Tag Archives: peaks

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Before the Dawn, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley

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Dawn, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley

Before the Dawn, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley. Death Valley National Park, California. April 2, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Before dawn in Twenty Mule Team Canyon with Death Valley and high peaks beyond.

Twenty Mule Team Canyon is traversed by a good but not very busy gravel road. I was in the canyon well before dawn on this morning and torn between shooting detail photographs of the interesting eroded forms nearby and shooting the longer view down the canyon, over low peaks, and into Death Valley beyond. (In the end I worked quickly and did both!) At the time I made this photograph the very first sunlight was barely striking the highest peaks far to the north across The Valley, but the light on the nearby hills was the diffused light that comes from the sky before dawn.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

From Pacheco to the Sierra, Spring

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From Pacheco to the Sierra, Spring
From Pacheco to the Sierra, Spring. Pacheco State Park, California. March 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white spring view from the grass and flower covered hills of the Pacheco Pass area across the Central Valley to the snow-covered Sierra Nevada. (I posted a color version of this photograph a few days ago, but I’m pretty sure I prefer this one in black and white.) Yes, the long focal length compresses the distance between the west side of the Valley, where I was as I shot this, and the east side where the Sierras rise.

I always think of John Muir when I pass though this area. As I recall, when he first headed to the Sierra he went through Pacheco Pass and his description remarks on the carpet of flowers extending into and across the great valley.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

From Pacheco to the Sierra, Spring

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From Pacheco to the Sierra, Spring
From Pacheco to the Sierra, Spring. Pacheco State Park, California. March 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring view from the grass and flower covered hills of the Pacheco Pass area across the Central Valley to the snow-covered Sierra Nevada. John Muir travelled across this pass to visit Yosemite in the 1800s and remarked on the amazing wildflower displays.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Lower Young Lake Shoreline, Dusk

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Lower Young Lake Shoreline, Dusk
Lower Young Lake Shoreline, Dusk. Yosemite National Park, California. September 10, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I spent several days in the Young Lakes area of the Yosemite Sierra Nevada back-country on a solo pack trip late last year. Although Young Lakes are very popular during the summer season and can be reached by a one-day roundtrip hike, this I was alone at the lake on a quiet evening following an afternoon of rainy weather.

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