summit | G Dan Mitchell Photography

Chase Group at Top of Tunitas Road, 2009 Amgen Tour of California

The chase group, led by Rock Racing with Astana’s Lance Armstrong right behind, tops the Tunitas Road climb in rain during state 2 of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California.

The lead group had arrived at the top of Tunitas Road just ahead of this chase group led by Rock Racing (likely trying to protect their rider who started the stage in the yellow jersey) and including Lance Armstrong. The stage had begun on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge in heavy rain, travelled down the coast past Half Moon Bay, and then headed up this steep road through redwood forests to arrive at Skyline Road. Any cyclist who has ever done a long, hard ride in pouring rain can relate to the looks of the faces of these riders.

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Ansel's Tree — “Ansel’s Tree” — The snag that remained in 2008 of the tree in Ansel Adam’s “Jeffrey Pine, Sentinel Dome.”

This is all that remained in 2008 of the Jeffrey Pine on Sentinel Dome that was the subject of the famous Ansel Adams photograph,”Jeffrey Pine, Sentinel Dome.” Somewhere I even have my early attempts at trying to do the “Ansel Adams thing” with my black and white film camera when I was much younger, featuring one or more photographs of this very tree, while it was still alive. Trust me, if you are a Sierra Nevada landscape photographer of a certain age, you knew this tree and probably visited it.

I photographed this close-up “portrait” many years after the tree died, while on a quick hike over to the summit of Sentinel Dome along the Glacier Point Road in 2008. Things change slowly in the Sierra, but they do inevitably change. This is now, objectively speaking, another dead snag atop a Yosemite granite dome — however, this snag has achieved a sort of iconic status. Yet, perhaps there will eventually be another, maybe even the younger tree seen in the background beyond the dead stump.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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Ansel’s Tree

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.