Tag Archives: gold

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Early Fall Color, McGee Canyon

September 17, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Early fall color comes to McGee Canyon in the eastern Sierra Nevada, California.

I’m going to use today’s post not only as the opportunity to share another daily photograph, but also to share some observations about the arrival of the fall aspen color season in the eastern Sierra Nevada range, where I spent a good part of the past week.

I made the photograph at the very end of a three-day backpack trip up into the McGee Creek drainage, where we settled in at a 10,000+” lake for a couple of nights to enjoy the late-season solitude. (Before starting the pack trip I had spent a couple of days in Tuolumne Meadows, and upcoming posts will concern that part of the trip.) McGee Canyon is an eastern Sierra “type” – a typical trailhead canyon that rises from the high desert, into forests, through increasing rugged and rocky country, and finally reaches the crest of the range at a pass. On this early afternoon we were fortunate to get a few clouds, moderating the intense sun and adding a bit of texture to the landscape. The photo was somewhat casual – still wearing my full pack, I shot hand-held.

About the onset of fall color… I have watched this transition carefully for a number of years. While I have learned a lot about how the process unfolds, I have also learned that many aspects of it defy precise prediction. Every September, those of us who chase eastern Sierra aspen color start to watch for signs that might provide clues about the nature of this season – the amount of snow during the previous winter, how late it remained before melting out, long-range weather forecasts, early color changes in many other plants that can show up even in late August, and more. But, truth be told, in the end every aspen season seems to hold surprises and defy out attempts to know in advance how it will play out. A season may start with early color up high, only to be interrupted by early storms. Or a season may start late and then move very quickly. Or poor early color in one part of the range may lower expectations… only to be followed by great low-elevation later on. Or there may be any number of other possible variations, too numerous to list.

All of this is my way of saying to take my observations with a suitable dose of salt. :-)

Several weeks ago I began to read the typical early September notes about “early color” here and there, especially in portions of the Rockies and some areas of the Southwest. I was intrigued, but not ready to believe it. I read and hear these reports of early color every season – and generally the correlation between what is written and what occurs in the actual event is weak.

This has been an odd summer season for me, for reasons I won’t go into here. As a result, I had not been to the Sierra since early July or so – a very large gap of time for me, since I rarely allow more that a couple of Sierra-free weeks to occur in the summer. I was not there at all during August – which is almost unheard of. I usually catch my first hint of oncoming autumn on one of those late-August visits. It is hard to put my finger on precisely what it is, but invariably (well, almost invariably, since it didn’t happen this year…) there will be a day when I sense “something” in the air that reminds me that summer will end very soon – whether it is a breeze, a quality of light, a change in the plants, I can never tell for sure. But I am sure when I experience it.

Soon there are more concrete signs. The golden-brown dried meadow areas start to expand, the wildflowers are harder to find, corn lily plants begin to turn golden-yellow, bilberry leaves turn dark red (and brilliant red when back-lit) and the leaves of willows near streams and lakes turn yellow. By mid-September all of this is typically underway, and at this point I start thinking about aspen color in earnest. Whether it is because we tend to go to different places to find our aspens or because we have experienced different seasonal variations, individuals will tell you to look for the aspen show to begin at somewhat varying times. I tend to look for real aspen color around the very beginning of October, and to expect a peak roughly a week into the month in the higher country. Except for watching for the odd tree with a branch full of yellow leaves, I don’t expect to seem much real color in September.

But… I just returned from a pack trip that was right in the middle of September… and I saw a significant amount of aspen color. As I drove over the Sierra crest on my way to the east side I was not expecting to see aspen color, and I did not see much. Despite the other sources of fall color, the aspens just east of Tioga Pass and down in Lee Vining Canyon were almost uniformly as green as I expected. When we arrived at our eastern Sierra trailhead, there were a few yellow leaves here and there, but nothing too out of the ordinary. However, a mile or two up the trail I was quite surprised to find large stands of aspens in which many trees were showing color – just a few leaves on some, but perhaps a quarter or a third of the tree in the most extreme cases. In my experience, this is unusually early – but at least a week and arguably perhaps a bit more. (Not all of the color in the photograph comes from aspens, by the way.)

