Tag Archives: cottonwood

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

First Light, Desert and Mountains

April 14, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First light on rugged Cottonwood Mountains and low Death Valley sand dunes

The light was not always this lovely on this Death Valley visit — though it was always “interesting” — but on this morning we had it about as good as it gets here. The light on these hills can be fairly beautiful on just about any sunny morning as the first sunlight moved down across the face of the range, lighting up these usually drab hills. But because the sky is often pure blue and there is not variation in the light in those conditions, the maximum color appears only very quickly and often when it is good at one level on the mountains it is either too bright or in shadow elsewhere. But on this morning there were clouds, and just as the light on the mountains reached the valley floor the clouds made for a darker and more dramatic sky, their shadows dappled the upper ridge line, and the very first light slanted across the low plants and dunes.

This light is a very transitory thing and, to be honest, this scene only looks like this for a brief moment between pre-dawn shadow and daytime flat light. But that moment is glorious and magical. When we headed out to this spot before sunrise we weren’t quite sure where we would be at sunrise or what specific opportunities would present themselves. As we approached the edge of dunes, coming around to them from the side, it was suddenly clear that the light was about to arrive. No amount of hurrying would get us to a better spot in time, so we quickly looked around for subjects that we could photograph in this light — a now or never chance. I saw these very low dunes and a few scattered plants, framed a composition, and was ready as the light washed over the scene.

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Cottonwood and Aspen, Autumn, Eastern Sierra

November 6, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fall colors come to cottonwood and aspen groves in McGee Canyon

From the valley east of the Sierra the upper reaches of this canyon are not hard to see, though the bottom of the canyon and its entrance point are not so obvious. Pulling off on US 395 some distance from the canyon, a road rises up the alluvial hills at the base of the Sierra and traverses across toward an old lateral moraine. Rounding this hill, the tree-lined creek draining the canyon comes into view and a gentle through sage brush country passes a campground and a pack station before reaching the end of the road and trailhead.

This canyon rises quickly, and from the cottonwood lowlands one can hike into subalpine country in a short time, and it isn’t much further to get to backcountry lakes that seem to sit at the base of the Sierra crest. I paused along the road in the sage brush zone to make this photograph. Fall cottonwood trees are in the foreground, and further up the U-shaped canyon aspen trees have turned yellow. The remnants of an early autumn storm are seen, too, in the dusting of snow high up the rocky slopes at the head of the canyon.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fall Foliage in Transition, Eastern Sierra

November 2, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fall color comes to cottonwood and aspen trees in McGee Canyon, Eastern Sierra Nevada

This is a favorite east side Sierra Nevada canyon. Like so many of these canyons, it spills out into the Valley east of the sharp eastern front of the range, with evidence of ancient glaciation in the form of lateral moraines. It quickly twists and turns and rises toward the monumental peaks of the Sierra crest, quickly transitioning from essentially desert country to alpine terrain in a matter of a relatively few miles. This particular canyon doesn’t necessarily look like much from the valley, as its lower reaches are obscured by the moraine ridges near its base. But as soon as you cross those low hills and enter the main canyon, its steep walls and stupendous scale become obvious.

In the fall the lower canyon is full of cottonwood trees turning golden, while higher up the canyon aspens change color a bit earlier. Several years ago I backpacked into this canyon in September, the only time I’ve done so, and I passed through some of the earliest color I’ve seen in the Eastern Sierra. This was another early color year, largely as a result of California’s four-year drought. On this visit there was a bit of relief from the incessant heat and dryness as weather fronts passed through, and a bit of snow is visible along the higher faces.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Eastern Sierra Pack Station, Fall Colors

October 14, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn cottonwood and willow color at the McGee Creek pack station at the base of McGee Canyon

These eastern Sierra Nevada canyons have long fascinated me. My initial orientation to the range came from decades of approaching the mountains from the west, where they rise gradually, beginning almost imperceptibly with small irregularities and hills far out in the eastern portions of the Great Central Valley and then build slowly over many miles to eventually reach the Sierra crest. I “discovered” the east side of the range decades later, and was amazed by the contrast. Rather than beginning in the gentle west side grassland and agricultural areas, the base of the east side is frequently high desert, a spare and dry land of sage and open vistas. The Sierra begins abruptly, and in some cases you can stand at the actual base of the escarpment and look almost straight up to peaks that are many thousands of feet above you. The east side is cut by many short but deep canyons, where steep creeks drain a terrain originally cut by glaciers. In a very short distance — often traversed in a single day — one can move from high desert to the alpine zone.

In addition to focusing on that landscape, this photograph includes an element representing another component of life on the east side, a trailhead pack station. Here, too, my experience was such that I only recognized the role of these outfits more recently. For decades I was primarily oriented to the range as a backpacker and, to be honest, I regarded those using pack animals as representing an intrusion in the wilderness experience that I sought. (On the other hand, I recall many years ago seeing the occasional individual backpacker leading a single donkey along the trail, something you almost never see any more.) A few years ago I began to work with photographic colleagues who use pack trains once each year to get into the back country to photograph in ways that are more or less impossible when traveling on foot, and before long I had my first real experience with packers. I’m less certain of my old disdain for those who rely on pack animals, and I’m now much more aware of the long history of these pack outfits in the eastern Sierra. My perspective has changed. While I think that their place must evolve, I also have come to think of them as an intrinsic part of what makes the Sierra the Sierra, and I have acquired a real respect for the wranglers and the work they do.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: cottonwood

First Light, Desert and Mountains

Like this:

Cottonwood and Aspen, Autumn, Eastern Sierra

Like this:

Fall Foliage in Transition, Eastern Sierra

Like this:

Eastern Sierra Pack Station, Fall Colors

Like this:

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

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

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