Tag Archives: spring

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Boulders, Cascade Creek

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Boulders, Cascade Creek
Boulders, Cascade Creek

Boulders, Cascade Creek. Yosemite National Park, California. June 18, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Granite boulders deflect the turbulent flow of Cascade Creek as it descends to the Merced River, Yosemite National Park.

This photograph is another in my continuing study of the boulders and flowing water of Yosemite’s Cascade Creek. I made this photograph fairly early in the morning on the weekend when Tioga Pass opened this year. I arrived before the scheduled 8:00 a.m. opening of Tioga Pass Road and decided that it would be more interesting and useful to photograph this subject than to wait in line so that I could be on my way over the pass at exactly the moment the road opened, especially when the morning brings shaded, diffused light to this cascade.

As I repeatedly photograph this subject, I begin to know it much more thoroughly. Partly it is a matter of understanding the seasonal and even daily ebb and flow of water and light at this place, but it is also a process of becoming very familiar with smaller details of the scene. When I first photographed here this rock outcropping was something that I occasionally worked to minimize in some compositions, but it has since come to be an interesting subject on its own. It extends into the torrent, forcing the water to flow around (and partially over, in high water) before dropping steeply to the right, running into other rocks, and making a quick and turbulent left turn before heading over another drop. Because it sits in the middle of all of this wild water, it is often covered with water and this water reflects the light of the open sky beyond the shaded confines of this narrow canyon.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Pywiack Dome, Tenaya Creek in Flood

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Pywiack Dome, Tenaya Creek in Flood
Pywiack Dome, Tenaya Creek in Flood

Pywiack Dome, Tenaya Creek in Flood. Yosemite National Park, California. June 19, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pywiack Dome towers above Tenaya Creek as it floods surrounding meadows with spring snow melt, Yosemite National Park.

This little spot between Pywiack Dome and Tenaya Lake has interested me for some time. Driving past, I’ve been intrigued by the dome itself (of course!) but also by the small meadow below it where Tenaya Creek winds through a mixture of forest and meadow, and from which the outlet of Cathedral Lake is visible if you know just where to look. In the past, I’ve wandered about in this meadow a bit, trying to photograph lush growth of corn lily plants early in the season.

On this visit, as I drove by on the first day, I was struck by the amount of water flowing here – what I’m used to seeing as a meadow with a stream winding through it was filled from edge to edge with rushing water from snowmelt-swollen Tenaya Creek. I made a mental note to try to come back here the following morning when I thought that light might be interesting. And that’s just what I did on the second day of this visit during the weekend when the pass opened.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Mount Gibbs, Frozen Pond, Morning

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Mount Gibbs, Frozen Pond, Morning
Mount Gibbs, Frozen Pond, Morning

Mount Gibbs, Frozen Pond, Morning. Yosemite National Park, California. June 19, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on the snow-capped summit of Mount Gibbs above a frozen pond, Yosemite National Park.

This small pond is perhaps familiar to visitors to Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass, though more likely with a different appearance. Here, early on a cold morning on the day after Tioga Pass opened for the season, the pond is still mostly frozen and it is surrounded by deep snow banks. The summit of Mount Gibbs is just touched by the first morning light as it passes through clouds over the Sierra crest.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | LinkedIn | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Mammoth Peak and Kuna Crest, Overflowing Tuolumne River

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Mammoth Peak and Kuna Crest, Overflowing Tuolumne River
Mammoth Peak and Kuna Crest, Overflowing Tuolumne River

Mammoth Peak and Kuna Crest, Overflowing Tuolumne River. Yosemite National Park, California. June 19, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mammoth Peak and the Kuna Crest loom above as the Tuolumne River overflows its banks and floods surrounding meadows on a frosty spring morning, Yosemite National Park.

As I drove from Lee Vining Canyon over Tioga Pass and toward the Tenaya Lake area early in the morning, I came to the Tuolumne River where it passes under the bridge beneath the highway in the Tuolumne Meadows area. Just at about this moment the sun was rising high enough to begin to warm the frost covered meadow, at least the parts of it that were not flooded by the high water of the Tuolumne. Overnight it had risen almost to the level of the bridge and was so high that after passing under the bridge a small portion split off and headed into the trees to the right of the main branch. In a few weeks this flooded area and its reflecting surface will be gone, and there will just be a meadow and people will hike though it.

The backlight comes across the shoulder of Mammoth Peak, the high point near the end of the long snow-covered ridge of Kuna Crest, which runs parallel to Lyell Canyon toward Donohue Pass and the Sierra Crest.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | LinkedIn | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.