Tag Archives: tuolumne

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

Tuolumne Meadows – Flooding River and Spring Snow

June 10, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Spring snow covers Tuolumne Meadows and the Tuolumne River overflows its banks withLembert Dome, Mounts Dana and Gibbs, and Kuna Crest on the skyline.

These were special conditions that I encountered in Tuolumne on the evening of June 5, the day that Tioga Pass opened for the 2010 season. Tuolumne Meadows was still almost completely covered in snow, except that the river was so full with meltwater that large sections of the meadow were flooded, making parts of it look more like a lake than a meadow. The watercourse in the foreground of this photograph will simply be a grass-covered meadow a few weeks from now, and soon after that will be a great place to look for wildflowers – but on this night it was a fast flowing and cold body of water containing floating bits of slushy ice.

The peaks on the horizon are “old friends” to those who frequently visit Tuolumne – from left to right they are Lembert Dome, Mount Dana, Mount Gibbs, and the end of Kuna Crest where it terminates at Mammoth Peak.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 105mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/25 second

keywords: yosemite, national, park, sierra, nevada, mountain, spring, nature, tuolumne, meadows, river, snow, pack, overflow, flood, flow, lembert, dome, mount, dana, gibbs, kuna, crest, ridge, peak, forest, sunset, evening, light, reflection, landscape, nature, california, usa, north america, sky, stock

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

Mammoth Peak and Ice-Covered Tioga Lake

June 9, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A late winter scene with ice-covered Tioga Lake and snow-capped Mammoth Peak at Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park, California.

The view of Mammoth Peak from the Tioga Pass area is a favorite of mine, and I rarely cross the pass without stopping to at least take a look. My favorite light on Mammoth Peak comes late in the afternoon when it strikes the peak from the side, bringing the textures into relief, especially when there are still snow patches.

The conditions in this photograph are fleeting, in that the photograph was made during the brief interval between full high-country winter and the “summer” season, during which the lakes quickly become free of ice. On this early June day the late afternoon shadows of clouds and nearby peaks fall across the mostly frozen surface of Tioga Lake which is marked by a few areas that are beginning to melt out.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 149mm
ISO 200, f/16, 1/200 second

keywords: yosemite, national, park, sierra, nevada, mountain, spring, nature, california, usa, north america, tioga, tuolumne, lake, kuna, crest, mammoth, peak, snow capped, ice, covered, frozen, pass, road, trans-sierra, highway, 120, sky, clouds, shadows, forest, trees, ice, pond, melt, shadow, reflection, nature, winter, spring, season, thaw, stock, landscape, nature

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

Runoff Pool, Evening – Tuolumne Meadows

December 3, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Grass bordered early summer runoff pool in Toulumne Meadows reflects sunset clouds and the summit of Ragged Peak, Yosemite National Park, California.

I made this photograph on a very early-season visit to the Tuolumne Meadows area in early July of this year. Since this was a below-normal precipitation year, the road to the pass cleared a bit on the early side and by early July almost all of the snow was gone at road level – but there was still a good amount of run-off water in Tuolumne Meadows. (Though nothing like in the big precipitation years, when portions of the meadow become more lake than solid ground.) There were some interesting clouds this evening so I wandered out into one of my favorite areas in the lower end of the meadow as the day ended and photographed the new grasses and pools of water that reflected sky, clouds, and surrounding peaks. In the distance the summit of Ragged Peak marks the location of Young Lakes.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: tuolumne, meadow, tioga, pass, road, sierra, nevada, mountains, range, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, reflection, runoff, pool, water, surface, grass, ripple, cloud, evening, sunset, dusk, summit, ragged, peak, ridge, forest, granite, blue, orange, green, nature, july, early, summer, nature, landscape, scenic, travel, stock

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

Corn Lily Leaves, Early Fall

October 20, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dry corn lily leaves and plants as Sierra Nevada summer plants go dormant at the beginning of the fall season – Upper Cathedral Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

On the first evening of my brief two-day visit to Upper Cathedral Lake, I wandered up a narrow ravine near where we were camped, hoping to eventually get up high for some photographs of dome-like formations and the lake and Cathedral Peak beyond. But almost immediately I became distracted by much more intimate subjects closer at hand in the shaded and diffused light of the gully. Near the top of a narrow section I came across a large bed of old corn lily plants that had reached the end of their short summer-season lives and had fallen over in interesting and complex patterns.

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.

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