Tag Archives: reflection

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Precipice Lake – Imaginary Landscape

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Precipice Lake - Imaginary Landscape
Precipice Lake – Imaginary Landscape. Sequoia National Park, California. August 6, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A very subjective view of Precipice Lake, Sequoia National Park, California.

Another take on Precipice Lake, this one is not intended to be a literal depiction of the scene. The image has been manipulated in several ways such that it perhaps belongs in the same category with some of my other photos that I describe as “imaginary landscapes.” Part of the “game” with this one was to reduce saturation to the point where it may seem almost but not quite like a black and white image. I like to think of it as being “subjectively true” without being objectively accurate. (Though, frankly, you can say that about essentially any photograph – I suppose this one may just be a bit further from the objective reality that some others I’ve done.)

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.

keywords: predicipice, lake, cliff, water, snow, rock, pattern, reflection, kaweah, gap, high, sierra, trail, nevada, california, usa, imaginary, landscape, altered, processed, subjective, ansel adams, sequoia, national park, mountain, alpine, talus, pattern

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake

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Evening and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake
Evening and Shoreline Trees, Moraine Lake. Sequoia National Park, California. August 7 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening along the tree-lined shore of Moraine Lake in Sequoia National Park, California.

Moraine Lake is located on the Chagoopa Plateau in the Sierra Nevada backcountry of Sequoia National Park, between Big Arroyo and the deep trench of Kern Canyon. Aside from being a bit windy when I’ve been there, it is a very peaceful spot – and a good warm place (relatively speaking) to swim. No surprise given its name, the opposite shore is formed by a lateral moraine that must have come from a glacier traveling down Big Arroyo, and there are lots of rocks everywhere. In fact, along the near shoreline they form a couple of little peninsulas that enclose shallows cut off from the main lake and which support a few trees like those in this photograph.

Most recently I was here in in early August of 2008, when I and a group of friends camped for a night on our trip from Crescent Meadow to Whitney Portal via the High Sierra Trail. Technically (OK, literally), Moraine Lake is not “on” the High Sierra Trail, being instead on a lateral loop that leaves the HS Trail on the Chagoopa Plateau to drop down to the lake, and which then continues to the loop to rejoin a few miles later. Oddly, it seems to me that most people who hike through here probably do take the alternative route past Moraine, with the exception of some hard-core hikers who walk far enough in a day to not need to camp on the Plateau.

keywords: evening, shore, shoreline, trees, moraine, lake, high, sierra, trail, nevada, backpack, hike, camp, clouds, reflection, rock, mountain, alpine, great western divide, peak, forest, grass, quiet, landscape, california, usa, sequoia, national park, stock, blue, sky

Photographs: People, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Steve at Upper Hamilton Lake

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Steve at Upper Hamilton Lake

Steve at Upper Hamilton Lake. Sequoia National Park, California. August 5, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserve

Steve wades into Upper Hamilton Lake below Kaweah Gap – High Sierra Trail, Sequoia National Park, California.

Upper Hamilton Lake was our goal on the second night of our August 2008 9-day trans-Sierra backpack trip from Crescent Meadow in Sequoia National Park to Whitney Portal. This beautiful (and popular) lake is set in a deep bowl below Kaweah Gap, the pass across the Great Western Divide that we would cross the next morning.

keywords: steve, ratcliff, man, person, wade, stand, water, lake, shallow, alpine, mountain, kaweah, gap, great western divide, high, sierra, trail, nevada, sequoia, national park, california, usa, sky, cloud, reflection, ripple, hat, hike, packpack, camp, outdoor, stock, camp, ridge, peak

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening, Upper Hamilton Lake and Kaweah Gap

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Evening, Upper Hamilton Lake and Kaweah Gap
Evening, Upper Hamilton Lake and Kaweah Gap. Sequoia National Park, California. August 6, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Color photograph of Upper Hamilton Lake and Kaweah Gap as evening sun strikes peaks around the upper basin – Sequoia National Park, California.

Upper Hamilton Lake is located on the High Sierra Trail in Sequoia National Park, and is the traditional camping spot before climbing over Kaweah Gap on the ridge in this photograph. I arrived there on August 6, 2008 on the second day of nine-day trans-Sierra backpacking trip from Crescent Meadow to Whitney portal, and we left the next morning to climb the Gap and head to points east.

This photograph was made in the evening as the sun set, sending its light through the narrow opening of the canyon to the west toward the wall at the upper end of the lake – while the high ridge is still in sunlight the lake and surrounding slopes are already in shadow. The photograph was made from a position not more than ten or twelve feet from my campsite.

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