Tag Archives: national park

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Boulder Strewn Meadow Near Townsley Lake

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Boulder Strewn Meadow Near Townsley Lake

Boulder Strewn Meadow Near Townsley Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. September 7, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light illuminates a meadow strewn with glacial boulders above Townsley Lake with ice fields of the Fletcher-Parsons ridge beyond in Yosemite National Park.

I made it up to this large plateau above Townsley Lake just before sunset on an early-September evening in 2008, and had the chance to quickly photograph several aspects of this area before (and slightly after) the sun went down. In this spot a large number of large glacial boulders are embedded in the level surface of the tundra and surrounded by late season dry grasses. Beyond the valley holding Townsley Lake is the high ridge between Fletcher Peak and Parsons Peak, and a number of permanent snow fields on this north face of the ridge.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Late Summer, Townsley Lake and Choo-Choo Ridge

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Late Summer, Townsley Lake and Choo-Choo Ridge

Late Summer, Townsley Lake and Choo-Choo Ridge. Yosemite National Park, California. September 7, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late season afternoon light shines across the lower slopes of Fletcher Peak and meadows surrounding Townsley Lake, with Choo-Choo Ridge in the distance. Yosemite National Park, California.

Townsley is a small open lake in an open valley a short walk up from Fletcher Lake in the Yosemite National Park backcountry near Vogelsang High Sierra camp. It is a spot fairly familiar to me from my many trips into this portion of the park, and my favorite time is near the end of the summer season and the start of autumn when the meadows go brown and golden and everything slows in preparation for winter. In this photograph the bushes are still green even though the grasses and small plants have begun to go dormant. Beyond the bench at the lower end of the lake and across the valley is Choo-Choo Ridge.

keywords: late, summer, season, townsley, lake, choo-choo, ridge, bush, tree, forest, grass, meadow, rock, boulder, ridge, mountain, alpine, wilderness, light, fletcher, vogelsang, high, sierra, camp, backpack, hike, yosemite, national park, california, usa, scenic, outdoor

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Shoreline Rocks, Fletcher Lake

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Shoreline Rocks, Fletcher Lake

Shoreline Rocks, Fletcher Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. September 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rocks along the shoreline of Fletcher Lake, with mixed forest and meadow rising up the lower slopes of Fletcher Peak – Yosemite National Park, California.

Yes, another in the series – again from my early September photography trek to the Fletcher Lake area in Yosemite. (For those who may wonder, I’m getting close to the end of this string of photographs of the shoreline of Fletcher Lake.) In this one it was not only the morning light and the interesting textures on the far shoreline that attracted me, but also the circle of rocks in the still water and just offshore.

keywords: fletcher, lake, vogelsang, peak, high, sierra, camp, nevada, morning, light, forest, tree, meadow, grass, rock, boulder, slope, shore, shoreline, water, still, yosemite, national park, california, usa, wilderness, mountains, hike, backpack, camp, scenic, landscape, stock

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Plateau Above Townsley Lake, Sunset

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Plateau Above Townsley Lake, Sunset

Plateau Above Townsley Lake, Sunset. Yosemite National Park, California. September 7, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The last light illuminates the sub-alpine tundra and a small dry tarn on the plateau above Townsley Lake with the Fletcher-Parsons Peaks ridge in the distance. Yosemite National Park, California.

I have crossed this plateau above Townsley Lake near Vogelsang High Sierra Camp many times on travels between Fletcher Lake and the Ireland Lake area. The area fascinates me, as it is a very large and relatively flat area of alpine tundra in an area that otherwise contains a lot of high rocky peaks. For several years I’ve wanted to be on the plateau as the sun sets, and I finally got my chance during my early September 2008 photography expedition into this area. I stayed up here long enough to photograph after the sun had set… and then stumbled back into camp in the dark to fix a late dinner under the light of my headlamp.

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