Tag Archives: shadows

From Pacheco to the Sierra, Spring

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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From Pacheco to the Sierra, Spring

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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Calero Trail, Spring

Calero Trail, Spring
Calero Trail, Spring. Calero Hills, California. March 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spring morning on a hillside trail through oak grassland of the Calero Hills in central California. This is representative of the start of what I call “the impossibly green” season in central California when for perhaps a month the grasses, trees, and wildflowers go absolutely wild following the winter rains.

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