Tag Archives: national

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

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

August 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on Lembert Dome and the forest and grasses of Tuolumne Meadow

The prior day was one of thick wildfire smoke, coming mainly from a fire on the far side of the park near Wawona, but also with contributions from various others fires including some small, managed lightening fires. The effect was not good — the smoke here was as thick as I’ve ever seen it before, including during a late summer visit to Cathedral Lakes a few years back during the height of the drought, when at times it seemed like the entire Sierra was on fire. In any case, the evening before I made this photograph it was still very smokey, and I wondered what the next morning would bring.

As usual, I woke up before sunrise. I was tempted to stay in the warm sleeping bag a while longer, but I summoned the focus to look outside. Noting that I could see blue sky, I got up fairly quickly and left the tent, heading down to the meadow. There was still just a bit of residual smoke hanging around, and there was also a shallow layer of light ground fog. All of this produces some very interesting atmosphere and light as I wandered the meadow, walking between grassy areas and encroaching bits of forest. I paused here, positions myself so that the large trees at the right would block the direct sun, and I made a few photographs including all of the elements of this landscape except the river that passed by out of sight.

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

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

Forest Meets Meadow, Morning

August 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Forest trees at the edge of Tuolumne Meadow, morning

We made a very brief mid-August visit to Tuolumne Meadows recently, mainly as a sort of shake-down cruise to test equipment for another upcoming trip — but also, of course, “because Tuolumne!” The equipment testing went just fine, though other aspects of the trip were less perfect. Mostly, there was the wildfire smoke, which was about as thick as I’ve ever experienced up there on our first day. It was so thick that we actually got in the car and headed over the crest and out of the park to try to escape it, not really getting out of the pall until we went all the way to Mammoth Lakes! It was still very smokey when we returned to camp in Tuolumne and when we went to bed that night.

I woke up early the next day and peeked outside. I didn’t see more than a slight bit of leftover smoke, so I got up fairly quickly and wandered down to the meadow to see what I could see, arriving there with my equipment before the first light came over the Sierra crest. As is so often the case there, despite being one of many hundreds of people camping at Tuolumne, I was alone for a full hour just a few hundred feet from the campground as I wandered and photographed in the meadow. This photograph shows the familiar boundary between forest and meadow. In the foreground and to the left the land is lower in areas that flood during the spring runoff and are still marshy even now. To the right are trees, growing on the slightly higher rocky terrain that dries out sooner and which provides a better footing for these trees.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Two Trees, Golden Hour

August 21, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two lake-side trees in evening light along the Sierra Nevada crest near the Yosemite boundary

After a day of challenging weather it was a relief to watch the skies clear above this High Sierra lake, leading to an absolutely lovely and benign evening. (The previous evening all of us had been trapped inside tents during a three-hour rain storm.) Our camp was set up, we had eaten dinner, it was quiet and calm, and it was one of those peaceful and quiet Sierra Nevada evenings.

After dinner, eaten on the rocky bench near the bottom of this photograph, I got my equipment and climbed a bit higher, to a point from which all of the lake and its surroundings were visible. To my right was the Sierra crest, and beyond the mountains and valleys of the Yosemite backcountry. Across the lake the trees of a low saddle were picking up the late evening light coming across the tops of those Yosemite ridges.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snag, Lake, Mountains, Evening

August 18, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Golden hour light on the lower slopes of a high Sierra peak is reflected by the surface of a lake

Arriving at this lake would normally require a one-day walk from the usual trailhead. Our group planned to make a little detour to circumnavigate a nearby peak, however, and take two days to get there. It did take me two days, but not for the reasons I expected! The day before we got a later start than I would have liked, and we ended up doing most of the hiking in the afternoon. That probably would have been fine, except that a fairly serious bit of weather arrived when I was only about two-thirds of the way to my goal. At that point I decided to set up my tent and settle in — which turned out to be a good idea, as it rained for the next three hours!

So, the next morning I found myself several miles and a good climb short of the previous day’s goal. I recalculated, got up slowly, spent some time drying my gear, and was on the rail shortly before noon. The revised plan was now to head straight to this lake, bypassing the original longer route… and hoping to avoid more rain! In the afternoon it did appear that more rain was moving in, but something changed and the clouds moved away, leaving completely clear skies in the evening when I made this photograph.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: national

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

Forest Meets Meadow, Morning

Two Trees, Golden Hour

Snag, Lake, Mountains, Evening

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