Tag Archives: california

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

Trees and Granite Slabs

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Trees and Granite Slabs
Trees and Granite Slabs

Trees and Granite Slabs. Near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park, California. July 23, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees growing in granite slabs in the Yosemite high country stand in morning light.

Scenes like this are, for me, among those that most strongly characterize the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, and specifically the portion of the range found in Yosemite National Park. There are many mountain ranges that have their own attractions, but the combination of large swaths of glacially formed and polished granite with open forests filled with light immediately shouts “Sierra Nevada” to me. I used to be attracted most to the highest alpine peaks, but more and more I like the more intimate landscapes of the parts of the Sierra in which small ponds and tarns are placed among little meadows separated by trees and bits of granite.

Scenes like this one are not, frankly, all that hard to find in Yosemite and elsewhere in the Sierra. I photographed these trees and boulders in this expanse of glaciated granite near Olmsted Point in the early morning when the light was still warm and the shadows long.

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.

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

Young Trees and Pond, Dana Meadows

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Young Trees and Pond, Dana Meadows
Young Trees and Pond, Dana Meadows

Young Trees and Pond, Dana Meadows. Yosemite National Park, California. July 22, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Young lodgpole pines grow in front of a Dana Meadows pond as Mammoth Peak looms in the distance.

Late in July of this somewhat wet year, the portion of Dana Meadows that extends almost up to the top of Tioga Pass was still very green and a bit wet, with small streams flowing through it and seasonal tarns still full. Being careful to avoid the boggy spots, I wandered down in to this section of the meadow near where the old roadbed is still visible and found small ponds and young trees trying to infiltrate the meadow. Here the pond reflects clouds floating towards Mammoth Peak, the high point at the end of Kuna Crest, on the other side of which is found the Lyell fork of the Tuolumne River.

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.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Southern California

Afternoon, Upper Bubbs Creek

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Afternoon, Upper Bubbs Creek
Afternoon, Upper Bubbs Creek

Afternoon, Upper Bubbs Creek. Kings Canyon National Park, California. July 31, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon light on the forest and distant peaks on Upper Bubbs Creek, Kings Canyon National Park.

Since this photograph comes from an entirely different adventure, a bit of background information is probably in order. Among my summer pack trips, each year I join my friends from the talusdancers, a loosely connected group of folks who like to backpack, for at least one “big trip” in the Sierra. I’ve been doing this for nearly 15 years now. This year’s trip revisited some familiar spots (Tyndall Creek in the upper Kern), some that I had not visited for quite a few years (Forrester Pass), and one area that I have never before visited despite thinking about it for over 30 years (Milestone Basin and the Lake South America area). Near the end of July we headed out of Onion Valley to cross Kearsarge Pass, turned south to enter the Upper Kern River drainage via Forrester Pass, explored there for a few day, and then exited by way of brutal Shepherd Pass.

Forrester Pass is the second-highest point on the John Muir Trail (or “the JMT,” as most refer to it) at 13,200′, and we planned to cross it from north to south on the third day of our trip. At the end of day two we dropped down to Vidette Meadow and then headed up canyon to upper Bubbs Creek where the old Center Basin trail splits off from the main JMT where we made camp. This photograph was made in the late afternoon as we lazed about, doing a bit of laundry and thinking about the big climb ahead of us the next day. The view beyond the foreground and the closer trees is back down the canyon of Bubbs Creek, with the lowering sun lighting the canyon walls.

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.

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

Detail, White Bark Pine

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Detail, White Bark Pine
Detail, White Bark Pine

Detail, White Bark Pine. Yosemite National Park, California. July 24, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of dense growth of a white bark pine tree in the high country near Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park.

I photographed this dense growth of white bark pine in a high meadow not far from Tioga Pass, after venturing out into (and around, given the wet conditions!) this area very early in the morning. Although it isn’t apparent in this very close-up photograph, this was a rather unique tree. It had grown up around a large boulder and taken on the boulder’s shape since the branches followed the outline of the boulder almost exactly – it almost looked like the boulder was covered with a “tree blanket.”

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email