Tag Archives: timberline

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

High Country Lake

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High Country Lake
An alpine lake sits in a treeless bowl below the Sierra Crest, Yosemite National Park.

High Country Lake. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

An alpine lake sits in a treeless bowl below the Sierra Crest, Yosemite National Park.

This is a very remote lake high in the Yosemite Sierra backcountry. For years I had visited areas a few miles away and thought about going here. Finally, on this trip — when I was again base-camped at that close location — I took a morning to wander over this way and explore this rocky basin with its shallow lake.

I looked at my map, pointed “that way,” dropped over a short ridge into forest, and headed toward this bowl. I was far from the first person to go here, but there was no trail and barely any traces of other people. (Perhaps I missed a more obvious route?) After a bit of bushwhacking the route began to climb up toward the lake and gradually open as the trees thinned. I arrived to nearly perfect solitude and silence, broken by the song of a bird or two and occasional shouts from climbers high above on a nearby peak.

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: Sierra Nevada

Timberline Lake, Soft Light

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Timberline Lake, Soft Light
Quiet morning light at a Sierra Nevada timberline lake.

Timberline Lake, Soft Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An alpine stream descends through a boulder-strewn, meadow-filled Sierra Nevada valley.

I photographed this scene in what a colleague refers to as “the quiet light” — the soft light in shade, found here during the daytime but also found before sunrise and after sunset. This lights is not as striking as the more dramatically colored light of sunrise and sunset, but it has a special peaceful quality.

The lake wrapped around our basecamp, with nearby streams flowing into and out of it. The rocky shoreline on the far bank is backed by tiny bits of meadow, some trees, and a series of rocky benches rising to a low, glaciated ridge. Beyond that — and not visible from here — is an alpine lake. And above that rocky talus slopes rise toward the base of the highest peaks, in a world of rock.

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 and Amazon.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Cascade And Peaks, Morning

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Cascade And Peaks, Morning
Peaks lit by early morning light rirse above a Sierra Nevada wilderness cascade near timberline

Cascade And Peaks, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Peaks lit by early morning light rirse above a Sierra Nevada wilderness cascade near timberline.

The daily routine on these backcountry photographic expeditions tends to follow a basic pattern. We’re up very early — in order to be in a good place by the time the light arrives we typically need to arise when it is still dark out and then make our way to our chosen location. There’s often an intense period of photography right around sunrise, but then things taper off as the rate of change in the light slows. We work for a couple of hours until the light becomes less spectacular, then we return to camp for breakfast followed by a midday period of mostly hanging out. We usually eat dinner in the late afternoon time frame, and then we head out once again for a few hours of photography that often end in darkness.

On this morning I had a plan to walk up a nearby route to a higher lake, where I had several potential photographs in mind. I knew that these scenes were very light dependent, so I wanted to arrive early. I set out with plenty of time… and immediately started to find myself distracted by unanticipated subjects. I stopped to photograph the inlet stream of a lake, then a pool below the trail, then this lovely section of a small creek cascading down the slope from the valley above.

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 and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Timberline Lake And Reflections

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Timberline Lake And Reflections
A timberline lake in 20 Lakes Basin reflects the face of a tall granite ridge

Timberline Lake And Reflections. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A timberline lake in 20 Lakes Basin reflects the face of a tall granite ridge

This scene gets up close and personal with the crest of the Sierra Nevada, along the boundary country just northeast of Yosemite National Park. The lake is just below the tree line, so the forest here is very sparse and the trees small. Just beyond the lake the terrain becomes so rocky that the trees basically end.

I hiked here early on mid-July morning, starting at dawn and having the trail and this lake almost entirely to myself — at the height of Sierra summer tourist season! (One group did pass by on a nearby trail, but otherwise no one else was there.) The reflections in this lake of the steep and rocky terrain beyond are marvelous, and I considered a square format crop that eliminates the “distracting” sky and peak — and I still may do that!

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.