Tag Archives: rocks

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Flow Lines, Morning Light

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Flow Lines, Morning Light
Flow Lines, Morning Light

Flow Lines, Morning Light. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft early morning light illuminates curving erosion patterns of a desert gully, Death Valley National Park

Today I’m back from my annual spring photography visit to Death Valley National Park. I first visited this place a bit more than 15 years ago, though photography was not the purpose of that first trip. My first view of the Valley was magical. We had arrived the night before and set up camp in the dark at the first camping area we found, a tiny campground near below Towne Pass at the turnoff to Wildrose Canyon. I had little idea where I was nor what my surroundings looked like, as I had literally never been in this place before. Early the next morning I stepped out of my tent and was greeted by an astounding and unexpected view down into the huge and rugged landscape of this Valley, a first sight I will not forget.

Since then I have returned many times — much of that landscape has become familiar to me as I’ve pushed the boundaries of my knowledge of the place outwards in all directions. I’ve been into areas that I didn’t imagine existed on that first visit, and I’ve learned to see past the geology and geography of the place and see the human history of the park and the sometimes-hidden beauties of wildflowers and more. Today when I visit I still look for that astonishing and grand landscape, but I also slow down and stop and look for more subtle things that I surely missed nearly completely on that first visit. This little miniature landscape of curving erosion and stones and first light is one that I would have missed completely on that first visit, but which I now know can be found almost everywhere in this park once I slow down to the pace of the desert and take the time to really look.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Sunset Light and Talus Slope

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Sunset Light and Talus Slope
Sunset Light and Talus Slope

Sunset Light and Talus Slope. Kings Canyon National Park, California. July 30, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light on a tree-covered peninsula as a steep talus slope falls into evening shadows

This photograph from the first evening of a week-long 2010 southern Sierra backpacking trip reminds me of many things, but at the moment I’m recalling a particular feeling that often comes on the first night on the trail, and which is one of these moments that marks the transition away from the other world to the magical world of the backcountry. Arriving at the start of a long backcountry trip requires a fair amount of planning that begins well before the trip. Often months before (those sometimes on the previous weekend!) a plan is hatched and a group of people assembled. Soon dates are set and an itinerary comes together. As the date approaches, we collect gear together and begin to pack and make the plans for our absence. The process accelerates as the day approaches and soon we are on our way to the mountains, often arriving at a trailhead came the night before, where the familiar sensations and rhythms begin to return.

The next morning we are up early, packing away the things we brought for that first campground night and paring down our possessions to only those things we’ll carry on the trail. We tear down camp, check and double-check gear, fill up water bottles, lock cars, head to the trailhead for the inevitable photo by the sign… and we are off. The first point of breaking away (once again!) is at this moment when we start up the trail, but in some ways this is often the beginning of a mental transition that will last all day as we again become accustomed to life on the trail. We climb, we stop to filter water, we eat our first of many trail lunches, the climb becomes harder as we watch for the pass up above. Eventually we reach that pass, where we stop and sit for a while, looking into the world where we’ll spend the next few days or week(s), then we head down the other side of the pass, an act that always seals the feeling of commitment to the trip. We arrive and set up our first trail camp, once again putting specialized equipment to use, remembering just how we set up that tent and operate that stove. Then, once all these tasks are complete, we find what we came for — there is nothing left to do. So we do nothing. We walk slowly around the lake, make some photographs, sit on a rock, and quietly watch the last light on a tree-filled peninsula beneath shadowed talus slopes.

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

Cascades, Tuolumne River

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Cascades, Tuolumne River
Cascades, Tuolumne River

Cascades, Tuolumne River. Yosemite National Park, California. September 8, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Tuolumne River crosses cascades past rain-dampened granite to begin its descent into the Tuolumne River Canyon

We had some “interesting” and somewhat surprising weather on this early September back-county Yosemite visit. We were out for nearly ten days, and before hitting the trail many of us had been following long-range weather forecasts. As photographers, we were actually hoping for some “interesting” weather, but nothing appeared to be coming our way. A few days from the end of the trip, as we moved from one location to another, we were surprised to find ourselves under a huge plume of wildfire smoke, which we later found out came from the “Meadow” fire that quickly burned out of control in a somewhat different area of the park.

That evening we were in camp after dark, sitting around and talking and doing the usual camp stuff, when we were completely surprised by a flash of lightning in the sky to our southeast. Since we had not seen anything remotely suggesting rain or thunderstorms earlier in the day we weren’t quite sure what to make of this… but within a short time we started to pick up some rain. Overnight we all had plenty of opportunities to hear rain pattering on the roofs of our tents. When we awoke the next morning, a decent amount of rain had fallen, and there were still clouds around. It turned out that the rains continued off and on through them middle of the day. Between showers we headed out to make photographs, and as one shower approached a couple of us headed back to camp. Topping a ridge on a shortcut route, we had a clear view of the rocky terrain through which the Tuolumne River cascades into the upper Tuolumne Canyon, with the rocks still wet from the rain.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Lake Shore, Autumn Bilberry

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Lake Shore, Autumn Bilberry
Lake Shore, Autumn Bilberry

Lake Shore, Autumn Bilberry. Yosemite National Park, California. September 5, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A harbinger of Sierra Nevada autumn, red bilberry plants carpet the shoreline of a sub-alpine lake

This photograph evokes, for me, that special feeling of the end of summer in the high country, when the awareness of the changing seasons is heightened and there is an odd combination of relaxation as the pace of mountain life slows and a feeling that the time of year when access to such places is easy is rapidly coming to an end — and that in a matter of weeks places like this one will be snow-covered and largely inaccessible for another year. It is also a time, perhaps for these very reasons, when the recognition of the natural cycles of seasons and lives becomes more acute.

The red carpet on the close ground along the shoreline consists of small bilberry plants. This small plant is normally easy to overlook. It stands perhaps an inch tall, often in clusters in clear areas along lakes and among trees. During the summer it is, frankly, just another little green thing among many. But in September it transforms into something that you cannot help noticing, especially if you look across a patch into the sun — backlit bilberry suddenly becomes flaming red. Beyond the near shore, trees scattered along a rocky peninsula and small islands catch the last warm and soft light of an “almost-autumn” evening.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.