Tag Archives: great western divide

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Two Snags – Big Arroyo

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Two Snags - Big Arroyo
Two Snags – Big Arroyo. Sequoia National Park, California. August 7 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of two trailside snags above Big Arroyo with Great Western Divide in the distance, Sequoia National Park, California.

This photograph was made on Sequoia National Park’s High Sierra Trail as it climbs out of Big Arroyo and onto the Chagoopa Plateau before eventually dropping down into the depths of the Kern Canyon.

I was in full “head down and climbing the trail” mode when I almost walked right past these trailside snags, but my friend Ernie fortunately pointed them out to me. Ernie’s not really a photographer – though he takes far more great photos of fellow backpackers than I – but he notices a lot on the trail. He was the champion at running into wildlife on the August 2008 High Sierra Trail trip, typically managing to discover a couple rattlesnakes each day and on another day discovering a small mammal that the rest of us had never seen in the Sierra.

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Photographs: People, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Steve at Upper Hamilton Lake

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Steve at Upper Hamilton Lake

Steve at Upper Hamilton Lake. Sequoia National Park, California. August 5, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserve

Steve wades into Upper Hamilton Lake below Kaweah Gap – High Sierra Trail, Sequoia National Park, California.

Upper Hamilton Lake was our goal on the second night of our August 2008 9-day trans-Sierra backpack trip from Crescent Meadow in Sequoia National Park to Whitney Portal. This beautiful (and popular) lake is set in a deep bowl below Kaweah Gap, the pass across the Great Western Divide that we would cross the next morning.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dawn and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake

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Dawn and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake
Dawn and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake. Sequoia National Park, California. August 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn along the tree-lined shore of Moraine Lake in Sequoia National Park, California. Moraine Lake is along the “High Sierra Trail” route between Crescent Meadow in the western Sierra and Whitney Portal on the east side of the range. This photograph was made last week as I crossed the range from west to east with a group of friends – who were all still warm in their sleeping bags while I arose before dawn to prowl the lakeshore and get this sunrise photograph.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Lake, Mirrored Reflection

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Alpine Lake, Mirrored Reflection
Cliff wall mirrored on the surface of a rockbound alpine lake in Sequoia National Park, California

Alpine Lake, Mirrored Reflection. Sequoia National Park, California. August 6, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cliff wall mirrored on the surface of a rockbound alpine lake in Sequoia National Park, California

I just returned from a 9-day trans-Sierra backpack trip that passed by the lake on the route over Kaweah Gap as we travelled from Crescent Meadow on the west side of the Sierra to Whitney Portal on the east side. The lake is near the top of the approx. 2500′ climb from Upper Hamilton Lake to Kaweah Gap, a pass across the Great Western Divide into the area near the Kaweahs. After struggling up the steepest portion of the climb – thankfully done in morning shade – you top a small saddle and there it is in front of you. I remember my first visit 30 years ago – although I had seen the famous Ansel Adams photograph of these cliffs I did not know where they were located… until I topped this rise and saw the actual scene right before me.

Shooting the “classic” lake view is almost embarrassingly easy. Walk up to the edge of the lake on the trail and drop down to some nice rocky spots along the shoreline, take out tripod, aim at opposite cliff (one of the signature features of the location), make photographs. It is my impression that this is one of those places that can be good to shoot a bit later in the day – perhaps around mid-morning as the light begins to spill over the ridge and onto portions of the water, where it can illuminate some very interesting underwater rocks.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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