Tag Archives: river

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Hitchcock Lakes

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High Lakes, Trail Crest
Terrain to the west of Whitney Trail Crest

Hitchcock Lakes from the Mt. Whitney Trail. Sequoia National Park, California. August 11, 2008. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hitchcock Lakes seen from the Mt. Whitney Trail.

I climbed Mount Whitney – again – on August 11, 2008 after crossing the Sierra Nevada from west to east on Sequoia National Park’s High Sierra Trail. I’ve been to the summit a couple times in the past. Last year I swore I would not climb this peak again, mainly because there are so many other beautiful things to see in the Sierra and I didn’t feel a strong need to do this again. But my friends proposed a trip that concluded with the Whitney ascent, and I couldn’t say no.

A traditional starting point for ascents from the west is Guitar Lake, a small – and often somewhat crowded – little lake in a truly alpine setting just above timberline. From here the trail ascends the valley containing these lakes, leading to the junction with the trail from the east side just before reaching the ridge, and then a lateral trail traverses out to the summit of Whitney.

It won’t surprise anyone if I say that there are some wonderful panoramas to be seen from almost any point on this climb. One of my favorite is this view back across the valley from which the trail ascended and towards high elevation Hitchcock Lakes and the ridge between them and the Crabtree Basin beyond.

(Oddly, I often find the summit view to be photographically uninspiring, and I usually end up just making some “record” photos there and a perfunctory pano or two.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Forest in Reflected Light, Kern River

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Kern River Forest
“Forest in Reflected Light” — Forest scene along the Kern River in Sequoia National Park, California

In the middle of my August 2008 trans-Sierra backpack trip we spent a morning walking up the 7.5 miles between Kern Hot Springs and Junction Meadow in the upper Kern Canyon. Since I’m fond of higher country I wasn’t expecting too much on this day, but I was happy to encounter a wonderful lighting situation that I’ve seen before in Yosemite and similar valleys: the western canyon walls were in full sunlight and reflecting beautiful, warm, diffuse light across the river into the shaded forest on the east side where I photographed these trees and ferns.

A bit more about this trip. I had previously done this route — the High Sierra Trail — from the western reaches of Sequoia national Park, over the Kaweahs, down into the Kern, the up and over the Sierra Crest with a side trip to Mt. Whitney before exiting at Whitney Portal. This time I went with a group of backpacking friends, and it was wonderful to revisit this landscape.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Morning, Merced Canyon and Bridalveil Fall

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Morning, Merced Canyon and Bridalveil Fall
Morning, Merced Canyon and Bridalveil Fall. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of morning light on the Merced River canyon leading into Yosemite Valley with Bridalveil Fall in the distance.

If you enter the park via state route 120 and head toward Yosemite Valley, after passing the exit to Foresta you cross a ridge and begin the descend toward the Valley. I almost always stop at this location right after the longer of the three tunnels on this section of roadway and enjoy the view straight up the Merced Canyon toward Bridalveil Fall and a point where the Valley bends to the right.

The more I see this photo, the more I like it. Yosemite is, obviously, a place with quite a few famous and iconic photographic subjects, but I don’t think this view – at least not in these conditions – is one of them. But it is a view that many of us know well, as it is along the main northerly entrance to the Valley and is one of the first open views down into the Merced River canyon and the Valley itself, albeit the lower section.

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Photographs: People, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

At the Base of Bridalveil Fall

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At the Base of Bridalveil Fall
At the Base of Bridalveil Fall. Yosemite Valley, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Group of tourists at the base of Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite Valley, California.

I’m not going to give away all the reasons, but this is – perhaps surprisingly – one of my favorite photographs of the past few months. The reasons include those related to form, the subjects, and the place.

keywords: california, national park, Sierra Nevada, Spring, Yosemite, bridalveil, fall, base, trail, viewpoint, mist, spray, rocks, water, waterfall, river, creek, cascade, tree, bush, black and white, stock, travel, scenic, landscape