Morning Light and Snow. Yosemite Valley. March 4, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Tag Archives: scenic
Between Ireland and Townsley Lakes
Tarn between Ireland and Townsley Lakes. Yosemite National Park. August 27, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
This small tarn is located on a cross-country route* over a low ridge between Ireland and Townsley Lakes in Yosemite’s backcountry above Tuolumne Meadows. The plateau where this lake is located is one of may favorite parts of the park, and I visit it at least once each summer.
*For those wondering about the route: There is no trail between Townsley and Ireland Lakes, so you should only go here if you are comfortable with trail-less travel and have some experience with this. If you don’t, I’ll just point out that people have gotten lost and into other kinds of unfortunate trouble in places even more benign than this one. Please only regard this as a personal story and not as encouragement to travel here nor as a route guide.
That said, I often make my way to Townsley Lake from Fletcher Lake by any of the common routes and the many available variations, some of which almost look like faint trails. I like to either ascend the grassy slopes above (to the right when approaching from Fletcher) Townsley directly from the lake or else bypass the lake and head straight for the upper part of this slope. From the top of this slope a large alpine tundra area dotted by a few small tarns appears before me. I take a route that heads generally toward the left side of an apparent cone-shaped prominence on the ridge between me and Ireland Lake – there are many ways to get there and I don’t always follow the same route. Eventually I cross over some steep slabs to top out on this ridge, from which I pick out a reasonable route down to the trail coming up toward Ireland Lake from the left.
keywords: tarn, pond, townsley, fletcher, lake, ireland, mountain, ridge, meadow, rock, creek, alpine, sierra, nevada, yosemite, national park, backpack, hike, camp, cross country, landscape, scenic, stock
Merced River and El Capitan
Merced River and El Capitan. Yosemite National Park. May 21, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
This photograph was made during the spring of 2005 when the Merced River was flooding during a very high spring runoff. Here the water is almost spilling over the banks near where it passes by El Capitan.
keywords: el capitan, cap, merced, river, flow, high, water, reflection, cliff, face, morning, tree, forest, meadow, grass, nose, light, spring, yosemite, valley, national park, california, usa, landscape, travel, scenic, sierra, nevada, mountains, stock
Pastures Near Bishop, California
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Pastures and Eastern Sierra. Bishop, California. August 6, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
There were thunderstorms up and down the eastern Sierra on this late August afternoon.
A little story about getting this photo: I had spent the day up in the White Mountains visiting and photographing the famous Bristlecone Pines. It had been a long day – longer than expected – and I had finally made my way back to Owens Valley to begin the long drive back to the San Francisco Bay area. I had done so much photography already that I was feeling burned out when I saw this lovely light in the pasture area just north of Bishop. I almost drove right past it, but at the last minute took a quick exit from the highway and drove off onto a side road where I found this wonderful scene.
keywords: pasture, bishop, california, eastern, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, highway, 395, owens, valley, thunder, storm, clouds, dark, meadow, tree, agriculture, usa, travel, scenic, landscape