Tag Archives: highway

Early Autumn Snow, Conway Summit

Early Autumn Snow, Conway Summit

Early Autumn Snow, Conway Summit. Sierra Nevada, California. October 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Aspen trees begin to change color after an early autumn snow storm at Conway Summit, Sierra Nevada, California.

Back in September I began making plans to visit the eastern Sierra near the end of the month and during early October, and based on previous experience with fall Sierra aspen color I made some assumptions about when and where the color might be at its peak. This year has not evolved according to expectations. I would have expected the huge aspen groves below highway 395 at Conway Summit to be nearing or at peak color during the first weekend of October… but instead the trees here were largely still green with only a few spots of real color. It seems like the low and middle elevation aspens are behind schedule this year.

However, as if to temper the slight disappointment about the lack of brilliant colors, I did get to visit during an early fall cold snap and storm passage that dropped anywhere from a trace to a few inches of snow over a good portion of the Sierra – including the peaks above Conway Summit.

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.

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Aspen Leaves Near Conway Summit

Aspen Leaves Near Conway Summit

Aspen Leaves Near Conway Summit. Sierra Nevada, California. September 27, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Aspen leaves take on fall colors in the middle of a grove near Conway Summit, California.

This is more or less my first autumn aspen color photograph of the 2009 season. Near the end of September I was in the Sierra for a few days, mostly to backpack into Cathedral Lakes for a bit of photography – but after emerging from that trip I had just enough time for a quick trip over Tioga Pass to the “east side” near Lee Vining and then around Conway Summit and Virginia Lake.

In the past I’ve found that the aspens up high on the road to Virginia Lake seem to change fairly early, and they have often lost their leaves even while trees elsewhere are still in good condition. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to try to make an early trip up this road. As you start up the Virginia Lake Road from Conway Summit you soon begin to pass some fairly large groves of aspen trees. The first grove, along the right side of the road, was still almost completely green. However, just up the road from here and on the left side is another grove at the turn-off for a gravel road – and this grove was in great shape. Many of the leaves had turned golden, and a few had turned hues of red and orange. At the same time there were still quite a few green leaves and only a few leaves had fallen.

As the sun dropped closer to the high ridge of the Sierra crest above Virginia Lake, the east side of this grove began to fall into shade – which can be the best of conditions for photographing the intense colors of these leaves.

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.

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More Eastern Sierra Aspen Color Conditions

I returned very late last night (Sunday, 10/4/ 2009) from a weekend trip to the eastern Sierra to photograph fall aspen colors. It was, as they say, an “interesting” experience – in many ways not quite typical but in others not totally surprising either.  On Saturday I posted “Bishop Creek Aspen Conditions – 10/3/09”  in the early afternoon, so this report takes up where that one left off.

After posting that first report from Starbucks in Bishop I drove back up into the Bishop Creek drainage. After getting a camp site at the Four Jeffrey campground (now a surprising $21/night!) I headed up the road toward South Lake to do some late afternoon and evening photography. The weather was not fully cooperative, to say the least! The predicted high winds were arriving in the eastern Sierra, and I think that anyone can understand the “perfect storm” of low light, high winds, and fluttering aspen leaves! I was still able to work with the conditions and get some interesting stuff, though it was a real challenge. To avoid writing the same thing twice, I’ll hold off on the description of the aspen conditions and cover that below as I describe Sunday shooting.

My final stop on Saturday night before putting the camera away for the day was at South Lake, where the wind was howling and the light was fading fast and the temperature was dropping. As I arrived two rather cold-looking backpackers flagged me down and asked, with a certain amount of intensity, if I would drive them down to Bishop. It turned out that they had just finished a 22 mile day, coming from just below Mather Pass, and were exhausted. Realizing that it was time to recharge my own supply of backpacker hitchhiking karma (e.g. – sometimes I need a ride back to my car!) I agreed to squeeze them into the car and drive them down to Bishop. Continue reading More Eastern Sierra Aspen Color Conditions

Pacific Ocean, Rocks, and Clearing Fog

Pacific Ocean, Rocks, and Clearing Fog

Pacific Ocean, Rocks, and Clearing Fog. Big Sur Coastline, California. July 2, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Offshore rocks and clearing fog above the Pacific Ocean, Big Sur coastline, California.

Over the past few years I have a made a series of what I think of as “minimalist seascapes” that feature mostly straight-on views of the Pacific Ocean along the California coast, often with fog or clouds and various patterns on the water. As we drove south down the Big Sur coastline last at the start of the Fourth of July weekend I spotted the fog starting to break up over this section of almost completely still water – and I imposed on my wife to stop while I set up the tripod and made a few exposures. (I make it almost a rule to not do landscape photography while I’m with family. My work habits would drive any sane person completely nuts!)

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.

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