Tag Archives: peak

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fall Color, Parker Bench and Parker Canyon

October 10, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Fall color from aspens, brush, and lowland trees on Parker Bench below Parker Canyon, eastern Sierra Nevada.

Parker Bench is an area above the northern portion of the June Lakes Loop, lying below Parker Lake and the canyon topping out at Parker Pass. The area is visible from highway 395, though driving up closer reveals a lot more details. The canyon itself appears to be very rugged, and I’m not even certain that a trail climbs it to the pass. I do know that the main route over the pass does not descend the canyon, instead turning south and climbing higher after it crosses the pass to exit Yosemite National Park. I’ve hiked to the pass quite a few times, and explored the country on the Yosemite side of the pass extensively.

This can be a good area to view almost the full transition of aspen color as it moves gradually downward from the highest elevations and out into Owens Valley and similar sage brush country areas. In this photograph extensive groves of aspens in full seasonal color are visible on the slopes to the right of the creek draining the canyon, and in a location that is not far from Parker Lake. When this photograph was made in mid-October of 2011, the color had worked its way down below the forest and out into the relatively low areas along the creeks descending from the higher peaks. Right in front of the camera there are bright colors from brush and a few aspens. Also note the unusually heavy snow up near the pass. October 2011 was an unusual month in that it started with a series of three relatively strong winter-type storms sweeping across the Sierra, closing a number of passes and dropping a foot or more of snow in places.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dawn Light, Alkali Lake and the Minarets

October 1, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Pink dawn light illuminates the surface of an Alkali Lake and the Minarets, and Mounts Ritter and Banner

Although it has been almost a year since I made this photograph, I recall the morning very well. I had stayed at a cheap motel in Mammoth Lakes the night before, and when I got up well before dawn I had no specific shooting plan other than to head in the general direction of places where I would find aspens, most likely somewhat south of Mammoth. I drove down to highway 395 from Mammoth and spotted the steam from the hot springs along with some fog in Long Valley. Figuring that I wasn’t certain where I would find the aspen color I was looking for but that I was certain that interesting stuff was happening out in the valley, I changed plans and headed there instead.

I drove to small lake where I have photographed a number of times in the past, pulled off the road, grabbed my gear, and headed out to the bank of the lake opposite the still relatively dark Sierra crest. This was an unusual early October, and three relatively large winter-type storms had passed through during the previous week, dropping substantial early season snow all along the upper reaches of the Sierra. As a consequence, at a time of year when it usually looks more like summer, the range had taken on a very wintry appearance. As the first pre-dawn light came to the sky, it turned the slightly hazy atmosphere a beautiful shade of pink and this light was reflected in the surface of the small lake.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dana Fork Meadow, Cathedral Range

September 20, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Golden late-summer evening light on a small meadow along the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River, with the Cathedral Range in the distance.

Yet more golden pre-autumnal light in the Yosemite Sierra! The scene is one of the many areas of subalpine meadow bordered (and sometimes being invaded by) forest trees found throughout the higher regions of Yosemite National Park. This particular bit of hilly and meadowy terrain was easier to access at the end of this dry season as the stream I crossed to get to this spot was very low. I shot during the last hour of the day as the sun angle became quite low, casting foreground shadows and softening details of more distant features in the seasonal haze.

The distant ridge is the Cathedral Range, with the iconic form of Cathedral Peak silhouetted at the far right. This was the kind of day that most often comes to mind when I think of early fall in the high Sierra – though the actual start of autumn was about a week away when I made the photograph. The weather was relatively warm for this elevation, and it had been mostly sunny all day. The early evening was softened by the haze and the golden hour light accentuated the golden brown colors of the meadow grasses and plants. Something about this time of year seems quieter and more peaceful than the main summer season – I’m not sure if it is the passing of the explosive summer growth period, the slowing of creeks, something in the wind or the light, or simply the knowledge that summer is ending.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Deer Graze Below Lembert Dome and Mount Dana, Tuolumne Meadows

August 2, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Deer graze in the early evening in Tuolumne Meadows below Lembert Dome and Mount Dana, Yosemite National Park.

Although compressed here by the use of the telephoto lens, this view of Tuolumne Meadows, Lembert Dome, and Mount Dana is one of the first that you might see when arriving at the Meadows from the west – at least if you happen to look towards Dana after dropping to the meadow and rounding the first gentle curve to the left past a group of trees that grows along the roadside and at the edge of the meadow. This alignment of Lembert and Dana is one that I always look for when I arrive.

Perhaps because I often see it when I arrived at Tuolumne, and because I most often arrive in the morning, my mental image of this view usually includes haze that makes the view of Dana opaque, especially in when the haze is back-lit by this morning light. Oddly, I don’t often look across the meadows from this point of view during the evening, when I suppose I’m more likely to be further up the meadow and closer to the Tuolumne River itself. On this July evening, however, I did happen to be here just before sunset. (I don’t recall for sure, but I’ll bet that I was returning from photographing somewhere to the west.) When I saw that familiar alignment of Lembert and Dana in the evening light, I stopped. I don’t think that I noticed the herd of deer along the meadow at the bottom of the frame until I was set up.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: peak

Dana Fork Meadow, Cathedral Range

Deer Graze Below Lembert Dome and Mount Dana, Tuolumne Meadows

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