Tag Archives: forest

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lakes Below Duck Pass, Afternoon Showers

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Lakes Below Duck Pass, Afternoon Showers
Lakes Below Duck Pass, Afternoon Showers

Lakes Below Duck Pass, Afternoon Showers. Sierra Nevada, California. August 5, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sun breaks through the clouds to illuminate lakes and surrounding meadows in the valley below Duck Pass near Mammoth Lakes, California.

This is an older shot that I recently realized has not yet been posted here. There is a bit of an ironic story behind getting this shot. A few days earlier some friends and I had started on a 14-day backpacking along a good size chunk of the John Muir Trail. (Including one short section that I have yet to hike!) After about four days on the trail we arrived an Purple Lake, a bit south of Mammoth, where I began to feel a bit “under the weather.” Because the next portion of the hike would travel across a section of the JMT that doesn’t provide many quick exits in case of emergency, I decided that I would evaluate my condition the next morning before heading on.

I still didn’t feel great when I awoke so, being cautious, I regretfully left the rest of my group and backtracked towards Duck Pass with a plan to exit to Mammoth Lakes and head home. So, it was an accident that found me descending this section below Duck Pass in this wonderful weather of mixed thundershowers alternating with bursts of sunlight – and which put me in the right place at the right time to see this beautiful scene as sunlight passed across this set of lakes.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Photographs: Central California

Cypress Forest Path

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Cypress Forest Path
Cypress Forest Path. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. August 24, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trail with steps and cypress tree at Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

This is the same location in several other photographs I have posted recently, all shot during a late August 2008 visit to this central California coastal park. In this version I have taken the liberty of doing some (to me, at least) significant post-processing of the photograph in order to create a particular type of mood that seems appropriate for this location.

keywords: california, nature, point lobos, summer, monterey, state, reserve, carmel, peninsula, trail, steps, stairs, cypress, tree, forest, path, usa, coast, shore, steps, stairs, plants, flowers, wildflowers, rocks, branch, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Tree Trunks, Cypress Forest

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Tree Trunks, Cypress Forest
Tree Trunks, Cypress Forest. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. August 24, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of forest floor and cypress tree trunks. Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

This was a tough photograph, and one that I’ll probably return to work on again. It was a foggy morning at Point Lobos and I had arrived in time for the hoped-for clearing that I expected to occur within the hour. I found this composition and set up and waited for the light. I got just a bit of filtered light through the fog but then the transition from fog to sun stopped. While I never got quite the light I was looking for, I am pleased with how this turned out.

It was a bit amusing to see the reactions of other hikers as they walked past. Some perhaps assumed that there must be a “great photograph” there since my tripod supported what probably looked like substantial equipment and I was standing there holding a remote release. Some would walk past and take a sneaky glance along the cameras line of sight – and I could tell they were perplexed. During the wait for decent light, however, I did get to indulge in one of my favorite little hobbies – offering to take group pictures of other visitors with their cameras so that no one would be left out. :-)

keywords: black and white, forest, floor, cypress, tree, trunk, point lobos, state, reserve, california, usa, monterey, peninsula, carmel, bay, nature, landscape, travel, scenic, grass, rock, stock

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake

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Evening and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake
Evening and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake. Sequoia National Park, California. August 7 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening along the tree-lined shore of Moraine Lake in Sequoia National Park, California.

Moraine Lake is located on the Chagoopa Plateau in the Sierra Nevada backcountry of Sequoia National Park, between Big Arroyo and the deep trench of Kern Canyon. Aside from being a bit windy when I’ve been there, it is a very peaceful spot – and a good warm place (relatively speaking) to swim. No surprise given its name, the opposite shore is formed by a lateral moraine that must have come from a glacier traveling down Big Arroyo, and there are lots of rocks everywhere. In fact, along the near shoreline they form a couple of little peninsulas that enclose shallows cut off from the main lake and which support a few trees like those in this photograph.

Most recently I was here in in early August of 2008, when I and a group of friends camped for a night on our trip from Crescent Meadow to Whitney Portal via the High Sierra Trail. Technically (OK, literally), Moraine Lake is not “on” the High Sierra Trail, being instead on a lateral loop that leaves the HS Trail on the Chagoopa Plateau to drop down to the lake, and which then continues to the loop to rejoin a few miles later. Oddly, it seems to me that most people who hike through here probably do take the alternative route past Moraine, with the exception of some hard-core hikers who walk far enough in a day to not need to camp on the Plateau.

keywords: evening, shore, shoreline, trees, moraine, lake, high, sierra, trail, nevada, backpack, hike, camp, clouds, reflection, rock, mountain, alpine, great western divide, peak, forest, grass, quiet, landscape, california, usa, sequoia, national park, stock, blue, sky