Tag Archives: sierra

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

Pine Branches – Fletcher Lake

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Pine Branches - Fletcher Lake

Pine Branches – Fletcher Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. September 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Close up photograph of pine branches in soft morning light at Fletcher Lake in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park, California.

This is a portrait orientation version of a scene I photographed recently while on a backpack trip into the Vogelsang High Sierra Camp – Fletcher Lake area of the Yosemite National Park backcountry. I photographed these branches in morning light, and most of the light is filtering in from the other side of the tree and reflected from the sky and brightly illuminated rocks and lake.

keywords: pine, tree, branch, needle, close, macro, morning, light, fletcher, lake, vogelsang, high, sierra, camp, yosemite, national park, california, usa, back-country, backpack, hike, camp, nature, flora, foliage, outdoor, forest, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dry Creek at Fletcher Lake

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Dry Creek at Fletcher Lake

Dry Creek at Fletcher Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. September 7, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dry creek surrounded by golden autumn meadow grasses and illuminated by early morning light winds through a clump of small trees near Fletcher Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

The meadow around Fletcher Lake (the site of Vogelsang High Sierra Camp, one of the group of well-known high sierra camps in Yosemite) turns a beautiful golden brown in the late season and contrasts with the green of the small trees gradually taking over the meadow, especially when the grasses are backlit by the early morning light.

keywords: creek, dry, bed, meadow, grass, brown, golden, tree, forest, small, fletcher, lake, vogelsang, high, sierra, nevada, camp, backpack, hike, landscape, nature, stock, california, usa, alpine, morning, rock, stone

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Pine Needles, Fletcher Lake

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Pine Needles, Fletcher Lake

Pine Needles, Fletcher Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. September 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

During the first weekend of September 2008 I made my first late-season visit to the Sierra, heading to Fletcher Lake in the Yosemite backcountry, a place I often try to visit each year at about this time. I like to get up there as the fall season approaches, and an added bonus this time was the possibility of meeting some fellow photographers who were in the area. (More about that later.)

In the morning of my last day at Fletcher I was up early to photograph the morning light on the rocks and trees around the lake, especially those reflected in the still water at that hour. I was just about finished with that project when I spotted these needles on the shady side of a shoreline grove of trees.

keywords: pine, branch, needle, tree, fletcher, vogelsang, lake, yosemite, national park, california, usa, sierra, nevada, nature, green, fall, autumn, pattern, stock

Commentary, Locations, News

California Fall Color Season About to Start

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The autumn color season in the Sierra Nevada should start very soon. Actually, if you count – as I do – the dry grasses and the high elevation ground plants going dormant, it has already begun. But the real show is the turning of the aspens, mostly in the eastern Sierra, starting around the very end of September and likely peaking during the first week of the month. If conditions are right, it can last as long as the middle of October, but earlier is always better.

Several web sites have posted fall color guides in the past, and since timing is so critical it is a good idea to follow the as the time approaches. One site that is new to me is a US government site that reports on fall colors nationwide. Another that I’ve often followed in the past is the California Fall Color site, though it doesn’t (yet) appear to be active. In addition, I’ll summarize what I know and what I hear about Sierra fall color once the curtain begins to rise on this year’s show.