Tag Archives: grove

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Sunset, Unnamed Lake and Great Western Divide

September 16, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A boulder sits in the still water of an unnamed sub-alpine lake in the Upper Kern River Basin as the sunset light streams over the Great Western Divide.

This photograph comes from a week-long pack trip with a group of friends into the southern Sierra Nevada, this year’s installment of our ongoing annual back-country trips. After crossing over 11,760′ Kearsarge Pass and then 13, 200′ Forester Pass we entered one of my favorite parts of the Sierra back-country, the high plateaus of the upper Kern River basin. This area is surrounded by peaks rising as high as 14,000’+ in almost all directions and the view is expansive because much of the area is a very high plateau with nearly level areas at and above 12,000′.

I have been in this general part of the Sierra many times, going all the way back to my college days when I came over Forester Pass for the first time. On this year’s trip we followed the usual John Muir Trail route down to Tyndall Creek and camped there on day 3. From here we decided to spend the next couple of days exploring a little-visited area to the west where the Kern River has its source and just below the impressive peaks of the Great Western Divide. The lake in this photograph is one of several beautiful but unnamed small lakes in the area in which we camped. Peaks of the Great Western Divide are beyond as sunset light streams between them.

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.

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

Young Trees and Pond, Dana Meadows

August 14, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Young lodgpole pines grow in front of a Dana Meadows pond as Mammoth Peak looms in the distance.

Late in July of this somewhat wet year, the portion of Dana Meadows that extends almost up to the top of Tioga Pass was still very green and a bit wet, with small streams flowing through it and seasonal tarns still full. Being careful to avoid the boggy spots, I wandered down in to this section of the meadow near where the old roadbed is still visible and found small ponds and young trees trying to infiltrate the meadow. Here the pond reflects clouds floating towards Mammoth Peak, the high point at the end of Kuna Crest, on the other side of which is found the Lyell fork of the Tuolumne River.

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Southern California

Afternoon, Upper Bubbs Creek

August 13, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late afternoon light on the forest and distant peaks on Upper Bubbs Creek, Kings Canyon National Park.

Since this photograph comes from an entirely different adventure, a bit of background information is probably in order. Among my summer pack trips, each year I join my friends from the talusdancers, a loosely connected group of folks who like to backpack, for at least one “big trip” in the Sierra. I’ve been doing this for nearly 15 years now. This year’s trip revisited some familiar spots (Tyndall Creek in the upper Kern), some that I had not visited for quite a few years (Forrester Pass), and one area that I have never before visited despite thinking about it for over 30 years (Milestone Basin and the Lake South America area). Near the end of July we headed out of Onion Valley to cross Kearsarge Pass, turned south to enter the Upper Kern River drainage via Forrester Pass, explored there for a few day, and then exited by way of brutal Shepherd Pass.

Forrester Pass is the second-highest point on the John Muir Trail (or “the JMT,” as most refer to it) at 13,200′, and we planned to cross it from north to south on the third day of our trip. At the end of day two we dropped down to Vidette Meadow and then headed up canyon to upper Bubbs Creek where the old Center Basin trail splits off from the main JMT where we made camp. This photograph was made in the late afternoon as we lazed about, doing a bit of laundry and thinking about the big climb ahead of us the next day. The view beyond the foreground and the closer trees is back down the canyon of Bubbs Creek, with the lowering sun lighting the canyon walls.

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.

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

First Light, Tioga Meadows

August 5, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 6 Comments

The first morning light touches trees at the edge of Tioga Meadows, Yosemite National Park.

I always enjoy photographing the light at the edges of shadows as they move across the landscape early and late in the day, and I especially like the way that this light can gradually pick out subjects like these trees against a still-unlit background. With this in mind I was near Tioga Pass early in the morning as the light began to work its way down into Tioga Meadow as the sun rose above the ridges of Mounts Dana and Gibbs.

A bit of an ironic note: I was so focused on the light and the trees that I failed to notice that two deer were grazing in the scene until I began working on the photograph after returning home! If you look very closely you may be able to find one that is right at the shadow/sun edge, but I’d be surprised if anyone can find the second one.

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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