Tag Archives: dome

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Evening at Inspiration Point – Yosemite Valley

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Evening at Inspiration Point - Yosemite Valley
Evening at Inspiration Point – Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, California. April 27, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening at Inspiration Point, the original “Valley View” – Yosemite National Park, California.

Another photograph from my late April hike up to Inspiration Point to watch the day end in Yosemite Valley. Inspiration Point is the original “Valley View” that was used before the construction of Wawona Tunnel, when the road out of the Valley followed a different and steeper route. This beautiful spot is a 1.3 mile hike up from the overrun Wawona Tunnel View location, and a million miles away in terms of atmosphere. At Inspiration Point you may experience this sublime scene in solitude rather than accompanied by traffic noise and exhaust fumes.

keywords: California, National Park, Sierra Nevada, Spring, Yosemite, inspiration, point, valley, view, el capitan, half, dome, clouds rest, evening, sunset, tree, forest, oak, sky, light, bridalveil, fall, sentinel, landscape, stock, scenic, travel, usa

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cloud Shadows on North Dome

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Cloud Shadows on North Dome
Cloud Shadows on North Dome. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cloud shadows cross the face of North Dome in late afternoon light. Mt. Hoffman in the distance. Photographed from Glacier Point.

keywords: yosemite, valley, national park, california, usa, north, dome, cloud, shadow, glacier point, mount hoffman, ridge, mountain, snow, tree, forest, afternoon, light, cliff, scenic, landscape, travel, stock, tenaya canyon

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cloud Shadows on North Dome

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Cloud Shadows on North Dome
Cloud Shadows on North Dome. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon cloud shadows race across the top of North Dome with Mount Hoffman beyond and Yosemite Valley below. Photographed from Glacier Point.

Mt. Hoffman is one of the most historic locations in the park. It was from Hoffman’s summit that members of the California Survey Party did much of their early mapping work in the 1800s. Today there is almost a trail to the summit – a steep but not overly difficult route (if you are used to off-trail alpine travel) from May Lake.

keywords: california, national park, Sierra Nevada, Spring, Yosemite, valley, north, dome, basket, mount, hoffman, ridge, mountain, snow, glacier point, forest, rock, outcrop, cliff, boulder, overlook, travel, scenic, landscape, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Ansel’s Tree

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Ansel's Tree
“Ansel’s Tree” — The snag that remained in 2008 of the tree in Ansel Adam’s “Jeffrey Pine, Sentinel Dome.”

This is all that remained in 2008 of the Jeffrey Pine on Sentinel Dome that was the subject of the famous Ansel Adams photograph,”Jeffrey Pine, Sentinel Dome.” Somewhere I even have my early attempts at trying to do the “Ansel Adams thing” with my black and white film camera when I was much younger, featuring one or more photographs of this very tree, while it was still alive. Trust me, if you are a Sierra Nevada landscape photographer of a certain age, you knew this tree and probably visited it.

I photographed this close-up “portrait” many years after the tree died, while on a quick hike over to the summit of Sentinel Dome along the Glacier Point Road in 2008. Things change slowly in the Sierra, but they do inevitably change. This is now, objectively speaking, another dead snag atop a Yosemite granite dome — however, this snag has achieved a sort of iconic status. Yet, perhaps there will eventually be another, maybe even the younger tree seen in the background beyond the dead stump.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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