Tag Archives: tamarack

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

Mount Conness, Early Evening Thunderstorms

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Mount Conness, Early Evening Thunderstorms

Mount Conness, Early Evening Thunderstorms. Yosemite National Park, California. September 9, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early evening thunderstorms above Mount Connesss, as seen from near Vogelsang High Sierra Camp, Yosemite National Park, California.

As most of California was heading back home on Labor Day, I was heading to the Sierra Nevada for a late-season four-day pack trip into the Yosemite National Park back-country around the Fletcher Lake/Vogelsang High Sierra Camp area. I got off to a very late start and didn’t get on the trail up Lyell Canyon until nearly 5:00 p.m., so it was dark when I finally arrived at the Ireland Lake trail junction to make camp and fix dinner – and, a bit later, to be serenaded by coyotes.

The next day I headed up the Ireland Lake trail to spend a night at Evelyn Lake and then move the following day to Fletcher Lake, the location of the Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. The situation at Fletcher Lake exemplifies much of what I love about late-season Sierra backpacking. During the high season this is a very popular place: a few dozen people stay at the facilities of the high sierra camp and many more backpackers camp nearby – it can be a very busy place! But the high sierra camp shuts down after Labor Day (they were dismantling the tents when I arrived) and the number of backpackers drops dramatically.

But for a photographer, many other special things happen at this time of year as well. While some may lament the passing of the rich green plants of these meadows, I love the golden color that lasts for a few weeks between early September and the coming of the first snow only weeks later – and the spots of green you do find are even more special. The weather cools and there is something special about the light that I can’t quite define – perhaps it is the lower angle of the sun or maybe some change in the weather conditions.

This photograph was made in the early evening on the day I arrived at Fletcher Lake. My usual practice is to set up camp and have an early dinner and then grab the camera equipment as “golden hour” approaches and go to work. I had been focused on the camp chores and hadn’t noticed these clouds until I picked up the camera! Here two large cells, perhaps beginning to dissipate as the day ended, were towering above Mount Conness and the Sierra crest.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Granite Benches above Blue Lake

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Granite Benches above Blue Lake

Granite Benches above Blue Lake. John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. August 5, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening sunlight strikes the trees scattered along the granite benches above Blue Lake, John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California.

Although the scene here looks quite peaceful and quiet, the truth is that it was freezing cold and a very strong wind was blowing. A very unusual early August weather system moved across the Sierra on this night and there was even a threat (unrealized) of some snow flurries. The broken clouds passing quickly overhead created fast-moving shadows that tracked across the terrain, producing the pattern of shadow and light on this steep area of granite benches and trees above Blue Lake.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: granite, rock, bench, ledge, tree, forest, lodgpole, tamarack, pine, blue, lake, scattered, john, muir, wilderness, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, california, usa, national, trail, hike, backpack, camp, evening, afternoon, light, geology, shadow, landscape, scenic, travel, alpine, nature, stock, eastern, sabrina, basin

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

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest

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Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest

Pine Trees, Edge of the Forest. Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park, California. July 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lodgepole pines stand at the edge of the forest next to Tioga Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California.

I have photographed these trees before. They are found at the edge of the meadow along the left side of the road after you leave the forest near the Mono Trail parking lot and enter the meadow at Tioga Pass and approach the entrance station. Several things intrigue me about the trees in this area: they mark the edge of dense forest into which it is difficult to see, few people stop to look at them, they border the meadows, and they sometimes are illuminated late in the day by light reflecting from Mount Dana’s lower slopes to the east.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: pine, lodgepole, tamarack, tree, forest, grove, trunk, branch, needle, meadow, tioga, alpine, thick, dense, grass, flora, pass, road, yosemite, national park, california, usa, sierra, nevada, range, mountains, summit, crest, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, stock, green, edge, dark

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Unnamed Pond Near Blue Lake

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Unnamed Pond Near Blue Lake

Unnamed Pond Near Blue Lake. Sabrina Basin, John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. August 6, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small pond among rocks and forest on the trail above Blue Lake, John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada.

This scene falls, I think, into the category of “typical Sierra Nevada scene.” Anyone who has backpacked into the higher portions of the range has walked past and perhaps stopped at many little ponds like this one. It is in a glacier-formed granite landscape of shallow soil, exposed smooth rock formations, and many rocks and boulders left behind by the glacier. Lush grasses grow around the pond for a few short weeks every summer and the peaks of the Sierra crest are just visible though the taller trees.

This small pond is along the trail between Blue Lake and Dingleberry Lake, not far from Blue Lake. The trail crosses the outlet stream and the skirts the far shore before heading on to higher terrain.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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