Tag Archives: sierra

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove, Bishop Creek

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Aspen Grove, Bishop Creek

Aspen Grove, Bishop Creek. Sierra Nevada, California. October 4, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fall colors in an aspen grove near the south fork of Bishop Creek.

This photograph was made in a bit of an odd place. While driving up the road to South Lake along the south fork of Bishop Creek, I spotted an unmarked gravel side road and decided to check it out. The short road traveled parallel to the main roadway, but it went through a thick grove of small aspen trees – so I stopped and spent a half hour in the early evening photographing these trees close up.

keywords: fall, autumn, aspen, tree, forest, grove, color, gold, yellow, orange, white, trunk, branch, grass, landscape, nature, bishop, creek, california, usa, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, stock, foliage

Commentary, Locations

Chasing the Aspens… And a Storm?

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I have plans to photograph the eastern Sierra aspen color this weekend, but it looks like there will be a “bit of weather,” as the first real Pacific weather front of the season will pass through. My first instinct was to perhaps not make the trip since this sort of weather makes things a lot less predictable. But my second instinct – hopefully the better of the two! – was to note that the front will pass and that the conditions may turn out to be a lot more photographically compelling than the usual pre-front weather.

In any case, I’ll have more to report soon – either from on the road or when I return.

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

Mount Whitney, Guitar Lake, Evening

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Mount Whitney, Guitar Lake, Evening
The west face of Mount Whitney at sunset, viewed from Guitar Lake

West Face of Mount Whitney, Guitar Lake, Evening. Sequoia National Park, California. August 10, 2008. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The west face of Mount Whitney at sunset, viewed from Guitar Lake

Near the end of my early August 2008 trans-Sierra pack trip from Crescent Meadow to Whitney Portal we found ourselves at Guitar Lake, the traditional base camp for west side approaches to Mount Whitney. We arrived fairly early to set up camp, and after lazing around and finally getting dinner it was time to do some photography – so I took my equipment and headed to the outlet of the lake where I made this photograph as the last sun hit the peak and was reflected in the lake.

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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Late Summer, Townsley Lake and Choo-Choo Ridge

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Late Summer, Townsley Lake and Choo-Choo Ridge

Late Summer, Townsley Lake and Choo-Choo Ridge. Yosemite National Park, California. September 7, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late season afternoon light shines across the lower slopes of Fletcher Peak and meadows surrounding Townsley Lake, with Choo-Choo Ridge in the distance. Yosemite National Park, California.

Townsley is a small open lake in an open valley a short walk up from Fletcher Lake in the Yosemite National Park backcountry near Vogelsang High Sierra camp. It is a spot fairly familiar to me from my many trips into this portion of the park, and my favorite time is near the end of the summer season and the start of autumn when the meadows go brown and golden and everything slows in preparation for winter. In this photograph the bushes are still green even though the grasses and small plants have begun to go dormant. Beyond the bench at the lower end of the lake and across the valley is Choo-Choo Ridge.

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