Tag Archives: tioga

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

Lake and Mountains, Morning

Image July 29, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning mists and light above a subalpine lake, Yosemite National Park.

There is no hiding the fact that this is a popular and sometimes crowded location in Yosemite National Park’s high country. Since this lake is along the Tioga Pass Road route though the park between Tuolumne Meadows (and interesting points farther east) and Yosemite Valley (and most of California!), on busy August days it can be almost oppressively crowded. However, even then, if you go at the right times you can avoid most of the crowds and busy-ness,” and there’s a special bonus: the most beautiful times of the day are often the least crowded!

I’m usually out and about before dawn since I don’t want to miss the beautiful early light or the peace and quiet of the early hours. I had already been up and photographing for some time when I stopped on my way back toward camp to make this photograph. But even as I was wrapping up my morning’s work, most of the people who would show up here later were still sleeping in, having a big breakfast, or perhaps still driving from distant locations. Consequently, I experienced this lovely morning light and atmosphere in near solitude and peaceful quiet.

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

Young Trees, Dark Forest

Image July 25, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Small, young trees growing at the end of a dark and dense forest.

After decades of hiking, camping, backpacking, photographing, skiing, (and in an earlier life occasionally climbing) all over the Sierra, there are odd little unexpected places that have some personal significance to me. In a few cases they are associated with a specific, memorable — there are several, for example, for each of my “kids.” (The “kids” are now all grown, but i remember!) Others connect to travels with backcountry friends or to events that occur there. In some cases, the development of a connection seems to be almost random, and there is nothing at all that points to them in any particularly objective way.

This is one of those latter spots. It isn’t far from a road, and I’ve always been attracted to the views for a mile or two on either side of the spot. But this place? There’s barely a turnout along the road. There is a narrow strip of meadow that runs quickly into thick, high-elevation forest, and it usually has a dark and impenetrable appearance. Logically I know what is beyond it, but it never quite feels like I do. And every year, more than once, I stop again and look at it and perhaps make a few photographs.

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

Meadow, Tarn, and Trees

Image July 29, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Small trees near timberline grow in a meadow surrounding a subalpine tarn

In the Sierra Nevada photographers are nearly always grateful for clouds. There is a reason that these mountains are referred to as the “range of light” — there is a lot of light! In the summer months we often experience many days of perfect blue skies, often without a single cloud in sight, at least if you don’t include jet contrails from the many routes passing above the range. Clouds play a small part in this photograph, but I think they make a difference.

I made the photograph very near Tioga Pass, along the Sierra crest. I rarely photograph in this specific spot since it can be busy place and it is a bit overdone. (I have plenty of work in my archives that I have photographed from right around here.) But on this day the late light, as the sun was just about to pass behind the tall ridge to the west, was both warm and softened by the clearing overcast. So I stopped and wandered briefly into this intimate landscape of trees, meadow, and tarn.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Afternoon Light, Lee Vining Canyon

May 25, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Clouds from a dissipating storm, afternoon haze and light, spring aspens and meadows in Lee Vining Canyon

This is another photograph from my marathon one-day trip from the San Francisco Bay Area over Tioga Pass and back earlier this week. This was as close to Monday’s opening of Tioga Pass Road as I could make it. In some ways it may have turned out for the best to not go on the actual opening day. I suspect that there were more people up there that day, and it was fairly deserted a couple of days later. I think that the weather was probably a bit more cooperative when I went, too — it was mostly fair, but with some interesting clouds and even a couple of drops of rain.

By mid-afternoon I had crossed the pass and dropped down to Lee Vining. The midday light isn’t generally my favorite for photography, so I went for a hike near Mono Lake before swinging back to Lee Vining to grab an early dinner before starting my return trip. The plan was to start back up through Lee Vining Canyon as the light was starting to become interesting, giving my as much as a couple of hours of potential photography time along Tioga Pass Road. It was somewhat hazy — a slightly thick atmosphere left behind in the wake of a weather front. This can produce dramatic lighting sometimes, but it can also lower contrast, mute colors, and generally make photography a bit tricky. (One option is to shoot for black and white!) As I started the climb up into Lee Vining Canyon, some beams of light came down from dissipating clouds and began to light the new growth of meadows and aspen trees at the bottom of the canyon.