Tag Archives: outdoors

Photographs: Nature

Triteleia Flowers

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Triteleia Flowers
Triteleia (“pretty face”) wildflowers, Pinnacles National Park

Triteleia Flowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Triteleia (“pretty face”) wildflowers, Pinnacles National Park.

I encountered this lovely batch of flowers on a long day-hike at Pinnacles National Park in mid-April. I arrived in the early morning on this spring day, when wildflowers were still going strong, and headed up a familiar trail to a reservoir. (For those who know the place, I avoided the route through the cave. Been there, done that… and I was caring a pack full of camera equipment and a tripod.)

The route I followed began by heading up the bottom of a small valley that sometimes has more of the character of a canyon, with steep walls that limit how much sunshine gets into there. Apparently this flower likes that, preferring canyons that offer some shade. While I usually do notice the larger wildflowers while hiking, I’m not necessarily one to see all of the colorful things growing here in the spring… but carrying a camera with a macro lens encourages me to pay more attention!

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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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Bear Gulch Reservoir

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Bear Gulch Reservoir
Spring at Bear Gulch Reservoir, Pinnacles National Park

Bear Gulch Reservoir. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring at Bear Gulch Reservoir, Pinnacles National Park.

This small reservoir sits at the upper end of a very popular trail through caves at Pinnacles National Park. The area has been in my consciousness for decades. The caves were perhaps the “main attraction” when my family visited the park (then a national monument) when I was just a kid, so I distinctly remember emerging from the canyon at the upper end of the caves to arrive at this reservoir. I’m not sure of its history, but I suspect that the reservoir has been there a very long time, certainly before it was even a a national monument.

The reservoir is relatively sheltered in the bottom of this canyon, and the water was very still on the day of this recent visit. The surrounding terrain is filled with the pinnacles that give the park its name. If you look closely, you may be able to see a couple of fellow hikers taking a rest in the shade next to the water in the lower left corner of the scene.

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

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

Photographs: Nature

Woodland Star Flowers

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Woodland Star Flowers
Woodland Star flowers, spring, Pinnacles National Park

Woodland Star Flowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Woodland Star flowers, Spring, Pinnacles National Park.

Pinnacles National Park is almost and “old friend” of a park for me. My family first visited when I was quite young, and I recall exploring the High Peaks Trail and the caves. Although I knew that there could be excellent wildflower displays here I had never gotten myself organized to photograph there. So this was my first time to try to accomplish that task.

I arrived early in the morning, and it was easy to see lots of wildflowers immediately. I decided to hike up the shore of a small reservoir, from which I would continue on to the High Peaks Trail. Along the first section of trail the route passed through a small, intimate valley, and it was in this area that I spotted and photographed these flowers.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Hikers, Desert Canyon

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Hikers, Desert Canyon
Two hikers entering the narrows of Titus Canyon

Hikers, Desert Canyon. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two hikers entering the narrows of Titus Canyon.

The stream beds of desert washes often seem to me to be the “freeways” of the desert. They can (but not always!) provide relatively easy walking through rougher terrain. The periodic flow of water, along with the mud and rocks caught in its flow, both clears the washes of vegetation and leaves a relatively flat surface of small stones and dried sediment. Over millennia the water flowing through the washes does the hard word of trail building, wearing down obstructions and leveling out the rough places. (OK, there are exceptions — those chock stones that fall into canyons and block them, along with the periodic “dry falls” that may be unsurmountable.)

This canyon is often used by motor vehicle traffic, but following heavy rains that made the route impassable to vehicles it turned into a much more pleasant place to hike, and a group of us walked up through the spectacular narrows in its lower reaches. Lower in the canyon it is sometimes quite narrow, though in this location it begins to broaden a bit. To understand the scale of the terrain look closely and you’ll be able to spot a couple of hikers.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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