Tag Archives: hoover

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Reflected Mountain Slopes

2 Comments
Reflected Mountain Slopes
Golden hour light on the lower slopes of a high Sierra peak is reflected by the surface of a lake

Reflected Mountain Slopes. Hoover Wilderness Area, California. August 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Golden hour light on the lower slopes of a high Sierra peak is reflected by the surface of a lake

On this evening our camp was at a large subalpine lake, improbably located directly on the summit of the ridge of the Sierra, albeit in a relatively low spot that was under 10,000′ of elevation. When I write “on the summit,” I mean it — this lake has two outlets, with one draining to the west into Yosemite National Park, and the other draining to the east, ultimately sending the water into Nevada.

It was a joy this year to once again to see the Sierra with snow on the peaks and filling the gullies. It was so nice that I even managed to avoid resenting the places where the trail was slightly obliterated by remaining patches of snow! As the evening arrived I found a high spot with a good view of the lake and surrounding mountains and made this photograph as the shadows of the last light of the day began to creep up the sides of this peak, with golden light reflecting off the surface of the lake.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snag, Lake, Mountains, Evening

Leave a comment
Snag, Lake, Mountains, Evening
Evening light slants across Yosemite backcountry mountains beyond a subalpine lake and a snag

Snag, Lake, Mountains, Evening. Hoover Wilderness Area, California. August 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Golden hour light on the lower slopes of a high Sierra peak is reflected by the surface of a lake

Arriving at this lake would normally require a one-day walk from the usual trailhead. Our group planned to make a little detour to circumnavigate a nearby peak, however, and take two days to get there. It did take me two days, but not for the reasons I expected! The day before we got a later start than I would have liked, and we ended up doing most of the hiking in the afternoon. That probably would have been fine, except that a fairly serious bit of weather arrived when I was only about two-thirds of the way to my goal. At that point I decided to set up my tent and settle in — which turned out to be a good idea, as it rained for the next three hours!

So, the next morning I found myself several miles and a good climb short of the previous day’s goal. I recalculated, got up slowly, spent some time drying my gear, and was on the rail shortly before noon. The revised plan was now to  head straight to this lake, bypassing the original longer route… and hoping to avoid more rain! In the afternoon it did appear that more rain was moving in, but something changed and the clouds moved away, leaving completely clear skies in the evening when I made this photograph.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake and Mountain, Morning

Leave a comment
Lake and Mountain, Morning
Dawn light comes to mountain slopes above a reflecting High Sierra backcountry lake

Lake and Mountain, Morning. Hoover Wilderness Area, California. August 7, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light comes to mountain slopes above a reflecting High Sierra backcountry lake

I woke up early on the third and final morning of this pack trip — not early by photographic standards, but just before dawn, nonetheless. The rest of my party — perhaps because they are not photographers — continued to sleep in for another hour or more as I crawled out of my tent, gathered up my (downsized for this trip) camera equipment, and wandered off to see what I could see.

The sun had still not quite risen as I came to the top of a small hill above the lake, but very soon its light began to touch the highest peaks and stream across the shoulder of the large peak towering above the opposite shoreline of the lake. Sometimes the scale of a subject such as this mountain seems more obvious to me when I choose to not include all of it, so I chose to crop tightly enough to not show the peak — or the relatively uninteresting plain blue sky above it. (My theory is that a photograph framed so that the entire subject isn’t visible can sometimes produce an impression that the subject is so large that it cannot be contained within the frame.) As I made this exposure the first light was hitting the rocky face of the upper slopes of the mountain, and that light was reflected in the undisturbed early morning surface of the lake.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Shoreline and Evening Reflection

Leave a comment
Shoreline and Evening Reflection
Sunset colors reflected from high peaks along the rocky shoreline of a backcountry High Sierra lake

Shoreline and Evening Reflection. Hoover Wilderness Area, California. August 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset colors reflected from high peaks along the rocky shoreline of a backcountry High Sierra lake

The second evening of this brief eastern Sierra pack trip was much different from the first. On the previous day, as we began our hike, it was already cloudy early in the morning. By mid-afternoon it was apparent that we were in for some weather — thunder clouds were building and spreading across the sky, and soon we began to hear distant thunder. I was at the back of the pack as we headed towards a high lake. I switched from boots to water shoes to wade a river, briefly considering whether to make camp right there before crossing. As I reached the other side and got back into my trail shoes the light sprinkles began. Another ten minutes up the trail I came to a second, deeper and faster crossing just as the rain began in earnest. A choice: Spend 10-15 minutes doing the footwear switch and getting into full rain gear for self and pack? Or make a stand right there and set up camp? I chose the latter, quickly finding a tiny flat (enough) spot to set up my tent in the rain — always an “interesting” task! — and then climbing inside. It rained for the next three hours!

The next morning — the day I made this photograph — I got up slowly, waiting until a few minutes before sun reached my camp and I could start the work of drying things out. I finally packed and headed on up the trail, planning to rejoin my group at the lake where we planned to camp on the second night. Clouds began to appear once again, and it briefly looked like the weather might repeat the show of the previous afternoon, but by the time I arrived at this lake, found the rest of my party, and set up camp… the skies were clearing, and we ended up having a beautiful and peaceful evening. After dinner I took my camera equipment and headed to a high point over the shoreline to photograph. Our camp was a distance above the shoreline at the left side of the photograph, and from this spot I could trace the rocky edge of the water towards the far side of the lake. The blue of evening light and reflected sky contrasts with the warm, saturated color of the reflection from peaks still in the evening sun.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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