The Hub Cap City store on San Carlos Street in San Jose, California.
The Hub Cap City has been a landmark of sorts on old San Carlos Street west of downtown San Jose for many years. I think it is easy to see why… :-)
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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The west face of Mount Whitney at sunset, viewed from Guitar Lake
Near the end of my early August 2008 trans-Sierra pack trip from Crescent Meadow to Whitney Portal we found ourselves at Guitar Lake, the traditional base camp for west side approaches to Mount Whitney. We arrived fairly early to set up camp, and after lazing around and finally getting dinner it was time to do some photography – so I took my equipment and headed to the outlet of the lake where I made this photograph as the last sun hit the peak and was reflected in the lake.
I climbed Mount Whitney – again – on August 11, 2008 after crossing the Sierra Nevada from west to east on Sequoia National Park’s High Sierra Trail. I’ve been to the summit a couple times in the past. Last year I swore I would not climb this peak again, mainly because there are so many other beautiful things to see in the Sierra and I didn’t feel a strong need to do this again. But my friends proposed a trip that concluded with the Whitney ascent, and I couldn’t say no.
A traditional starting point for ascents from the west is Guitar Lake, a small – and often somewhat crowded – little lake in a truly alpine setting just above timberline. From here the trail ascends the valley containing these lakes, leading to the junction with the trail from the east side just before reaching the ridge, and then a lateral trail traverses out to the summit of Whitney.
It won’t surprise anyone if I say that there are some wonderful panoramas to be seen from almost any point on this climb. One of my favorite is this view back across the valley from which the trail ascended and towards high elevation Hitchcock Lakes and the ridge between them and the Crabtree Basin beyond.
(Oddly, I often find the summit view to be photographically uninspiring, and I usually end up just making some “record” photos there and a perfunctory pano or two.)
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
A cloudy July sky over a hilltop fence line in Central California. While it might make a better story if I had made this photograph is some exotic place, I’m afraid that I saw this scene on an afternoon at a nearby place where I frequently hike. This is why I always carry my camera when I hike…
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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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