Tag Archives: peak

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Eastern Sierra Autumn Sunrise

Image November 10, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Piute Peak Sunrise — Autumn aspen trees at the shoreline of a subalpine lake below sunrise light on Piute Peak.

Autumn aspen trees at the shoreline of a subalpine lake below peaks in sunrise light.

I have photographed at this location for so many years that I no longer count on it to be a place to find something new… unless it looks like conditions might be unusually good. (I do still find other interesting subjects “in the neighborhood.”) But it is my tradition to check in for a short visit every year, and that’s more or less why I was there this October.

The morning was somewhat unpromising. There was a lot of color, but the patterns were unusual — green where I would have expected yellow and orange, and full color in places where I might have expected it to be green. And it was… windy. Very windy. Capturing a nice reflection on the waters of the lake was a lost cause. But sunrise is sunrise, and it is almost always a beautiful sight this ridge.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Aspen Forest, Mono Basin

Image November 8, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A thick forest of small autumn aspen trees near a ridge on the edge of Mono Basin.

I first encountered this aspen forest perhaps a decade ago while poking around in places other than the usual aspen locations. After a few visits I started to figure out the rhythms of the place and when the colors peak — which is not typically at quite the same time as in much of the Sierra. I’ve wanted to photograph the carpet of aspen trees here, but conditions were never quite right… until this morning of peak color with clouds softening the light and sky.

Many of these trees are small compared to the idealized tall, straight aspens that many have seen. But there are few places in California where as may grow so densely in uninterrupted groves. This must be a very old grove, as there are bare, dead snags mixed in among the living trees. Also unusual: the trees ascend to virtually the summit of this ridge.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Ritter and Banner, Morning

Image November 4, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Mount Ritter and Banner Peak — or, as they are sometimes known, the Ritter-Banner Massif — dominate the Sierra Crest skyline in the portion of the range between Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite. They are high, dark, massive peaks. Surprisingly, they are not on the Sierra Crest, but instead on a sort of spur range that runs separates two forks of the San Joaquin River. (The actual crest is much less impressive and is located further east, where it runs north from the Mammoth Mountain ski area.)

I have been almost all around these peaks, having backpacked on both sides. On various day hikes from my backcountry camps I have explored the base of the peaks, too. But this view is from quite far away, a good distance east of the Sierra and out in the start of the basin and range country.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

High Desert Autumn Color

Image October 23, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A colorful grove of mixed trees in the high desert below the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada.

As the Eastern Sierra aspen color season progressed during October, the colors (to speak generally) work their way down from the highest groves to trees in the high desert, where they may appear alongside cottonwood trees, which themselves produce color even later in the season. On this morning I had finished photographing my sunrise location, but I didn’t want to stop just yet. So I decided to stretch the photography time as far into the later morning hours as possible and to do a bit of exploring at the same time. And this brought me back to this familiar grove in the high desert.

A week earlier these trees were all still almost uniformly green. But now, only days later, the grove was quickly transitioning to bright autumn colors. One of the characteristic parts of experiencing this part of the Eastern Sierra is the meeting of high desert and alpine mountains. So here I decided to juxtapose the two — the foreground trees and sagebrush country, and beyond that high peaks bearing snow, some from last year and some from this year’s early season storms.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: peak

Eastern Sierra Autumn Sunrise

Aspen Forest, Mono Basin

High Desert Autumn Color

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.