Tag Archives: Mountain

Tuolumne River, Forest, Evening

Tuolumne River, Forest, Evening
Evening light falls across forest and granite, Tuolumne River Canyon

Tuolumne River, Forest, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. July 13, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light falls across forest and granite, Tuolumne River Canyon

On the first evening of my July trip to the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite, having set up my camp and taken care of other chores, I decided to go photograph something nearby. The Tuolumne River is about as nearby as one can find, so I decided to walk down a section where it descends through an area of granite slabs and begins to offer down-canyon views.

My first destination was a particular cascade from which a nearby peak is visible. But as I finished photographing that, a look downstream toward the next bend suggested that better light might be found that way. One thing usually leads to another, just as surely as one bend in the river provides a view of yet another, and eventually I wandered down to this spot, where the river tracked off into the trees and the last light of the day illuminate nearby trees and the ridges and forests further down the river canyon.


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

Trees, Ridge, Morning Haze

Trees, Ridge, Morning Haze
Trees stand in morning light along a glaciated granite ridge, Yosemite National Park.

Trees, Ridge, Morning Haze. Yosemite National Park, California. July 16, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees stand in morning light along a glaciated granite ridge, Yosemite National Park.

Many things characterize the unique personality of the Yosemite National Park high country, but for me the glaciated granite slabs and domes are the primary defining features. You can find them elsewhere, but here they seem to be almost everywhere you look. They include areas of pure rock, sometimes almost without fractures and with almost nothing growing. More typical though are scenes like this one, where the granite is fractured, sculpted by ice, littered with erratics, and interspersed with trees and plants that have managed to find a way to live on what seems like bare rock.

On the final morning of a recent visit to the park, before I had to break camp and head home, I went out looking for ridges like this one, topped with trees and photographed in the back light of the morning sun. Beyond the ridge and trees lies the upper end of one of the great canyons of the park, carrying a stream that eventually arrives in Yosemite Valley.


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

Alpine Rain

Alpine Rain
Midday rain at alpine Sierra Nevada lakes, Kings Canyon National Park

Alpine Rain. Kings Canyon National Park. September 13, 2013. Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Midday rain at alpine Sierra Nevada lakes, Kings Canyon National Park

Back in 2013 a small group of us escaped to a lake-filled basin high in the Kings Canyon National Park backcountry, in a location not that far from the crest. We set up camp at 11,000′ and spent most of a week exploring and photographing the surrounding region.

There are many differences between quickly photographing such a place as you pass by and lingering over it for a week. Most obviously, we had time to slowly meander across the landscape, looking for and finding things that would escape the notice of a more hurried visitor. In addition, conditions change over such a time period, especially this late in the summer. We had beautiful blue sky days and warmth, and we also had days with wind and clouds and rain. This was mixed day. When I headed out there was a combination of clouds and sun, but before long I could see rain working its way up the valley. Sure enough, it arrived as I photographed.


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

Forest, Granite Ridges

Forest, Granite Ridges
Morning light and thin forest along granite ridges, Yosemite National Park

Forest, Granite Ridges. Yosemite National Park, California. July 16, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light and thin forest along granite ridges, Yosemite National Park

This is to be a summer of travel, and a great deal of it will take me a long ways from my Sierra Nevada mountains — to other wonderful places, but not places that are wild and natural. (At least not until September, when my visits to the Sierra will recommence.) So I managed to get up into the Yosemite high country for four days in mid-July to do some photography… and breathing!

On the last morning, before returning to break camp, I headed out early to look for subjects in morning light. In fact, I had been watching this particular area and had in mind to photograph these trees, growing on an old glaciated granite ridge, against the background of more distant, haze-muted, ridges. Once I got there it was a bonus to notice the diagonal shadows of the distant trees.


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 | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


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