Tag Archives: kings canyon

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snags and Mountains

Leave a comment
Snags and Mountains
Trailside snags to the east of the Great Western Divide in the Sequoia National Park backcountry

Snags and Mountains. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trailside snags to the east of the Great Western Divide in the Sequoia National Park backcountry

This is another of the photographs from the 2008 trip that I mentioned in an earlier post — a trans-Sierra crossing with friends via the High Sierra Trail. The route, while less known that the John Muir Trail (and shorter) crosses the Sierra from west to east, connecting the west side in Sequoia National Park with Mount Whitney and then Whitney Portal on the east side. The route provides a tremendous cross-section of the Sierra. It starts not far from middle-elevation redwood groves on the west side, follows the gigantic canyon of the Kaweah River to cross the Great Western Divide at Kaweah Gap, drops down into Big Arroyo to reach the depths of Kern Canyon, follows the Kern upstream, climbs steeply to the John Muir Trail, passes through the alpine boundary and then into alpine country to ascend Mount Whitney, and ends with the immense descent from the crest to Whitney Portal.

I made this photograph in the Big Arroyo section of the trail. We had cleared Kaweah Gap and camped in the valley below and were climbing above the Big Arroyo canyon in preparation for a short side-trip to Moraine Lake. This low ridge provided extensive views down Big Arroyo, up into the Kaweahs to our left and behind us, and across the canyon to the Great Western Divide.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Reflected Granite Bench

Leave a comment
Reflected Granite Bench
Soft light on a granite bench and its reflection in a wilderness lake, Kings Canyon National Park

Reflected Granite Bench. Kings Canyon National Park. September 15, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft light on a granite bench and its reflection in a wilderness lake, Kings Canyon National Park

It is hard to believe that three years have passed since this beautiful trip into the Kings Canyon National Park back-country. Four of us schlepped — or more correctly, were schlepped — into a beautiful spot off the main trails where we had the better part of a week to slowly take in beautiful alpine scenery and make photographs.

This was a base-camp photography trip, where we camped in one location and each day wandered out through the spectacular surroundings looking for photographs. Over the time we were there we conditions ranging from typical Sierra sun to rain and rainbows. I made this photograph not far from our camp, and at a time of day before the sun had risen high enough to shine direct light on us — so the water was still, the light was soft.

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: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

The Kaweahs

Leave a comment
The Kaweah
Ridge and Waterfall in the Kaweah Range near Kaweah Gap on the Great Western Divide.

The Kaweahs. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell— all rights reserved.

Ridge and Waterfall in the Kaweah Range near Kaweah Gap on the Great Western Divide.

This photograph comes from the High Sierra Trail, an east-west route across the Sierra between the west slopes of Sequoia National Park and Mount Whitney on the eastern Sierra crest. (Although it is technically not part of the route, I regard the final ascent to Whitney on a lateral trail and the descent from the crest to Whitney Portal to be part of the route.) While the north-south John Muir Trail has rightfully become relatively well-known, the High Sierra Trail is not as popular — though in many ways it is the same league. It covers an extraordinary route, climbing from the forested and gradually rising west side slopes up the immense canyon of the Kaweah River, crossing Kaweah Gap in spectacular fashion, descending Big Arroyo to the grand canyon of the Kern River, which if follows north to Junction Meadow before ascending once again to join the John Muir Trail heading south and then finally climb to Whitney Trail crest.

The trail up into the Kaweahs is stunning, with remarkably rugged and alpine scenery on the ascent from the west. It is, frankly, as impressive as anything else in the range. This section climbs the cirque above a popular lake destination, rising on a trail that follows an improbably route high into the mountains in the photograph before turning to cross Kaweah Gap after passing through a garden of small meadows and rocky tarns.

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+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Granite Cliffs, Alpine Lake

Leave a comment

Granite Cliffs, Alpine Lake
Rocks from vertical cliffs line the base of a deep blue alpine lake

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

Rocks fallen from vertical cliffs line the edges of a deep blue alpine lake

As I write this tonight for posting tomorrow, winter is over and spring is a few hours old. It is perhaps for that reason — the start of spring and the inevitability of summer — that I found myself looking though some old photograph files from a summer about eight years in the past. There is a practical reason to revisit the old files from time to time; I often find photographs that now look pretty interesting that I apparently skipped over originally, for one reason or another. But it is also an opportunity to revisit the older memories as well, since looking at the photographs brings back the recall of many other details of such Sierra trips.

On this trip I crossed the Southern Sierra from west to east with a small group of long-time trail friends. I am not sure why, but I had not been back on this trail in the decades since my first visit — so I was excited to revisit this spectacular route. Today I began tracking the progress of the trip via the old photographs, starting on the first day and looking at photograph up through day three, when we climbed from a beautiful lake to cross the Kaweah Mountains and head east. I came to this photograph, which is a vertical orientation interpretation on a scene in another of my photographs that may be somewhat recognizable. At the time when I made the original print I think I must have committed to the horizontal format and, thus, put the vertical on the back burner. but today I decided that I like this version, too, with a bit less emphasis on the water and a bit more on the vertical thrust of the rocky walls.

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+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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