What does this mean? I’m not sure. If I had a bit more time I would have investigated one or two other east-slope canyons to see what is going on elsewhere – it could be that this canyon is somehow out of sync with others. But I doubt it. All I’ll say is the following: Some aspen color is already beginning to appear in some areas of the eastern Sierra. While no one knows when the main show will arrive (or what it will look like), if I were making plans for a visit to the eastern Sierra to photograph aspen color, at this point I would lean toward going a little bit early rather than a little bit late. However, as always, realize that you cannot count on the timing or the quality of the display, and flexibility increases your odds of being there at a good moment.

More articles on Eastern Sierra aspen photography:

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Rhyolite Ghost Town, Amargosa Valley and Mountains

February 9, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

While there can be some moments of beautiful and colorful sunrise light at the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada – and I was there for it – this early morning light from a short time later probably gives a more true sense of what the place tends to look like during the winter months. (Even here, the high, thin clouds soften the scene a bit – it is often quite cloudless.)

From what I understand, Rhyolite sprang up in the very early 1900s after gold was discovered nearby. During the short life of the town, measured in no more than decades, it was reportedly the second largest city in southern Nevada. It featured banks (two of which are seen in this photograph), a railroad station (abandoned but still present and located behind my camera position), newspapers, an impressive school house, and thousands of residents. It was all largely abandoned in the first half of the 1900s and most of the buildings are gone, though traces of them and the old roads they lined can still be found here and there. A few large buildings in the center of the town still more or less stand, in varying states of decay. The building on the right was the Cook Bank. Another bank was located where the white walls are a bit further in the distance. The town school house is the furthest building. The whole town overlooked the Amargosa Valley, where the current boundary of Death Valley National Park lies. Beyond that, an inside the park, are the Amargosa Range and in the far distance the ridge of the Panamint Range and the summit of 11,000+’ Telescope Peak.

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.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Tamarisk

January 15, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tamarisk plants with autumn foliage on the banks of a desert stream, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

I photographed these tamarisk plants with autumn colors on a cold and extremely windy day in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument – most likely, if memory serves, during a brief lull in the wind. It was a beautiful and invigorating day – but certainly not one that was conducive to photographing autumn foliage! We did spend the better part of the day in this canyon, but the wind increased and by the end of our work it was almost strong enough to occasionally stop us in our tracks on the hike out… and then it started to rain!

Tamarisk plants can offer some of the most varied colors of almost any plant, though they are often overlooked because they can easily look drab, especially in daytime light, and because their form is not classically tree-like. But depending on the season and the lighting they can have almost every color imaginable: reds yellow, purple, blue, tan, green. This small group of plants was, obviously, sporting brilliant autumn colors. But, in addition, it was lit by the reflected glow of warm colored light coming from a nearby cliff face in full sun.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: People

Strolling Along Asilomar Beach, Sunset

December 29, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Walkers stroll along misty Asilomar Beach at sunset, Pacific Grove.

Although this might momentarily evoke thoughts of summers at the beach in sunny California… this was shot in the middle of December, and it was rather cold! (The hardy beach-walkers in shorts and bare feet might make you think otherwise.) During the better part of a week spent in the Carmel Valley area I had a number of opportunities to visit nearby coastal areas, and on this evening I had just enough time to make it over to this area at Asilomar State Beach before the sun set.

The winter surf gives this section of the coast a very different look than it has in the winter. In general, the surf is a lot rougher. Along much of this section of coast in Pacific Grove the edge of the water drops off quickly in rocky terrain, but here there is a beach and the beach becomes wider and less steep as it works its way south from this spot. The winter air was a bit hazy and the surf added some mist, creating this colorful glow right about the time of sunset. There were quite a few people out walking on the beach, many with their dogs, so I found an interesting composition shooting along the edge of the water and its reflected sky and then waited for individual walks to place themselves in interesting parts of the frame.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: gold

Early Fall Color, McGee Canyon

Rhyolite Ghost Town, Amargosa Valley and Mountains

Autumn Tamarisk

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