Tag Archives: tioga

Lodgepole Forest, Evening, Tioga Pass

Lodgepole Forest, Evening, Tioga Pass

Lodgepole Forest, Evening, Tioga Pass. Yosemite National Park, California. July 9, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The edge of the lodgepole forest near Tioga Pass in evening light – Yosemite National Park, California.

I drive past this grove of trees just inside the Yosemite National Park boundary near Tioga Pass many times each season as I cross the pass. I especially like these densely growing trees in the evening and early morning light when the detail of many trees and even more branches merges into darkness in the distance. I stopped on this evening when the trees at the edge of the forest were mostly illuminated by light reflected from the lower slopes of Mt. Dana.

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.

keywords: tuolumne, meadow, tioga, pass, road, sierra, nevada, mountains, range, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, lodgepole, forest, tree, grass, evening, dusk, light, thick, dense, branch, trunk, grove, forest, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, stock

First Light, Mount Gibbs

First Light, Mount Gibbs

First Light, Mount Gibbs. Yosemite National Park, California. July 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First morning light shines across the face of Mt. Gibbs above Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park, California.

This photograph was made in the early morning alongside Tioga Meadow, the large meadow just below Tioga Pass inside the eastern boundary of Yosemite National Park, as the first sun crept over the Sierra crest and began to hit the upper slopes of Mt. Gibbs. This is one of my favorite locations along Tioga Pass Road, probably because it is the highest area right at the pass but also because of the extensive rolling meadows containing the skeletons of trees knocked down by avalanches and because of the proximity to much higher peaks, such as Mt. Dana.

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.

keywords: mount, gibbs, morning, dawn, sun, light, mountain, snow, field, red, brown, clouds, sky, blue, forest, trees, meadow, rock, tioga, pass, road, tuolumne, meadows, yosemite, national park, california, usa, ridge, mountains, landscape, sierra nevada, range, scenic, travel, stock

Snowmelt Pond, Sunset

Sunset sky reflected in a Tuolumne Meadows early-summer snowmelt pond.

Snowmelt Pond, Sunset. Yosemite National Park, California. July 8, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset sky reflected in a Tuolumne Meadows early-summer snowmelt pond.

On a more typical Tuolumne visit than the one I experienced last week, this might have been the first photograph I would have shared. If you have followed my posts during the past few days, however, you know that I was fortunate to photograph a very atypical evening two days after I made this photograph – and I’ve been focusing on those images from this visit first.

This photograph was made two nights earlier, on the first evening of my Tuolumne Meadows visit. The location is at the edge of an extensive meltwater pool near the west end of the Meadows, a spot where I like to photograph early in the season. The distant ridge holds Ragged Peak (near Young Lakes), the distant tip of Mount Conness, and other peaks to the north of the Meadow.


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.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

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.

Twilight, Tuolumne River and Tuolumne Meadows, Sierra Crest

the version of this post formerly seen. on this page has been deleted and replaced by a newer, updated version.


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.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


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