Tag Archives: trail

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

Tree Trunks, Tyndall Creek

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Tree Trunks, Tyndall Creek
The trunks and branchs of a group of closely spaced trees high in the Sierra Nevada backcountry

Tree Trunks, Tyndall Creek. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The trunks and branchs of a group of closely spaced trees high in the Sierra Nevada backcountry.

A simple photograph of some tree trunks, of a sort you could perhaps find in locations all over the higher portions of the Sierra Nevada, can evoke a surprising number of memories and associations. While I might walk past such a thing and not take much notice, I have often spent time in the company of such trees — pausing for lunch on the trail, living among them in a high country campsite.

Some of these memories are general, which is not a surprise given that such trees are everywhere. In that light, I’ve often contemplated how such trees seem to occupy a middle ground between the relatively short lives of creatures like ourselves and the “deep time” of rocks. The trees live hundreds of years, and as they adapt to their rooted locations they can sometimes seem to have more in common with the rocks than with us. Other associations are quite specific — and this photograph takes me back to a specific location along the JMT, a place I’ve camped a number of times, and to the people I was traveling with and those we encountered on a couple of specific days.

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: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Intertwined Trunks

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Intertwined Trunks
Tightly laced tree trunks, Southern Sierra Nevada

Intertwined Trunks. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tightly laced tree trunks, Southern Sierra Nevada.

This is an older photograph that has languished in my raw file archives for nearly a decade. Back in 2010 I was on a long Southern Sierra backcountry trip with a group of friends — roughly speaking we made a giant semi-circle around Mount Whitney, starting southeast of that peak and coming out over a week later at a point considerably north. A milestone on this trip was realizing — finally! — that re-climbing that iconic peak is less profitable than spending time in many other equally beautiful places in the Sierra. At several points on this trip we found ourselves in lonely, less-visited spots, and I treasure the trip for that reason. These trees were at one of our campsites, in a location essentially right at timberline.

Everyone’s work habits are unique, but for me it is important to periodically go back and look through older photographs that didn’t “go anywhere” at the time. I inevitably find images that are worth the second look. I’ve often pondered how and why this happens. Among my theories: perhaps I simply moved on to quickly to other projects at the time, possibly I didn’t really understand how to “see” the image, my interests and perspectives have changed. Regardless, this is one reason that I’m hesitant to delete a lot of raw files — all too often I’ve gone back and found something that I was glad I kept!

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: Ocean & Coast

Pacific Coast Highway, Spring

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Pacific Coast Highway, Spring
Spring grass and wildflowers on the California Coast along the Pacific Coast Highway below Carmel

Pacific Coast Highway, Spring. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring grass and wildflowers on the California Coast along the Pacific Coast Highway below Carmel.

Just another spring day along the Big Sur coast. Really. I had the morning free so I headed down the coast, getting as far as the upper Big Sur coast, where spring was coming on strong. The hillsides were green (they will be brown soon enough!) and there were wildflowers everywhere.

This cove is a familiar one, located in the upper section of this part of the coastline, below Carmel and above the settlement of Big Sur. It is often a lovely spot, with the cove on one side and a point extending into the ocean on the other, and with rugged rocks and sea stacks everywhere. On this morning I looked at this scene across the headland, covered with spring greenery and yellow flowers.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

High Peaks Trail

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High Peaks Trail
The High Peaks trail passes trees and cliffs, Pinnacles National Park

High Peaks Trail. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The High Peaks trail passes trees and cliffs, Pinnacles National Park.

This trail and this park have a special place in my California outdoor experience. I’ve live in the state since I was four-years-old and my parents moved here from Minnesota. From the earliest I can remember my family visited a bunch of outdoor locations in the Northern and Central California area, and I always regarded a trip to Pinnacles National Park (then Monument) as a special treat. It seemed like a very long drive to the east side entrance, and once we got there a visit to the caves was always the highlight. But we also took longer hikes, including memorable walks up to and across the “high peaks.” I continued to visit over the intervening years, but I’ll save a few of those experiences for another post.

The Pinnacles get their name from the striking rocky outcroppings found in the park. In the “high peaks” area they literally sit on the summit ridge, but they are found elsewhere in other settings, including the walls of some small, deep canyons. The trail mostly crossed familiar chaparral terrain, but here it passes beneath some impressively large rock faces and under the branches of some trees with new spring growth.

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 | Facebook | Email

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.