Tag Archives: fire

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

Horsetail Fall, Sunset (#2)

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Horsetail Fall
Horsetail Fall

Horsetail Fall, Sunset (#2). Yosemite National Park, California. February 15, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Horsetail Fall in the final sunset light on a mid-February evening, Yosemite Valley, California.

I was in Yosemite Valley for a couple of days during the middle of February. My main reason for going was not to photograph the seasonal and iconic sunset light on Horsetail Fall, but it turned out that I did just that – twice. Since I have photographed the phenomenon in the past and already have a photograph that I consider a success, shooting it again isn’t at the top of my to-do list. However, I’ll shoot an icon if I think that the conditions might be special. In the afternoon I had been up high enough to get a clear view to the west, and it had looked almost completely clear. This is pretty much a necessary condition for good light on Horsetail, since the very late and low-angle light has to come in from across the Central Valley unobstructed. And, as everyone knows by now, the fall is an intermittent and seasonal event that depends on the right combination of prior snow (or rain) and warm weather to get the creek feeding the fall running in the middle of winter. It turned out that this had also happened, and the fall was running pretty strongly.

So, with all of those pieces apparently in play I decided to head on over to the picnic area beneath El Cap and then wander east until I found a suitable viewpoint. Still a bit ambivalent about shooting Horsetail, one reason I chose this spot is that it allowed me to shoot other subjects in the late afternoon and then arrive more or less at the last moment (around 5:00 p.m.) and still find parking and a spot to shoot. The parking, especially, can be more problematic at the other popular location, located along Southside Drive.

In the end, it was an odd evening for Horsetail. As the sunset continued the fall began to glow, and it looked like it might possibly turn out to be a really special night to shoot this subject. But then a few minutes before the peak of color would have occurred… it was as if someone switched the lights off. Very quickly the color dimmed to much more muted shades and remained so as the light faded. This was my last shot before that turn of events occurred, and this color corrected version (compensating for the otherwise very blue light on the rock face not struck by the sunlight) picked up some nice light and some of the most delicate and beautiful spray I’ve seen on the fall.

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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keywords: yosemite, national, park, valley, california, usa, north america, nature, winter, landscape, cliff, water, fall, waterfall, creek, el capitan, ledge, crack, tree, skyline, ridge, buttress, mist, spray, horsetail, fire, evening, sunset, light, travel, scenic, mountain, sierra, nevada, range, winter, february, shadow, stock

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

Burn Zone, Near Foresta

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Burn Zone, Near Foresta

Burn Zone, Near Foresta. Yosemite National Park, California. October 31, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees, stumps, and boulders in a recently burned area near Foresta, Yosemite National Park, California.

The story behind this photograph is a sad one, and one that provokes a certain amount of anger. The small village of Foresta is just on the western boundary of Yosemite National Park, above El Portal and below the road into Yosemite Valley from the highway 120 northern park entrance. A number of years ago – seems like perhaps 15 or so, though I haven’t looked it up – a tremendous fire started near Foresta and burned quickly and very destructively through a mature forest that had gone too long without burning. Because of the build-up of litter on the forest floor, the fire burned unusually hot and not only consumed small trees and low-lying plants but also destroyed a complete mature forest between Foresta and Tioga Pass Road where it finally was stopped.

This was one of the fires that probably made clear the terrible risks forests were facing due to many years of fire suppression – these forests evolved in a world of periodic fires and smaller fires to clear out the undergrowth the inevitable big fire has so much fuel to feed upon that the damage to the forest is ultimately much worse. For this reason, Yosemite (along with other parks) has adopted a wise policy of letting natural fires burn out on their own. Personnel are dispatched to keep an eye on the fire and to ensure that it doesn’t get out of control or threaten people or structures, but otherwise the fires are allowed to burn naturally. The price of some additional late summer smoke is, I think, a small price to pay for a more healthy forest.

After that original fire, what had previously been a forest along this section of the road instead became an open area. At first many small plants and wildflowers took advantage of the sunlight and grew like crazy. Eventually larger trees began to grow and in the past few years it was almost possible to imagine that a forest like the original one might eventually return.

One day in August this past summer I was camped in the Ten Lake Basin to do photography. On the second to last day I decided to leave my base camp and instead plan a dry camp on top of a ridge above the Basin from which I had seen a tremendous panorama of the Sierra crest on my way in. I packed up, carrying extra water, and climbed the steep trail to the pass. But as I climbed I smelled smoke, and as I came to the summit I saw a plume of forest fire smoke to the west… in the direction of Foresta. I gave up on the photography and hiked on out. I eventually found out that NPS personnel had been conducting a “management fire” near Foresta (on a very hot and dry summer day!) when it got out of control. This “little fire” burned right out of the Foresta area and into the surrounding hills and valleys, eventually consuming thousands of acres… including a good portion of the area of the previous fire that had slowly been starting to recover.

The tragedies of this fire are several. First, it is troubling that those in charge of actions designed to lessen fire damage to the forest miscalculated so badly that they ended up destroying substantial areas of the forest they were to protect. Even worse, the recovery of this area has now been set back by years, and perhaps decades.

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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keywords: yosemite, national, park, valley, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, autumn, fall, season, scenic, travel, nature, landscape, california, wildfire, burn, zone, ash, boulder, rock, stump, tree, dead, sky, cloud, dirt, branch, forest, fire, foresta, nature, black and white, shadow, ecology, stock, desolation

News

Climate Change Behind Die-off of Aspens?

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An article in SF Gate discussed a decline in the number of aspen trees: “Climate Change Cited in Die-off of Aspens”

According to the report, there are a number of factors affecting the trees: fire prevention policies that stop the natural burn cycle, insect infestations, and climate change. The reports speaks mostly about trees outside of California, but those one wonders if these factors affect the trees here as well.

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

Burned Forest Near Mariposa Grove

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Burned Forest Near Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park

Burned Forest Near Mariposa Grove. Yosemite National Park. June 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Burned forest near the Mariposa redwood grove in Yosemite National Park, California.

During my recent visit to the Mariposa Grove of Sequoias in southern Yosemite National Park I hiked up the main trail through the grove. While the forest and occasional redwood tree to my left were certainly interesting, my attention was drawn to the burned area to the right. The trail in places followed the very edge of fairly recent wildfire, and in some spots crossed it.

I am fascinated with forest fire areas and how we perceive them. As a kid I remember learning from Smokey the Bear that forest fires are a tragic thing. But later I became less certain, and I came to view the wild fires as a natural and periodic element of a healthy forest. Aside from the human tragedies can accompany wildfires, I began to change my perspective on the aesthetic value of these burned areas, and I learned to see a certain stark beauty in them. A recently burned forest like this one is not necessarily an ugly thing if you look at it this way. The open light, verticals of black and gray, the intense brown of singed leaves and needles, the contrast with the reddish-brown of the forest floor, and the appearance of scattered new growth all create a special landscape. And a few years later as the cycle starts again and wildflowers and bushes grow wildly there can be a riot of color below the skeletons of the old trees.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: forest, tree, burn, char, scar, fire, wild fire, aftermath, brown, bare, growth, green, gray, black, mariposa, redwood, sequoia, grove, landscape, nature, travel, ecology, environment, fallen, california, usa, yosemite, national park, stock