Tag Archives: lake

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Shoreline, Upper Young Lake

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Shoreline, Upper Young Lake

Shoreline, Upper Young Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. July 29, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Meadows and rocks along the shoreline of upper Young Lake with Sierra Crest peaks reflected the distance, Yosemite National Park.

During the last week of July I backpacked to the Young Lakes area of the Yosemite High Sierra near Tuolumne Meadows to spend the better part of four days visiting and photographing the lakes and other features of this area. I’ve been here many times, but this is the first time that I simply stayed put for several days and visited all three Young Lakes and Roosevelt Lake.

The three Young Lakes are all within about a mile of one another, strung along a creek below the ridge running out the Ragged Peak. Each has a distinct personality, and it isn’t surprising that the upper lake is the most alpine of the three, mostly surrounded by open sub-alpine meadows, a sparse forest of small trees, and open views of the surrounding peaks at or near the crest of the Sierra Nevada range.

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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Back from the Eastern Sierra

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Just back this Saturday evening (hey, looks like it is now Sunday morning) from a five-day trip to the eastern Sierra. This was a trip that almost didn’t happen, and actually did not happen according to the original plan. We originally planned a week-long pack trip into the upper Kern River basin, but those plans were scrapped at the last moment due to a variety of circumstances. Instead a group of three of us dialed back our plans and came up with a shorter trip to the lakes of Sabrina Basin. However, the night before I cracked a tooth! Fortunately, I have a cooperative dentist, and he saw me first thing in the morning on the day I was to leave. I’ll spare you all the dental details, but suffice it to say that he patched things up enough that I was on the road at 2:30 p.m. to rendezvous with my hiking partners at the Four Jeffrey campground that night at 9:00 p.m.

The next morning we headed up the trail out of Sabrina Lake and over the next four days we managed to visit a whole series of alpine lakes: Blue, Topsy Turvy, Sailor, Midnight, Moonlight, and a few others. We had some slightly challenging conditions when an unusual weather system passed over the northern Sierra, bringing rather high winds and colder than usual temperatures throughout the range. On the plus side, the cold seemed to suppress the mosquitoes – and we had a rare conjunction of peak wildflowers and few mosquitoes.

There are still some earlier photos in the queue, but photographs from this trip should start to show up here in the next week or so.

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

South Tufa, Morning

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South Tufa, Morning

South Tufa, Morning. Mono Lake, California. June 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of early morning at South Tufa, Mono Lake, California.

This black and white panorama was photographed on my early June, 2009 visit to the South Tufa area of Mono Lake. Earlier that morning I had photographed the more typical early morning golden light of dawn on the tufa towers from a closer position. This photograph was more or less a last-minute afterthought, as I had completed the photography I had in mind on this morning and had pack up. I was actually leaving the shoreline when I happened to look back at this view that includes many tufa towers and I noticed the two small clouds (remnants of more extensive dawn clouds) centered over the towers.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

First Light, South Tufa

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First Light, South Tufa

First Light, South Tufa. Mono Lake, California. June 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First light of dawn illuminates tufa towers and distant mountain at Mono Lake, California.

This photograph was made at the usual spot – anyone who has photographed at Mono (and who hasn’t!? :-) knows that the most consistent spot to shoot sunrise light is at the South Tufa area, down the road from highway 395 a bit south of Lee Vining. On a good morning you’ll have at least some clouds, and the location of those clouds may dictate what your foreground subject is; do you want to shoot to the north and the low hills, to the east and towards the sunrise, or toward the Sierra Nevada crest? You arrive very early, usually well before dawn, and walk out to the edge of the water where the towers are. You find a composition and wait, with the only sounds the cries of seagulls (a sound I immediately associate with Mono) and possibly the voices of other photographers. The sky begins to lighten and then, almost before you know it, the warm glow of the first dawn light begins to light up the towers. (Am I the only one who marvels that this happens in almost complete silence?)

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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