat recognizable. At the time when I made the original print I think I must have committed to the horizontal format and, thus, put the vertical on the back burner. but today I decided that I like this version, too, with a bit less emphasis on the water and a bit more on the vertical thrust of the rocky walls.

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

High Sierra Trail, Big Arroyo

September 3, 2008 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The High Sierra Trail crosses a small stream as it begins to climb out of Big Arroyo toward the Chagoopa Plateau.

On this day our route traveled from the old cabin in Big Arroyo out to Moraine Lake on the Chagoopa Plateau. This section of trail was near the start of the day’s walk as we began our climb out of the Arroyo, through a trail section that was often under forest cover and was crossed frequently by small creeks. I’ve been across this trail section more than once, and this time I managed to avoid being surprised by the climb. When you arrive in Big Arroyo from Kaweah Gap the view convinces you that you have nothing but downhill between there and the Kern Canyon – but you are quite wrong. The trail does follow the bottom of the Arroyo for a few miles, but then it climbs – more steadily and more steeply than you might think – up the east side of the valley to reach the flat area of Chagoopa Plateau.

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Tag Archives: big arroyo

Moraine Lake

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The Kaweahs

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Granite Cliffs, Alpine Lake

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High Sierra Trail, Big Arroyo

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.