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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Beach Monument, Lost Coast

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Beach Monument, Lost Coast
A monument of driftwood lumber on a Lost Coast beach.

Beach Monument, Lost Coast. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A monument of driftwood lumber on a Lost Coast beach.

On our recent visit to the far Northern California redwood country, we did a bit of exploring in places that were new to us. (While there are no hard and fast rules about this, I often enjoy trips that combine the discovery of new subjects with repeat visits to more familiar places.) One reason was simply that it is useful to head off in a different direction when the thing you thought you might photograph is not in an ideal state. But we also made some specific advance plans concerning locations like the one in this photograph.

Roughly between the Fort Bragg and Eureka areas there is a remarkable section of the Pacific Coast that is nicknamed the “Lost Coast.” Here the main highways (101 and 1) divert inland to avoid some particularly rugged sections. Few roads make it to the coast, and those that do tend to be narrow, twisty, and a bit less traveled. We drove one of those roads on a large loop that took us to and along this section of almost completely deserted coastline.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Forest Floor, Late Summer

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Forest Floor, Late Summer
Forest Floor, Late Summer

Forest Floor, Late Summer. Yosemite National Park, California. September 6, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late-summer forest floor littered with fallen cones, branches, needles, and leaves.

As summer comes to an end in the high country of the Sierra Nevada, as it was during my early September visit this year, the moisture, growth, and greenery of the early season begins to give way to the drier and more brown conditions signaling the coming of fall. The short period of rapid summer growth ends, and the mountains seems quieter.

We spent several days camping and photographing at a small lake, taking the time to explore and even to return to places to photograph them more than once. By staying in one place for a time, it becomes possible to see things that are easily overlooked during a shorter stay. Initially the dramatic granite features around the lake drew our attention, but after a few days we became more interested in subtler things, including a low, grassy area near the outlet stream of the lake that some of us might have first dismissed. On this morning I was simply wandering slowly though this area, now looking more closely and at smaller things, when I saw the still-shadowed ground densely covered by a carpet of pine cones.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.