Tag Archives: Mountain

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

An Alpine Bowl

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An Alpine Bowl
Rock-filled meadows rise past the tree line towards the rugged terrain of the alpine zone, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

An Alpine Bowl. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Rock-filled meadows rise past the tree line towards the rugged terrain of the alpine zone, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This particular corner of the Sierra Nevada backcountry landscape became a bit of an obsession for me during out August backcountry photography foray. We camped nearby for a week, and every day we went out to explore and photograph portions of the surrounding alpine landscape. Our base camp was not far below the high country of open meadows and talus, which is my favorite kind of Sierra landscape.

With that in mind, it should probably be no surprise that I walked up into the area in this photograph several times. Access was quite close — a few hundred yards above our camp, after crossing a creek, I was in the lower reaches of the sub-alpine meadow, and from there it was a pleasant amble across the meadows, occasionally through some trees, and on up to the treelike and beyond. High in this bowl I found what I expected — a shallow lake replenished by snowmelt water coming down from high above.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Trees, Drifting Fog

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Trees, Drifting Fog
Fog from a clearing storm drifts among backcountry Sierra Nevada trees growing on rocky ledges.

Trees, Drifting Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Fog from a clearing storm drifts among backcountry Sierra Nevada trees growing on rocky ledges.

This evening marked the end of a 24 hour bout of pretty challenging backcountry weather during our August photography trip in the Eastern Sierra. We had no more set up our tents at our base camp when the skies unleashed hours of the heaviest rain I have ever experience in the Sierra backcountry. Later that evening it decreased enough that we could come out of our tents, recover some gear that had been left out in the deluge, fix dinner, and crawl back into our tents. We thought it was over, but very early in the morning it started again, though this time not nearly as heavy, and continued on into the next day. Finally, on the second evening, the weather started to break.

On this second evening we all headed out to find suitable photographic subjects. The clouds were slowly thinning, and the surrounding peaks starting to show through. Eventually we got a bit of last-minute sunset light that created utterly beautiful cloudscapes and colorful mountains. But first, I set up on top of a rocky outcropping and watched fog drift across this rocky slope, making the trees drift in and out of sight as the clouds washed back and forth.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Timberline Meadow

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Timberline Meadow
A timberline meadow with small trees is bounded by a granite bench.

Timberline Meadow. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A timberline meadow with small trees is bounded by a granite bench.

I recall the time, quite a few years ago, when I first understood that the places in the natural world (and the human world, for that matter) that we identify with are not necessarily the most iconic, biggest, most classically impressive places. I was at the end of a moderately short backpacking loop out of Tuolumne meadows, within perhaps little more than an hour of the trailhead. It was a day of potential rain, and that potentiality became reality at this point. I stopped, put on rain gear and covered my pack, stepped off the trail, sat down, and leaned against a rock to watch the rain approach. Decades later I still remember that rock and consider it a thing worth visiting — although I’m sure that no one else would even notice it.

I passed by the spot in this photograph a couple of times during our August backcountry photography visit to the Eastern Sierra. There are, I’m certain, thousands of similar little meadows throughout the Sierra — most from a stream meandering through, green with meadow grasses, bounded by granite and small trees. But somehow this particular spot caught my attention and, I think, may have become one of “those places.”

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Mountains and Cascade, Dawn

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Mountains and Cascade, Dawn
A cascade descends from the high country as dawn light illuminates peaks.

Mountains and Cascade, Dawn. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A cascade descends from the high country as dawn light illuminates peaks.

One benefit of surviving the deluge we experienced on the first days of our recent backcountry photography trip was that the streams came back to life… and then some. In this drought-year August we were not expecting to see a lot of water, but as the near-flood receded the streams were flowing as if it were still early summer. There was water everywhere — tarns were full, small streams came back to life in meadows, and rocky cascades were full of water.

As I headed into one lovely subalpine meadow I had to cross several of these streams, something that presented a bit more of an adventure than I might have seen a few days earlier. As I pondered this crossing I noted that first morning light on the peaks far above, and I paused to photograph the rapidly descending water that I was about to cross.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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