Tag Archives: trail

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fractured Pinnacles

Image July 11, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fractured Sierra Nevada pinnacles near Whitney Trail Crest.

Over years and decades of travel in the Sierra high country I have continued to notice new things — it is impossible to know everything about such a complex and rich subject. The highest points always appealed to me, and I remember the first time that I really noticed the rugged terrain of the highest ridges. It was on my first traverse of Forester Pass, the entrance to the monumental terrain of the Upper Kern drainage. The pass is a land of broken rock, and as I crossed it I took note of the higher ridges stretching away.

This scene is from another busy area of the high country — generally speaking, the Sierra Crest running south from Mount Whitney. The High Sierra Trail rises to this crest and from there a lateral trail follows the ridge out to the summit of Mount Whitney. I recall making this photograph quite a few years ago and, at the time, thinking about what I wanted it to look like. But other images were more pressing, and it sat in the archive until I recently produced this monochromatic rendition.

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: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Into the Kaweahs

Image July 9, 2022 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

The High Sierra Trail on the approach to Kaweah Gap, Sequoia National Park.

There are some backcountry adventures in my future this summer. One involves setting up a Sierra backcountry basecamp for some serious wilderness photography. Another is a shorter trip with a group of friends that I’ve joined for backpack trips for decades — since before 1990. One way I get myself in the right frame of mind for these trips is by revisiting earlier adventures. Recently I’ve been looking over a collection of photographs from a major trip that I did with the latter group a decade-and-a-half ago. This photograph comes from that trek.

Back then we managed a few quite long trips — up to a couple of weeks. This trip lasted about a week and a half as we backpacked the High Sierra Trail from west to east, concluding with a Mt. Whitney ascent before exiting at Whitney Portal. There’s some significant up and down on the route — it crosses the rugged Kaweah range, drops deep into Kern Canyon, and then climbs again to cross Whitney Trail Crest. This photograph is from the spectacular climb toward Kaweah Gap from the west. (If you look very closely you may be able to spot one of my fellow hikers.)

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake, Trees, and Mountains at Dawn

Image July 7, 2022 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

A quiet morning at a High Sierra backcountry lake in Sequoia National Park.

As is often the case, one thing leads to another, and I sometimes end up in a place I did not anticipate. I saw a question online about a particular sort of landscape subject, and I immediately thought of a photograph of mine that was related to that discussion. But after finding my photograph and thinking how it might inform that discussion… I decided not to share it. But looking for that photograph sent me back into an archive of photographs from a wonderful trans-Sierra pack trip I made almost fifteen years ago — and that’s where I found this photograph. (Perhaps not surprisingly, I’m now revisiting that entire archive!)

That trip was a wonderful one. A small group of friends⁽¹⁾ spent almost two weeks on the trail, crossing the range from west to east. On such a long trip some days are devoted to just moving onward toward the eventual goal, and this was one of those days. We selected this camp location because it was conveniently located along our route. This lake is not what I regard as an alpine spectacle — instead it is a quiet place, and a fine spot to just slow down for a moment. I was up early the next day to photograph the first light on nearby peaks in the morning quiet.

1 — Bonus photo! Here’s a picture of our little gang on the summit of Mount Whitney near the end of the trip.

Talusdancers on Mount Whitney, 2008 — The Talusdances on the summit of Mount Whitney, August 11, 2008. (L-R: Ernie, Caroline, Owen, Emily, Steve, Dan)

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Monterey Cypress Snag

Image June 29, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The skeleton of a Monterey cypress snag above a cove and peninsula on a foggy Point Lobos morning.

This weathered Monterey cypress snag is evidence of the rugged lives of these trees. At Point Lobos many are found along the rocky, rugged, and exposed north shore, where they grow on rocky headlands and at the edge of cliffs. The growth of thriving trees can seem almost lush, but if you look around you’ll inevitably find a lot of struggling trees and dead snags like this one.

Making this photograph was an almost comical affair. A challenge of photographing here is that there is rarely a clear, unobstructed view of interesting subjects. In some cases you could get such a view by (illegally) venturing off the trail, but in addition to being bad manners that is often very risky. To find compositions I often have to be creative, perhaps thinking about how to work the obstructions into the composition, or by shooting around and between them with long lenses. To make this photograph I had to set up in the middle of a narrow section of the trail, use a very wide angle lens, and put the camera in the one precise position that worked… and I had to move the whole setup several times to let people pass as I worked.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: trail

Fractured Pinnacles

Into the Kaweahs

Lake, Trees, and Mountains at Dawn

Monterey Cypress Snag

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