Tag Archives: sierra

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Mountains, Spring Snow

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Mountains, Spring Snow
New snow from a spring storm blankets high ridges near the Sierra Nevada crest

Mountains, Spring Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

New snow from a spring storm blankets high ridges near the Sierra Nevada crest

There is no question that for me and many others the sight of high, rocky, snow-covered alpine ridges, especially when backed by dramatic clouds and their racing shadows, is a compelling thing. I know it is true, but I often wonder why it is. Logically, such places are not pleasant or comfortable. In Darwinian terms, it is hard to see how an attraction to these places is logical — you aren’t going to find food or shelter there, and the conditions can be life-challenging. Yet we — or at least a pretty big percentage of “we” — find them appealing and even heart-stirring. I suppose that some things must remain mysteries.

This scene looks like winter, but it was photographed during spring. And, despite the alpine appearance, the photograph was made from a road — during my annual first trip over Tioga Pass via Tuolumne Meadows. As can happen at this time of year, one of those dying-gasp-of-winter weather fronts was in the process of moving through, it had left snow on the highest peaks and ridges, and its clouds were still blowing across the mountaintops.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Forest, Peaks, And Snow

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Forest, Peaks, And Snow
Storm clears above snow-dusted peaks near Tuolumne Meadows.

Forest, Peaks, And Snow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Storm clears above snow-dusted peaks near Tuolumne Meadows.

I suspect that most Sierra visitors and residents have certain special places that have long-time associations, certain views that we almost always must stop for, no matter how many times we have seen them. Since the first high country experiences I can recall were in and around Tuolumne Meadows, it is probably no surprise that it is the location of several of those places for me. I have collected these spots for years — decades, actually — and they range from a particular rock outcropping — I stop to visit at the beginning and end of every season — to bigger and more familiar views. I understand that I’m not the only person who counts the first view of Tuolumne Meadows and surrounding peaks, seen along the road at the west end, as one of these places.

Tioga Pass Road opened for the season this past week. I missed opening day, but I did manage a long up-and-back one-day drive a couple of days later. Tuolumne looks quite different at this time of the season, especially if your main experience is limited to the short alpine summer when the snow is mostly gone and the meadow is mostly green. At this early date the meadow is brown (though you can see first shoots of new growth if you look closely), the river is flooding over its banks, and a lot of snow is still on the high peaks. In fact, new snow had just fallen above 11,000′ or so. This photograph does not show the whole view, instead focusing on a bit of meadow, a lot of forest, snow-capped peaks, and the clouds at the tail end of a spring storm

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Afternoon Light, Lee Vining Canyon

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Afternoon Light, Lee Vining Canyon
Clouds from a dissipating storm, afternoon haze and light, spring aspens and meadows in Lee Vining Canyon

Afternoon Light, Lee Vining Canyon. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds from a dissipating storm, afternoon haze and light, spring aspens and meadows in Lee Vining Canyon

This is another photograph from my marathon one-day trip from the San Francisco Bay Area over Tioga Pass and back earlier this week. This was as close to Monday’s opening of Tioga Pass Road as I could make it. In some ways it may have turned out for the best to not go on the actual opening day. I suspect that there were more people up there that day, and it was fairly deserted a couple of days later. I think that the weather was probably a bit more cooperative when I went, too — it was mostly fair, but with some interesting clouds and even a couple of drops of rain.

By mid-afternoon I had crossed the pass and dropped down to Lee Vining. The midday light isn’t generally my favorite for photography, so I went for a hike near Mono Lake before swinging back to Lee Vining to grab an early dinner before starting my return trip. The plan was to start back up through Lee Vining Canyon as the light was starting to become interesting, giving my as much as a couple of hours of potential photography time along Tioga Pass Road. It was somewhat hazy — a slightly thick atmosphere left behind in the wake of a weather front. This can produce dramatic lighting sometimes, but it can also lower contrast, mute colors, and generally make photography a bit tricky. (One option is to shoot for black and white!) As I started the climb up into Lee Vining Canyon, some beams of light came down from dissipating clouds and began to light the new growth of meadows and aspen trees at the bottom of the canyon.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Spring Ice, Snowy Mountains

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Spring Ice, Snowy Mountains
A partially melted lake and snow-covered mountains near the Sierra Nevada crest.

Spring Ice, Snowy Mountains. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A partially melted lake and snow-covered mountains near the Sierra Nevada crest.

For many of us the annual re-opening of Tioga Pass Road through the Yosemite high country marks the beginning of the “summer” season, even though it often takes place in late spring. (And, “the season” typically extends into autumn, too.) Whenever I can, I try to be there on the day the road opens. For those familiar with the route from more typical summer visits, the conditions can be a real surprise, especially in years of heavy snowfall and late melts. In the big years there is water everywhere — waterfalls flowing, creeks and rivers are filled to (and beyond) their banks, meadows are flooded, and sometimes the creeks flow right across the roadway. Conditions beyond the road can be quite difficult, approaching impossible at times. (I recall one very early season hike to Parker Pass, when creek crossings were surprisingly challenging and some high elevation areas that are dry in summer were too wet to walk through.)

I decided not to go on the first open day this year, mostly due to weather issues, instead postponing my visit for a couple of days. I did go, and it turned into one of my epic one-day-up-and-back trips. I was on the road shortly after 4:00 AM, went as far as Panum Crater (which I climbed) near Mono Lake, and didn’t get back home until well after midnight. In some ways, this isn’t the ideal time for photography — that can be more interesting later on when the meadows have turned green. Honestly, it is more about kicking off the new season. Late in the day, I headed back up from Lee Vining to cross Tioga Pass and stopped briefly to photograph this familiar lake just the pass, with its remarkable pattern of melting ice and the distance peaks of Kuna Crest still fully covered in snow.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.