Tag Archives: wilderness

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fallen Snag, Dry Tarn

November 9, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This year was the second of two very dry years in the Sierra Nevada and much of the west. The snowfall this past winter (2012-13) was far below normal and set records in some places. Last October and November it seemed like we might be starting a very wet season, which would have been welcome after the previous winter’s low levels of precipitation, but then the tap was shut off near the end of the year and there was hardly any more precipitation at all during the rest of the season, the portion when the majority of the Sierra’s precipitation falls. Consequently, this has been a strange summer in the Sierra. Although there may have been more monsoonal rain the usual, the effects of the depleted snow pack are obvious. The spring run-off occurred early and was anemic. By July much of the Sierra looked more like August, and I was already seeing signs of fall by early August.

With all of this in mind, it was no surprise to use to find some unusually dry conditions in the Kings Canyon back-country when we visited for more than a week in mid-September. (Though, in some ways, things were less horrendous than I might have expected. Perhaps this was a combination of going at a time when things tend to be dry anyway and, as a local pointed out to me, some recent summer rains.) On our first day at the location where we stayed to photograph for nearly a week I wandered up some nearby meadows towards a lake that I though I might want to photograph. Very close to my campsite I found several completely dry tarns. (A “tarn” is a seasonal pond fed by snowmelt, and many of them dry up each season.) This very old, sun bleached snag lay across the exposed rocks of this one, creating a stark images.

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” from Heyday Books, is available directly from G Dan Mitchell.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dawn Light, Wheeler Crest

October 31, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn light on rugged Wheeler crest following an autumn Sierra Nevada snow storm.

It had snowed all day the previous day, and I knew that the eastern escarpment of the Sierra would be covered in new snow at dawn. The dawn weather conditions were a bit of an unknown, but it seemed to be worthwhile to get up very early and be in position with a view of the crest at sunrise, so we headed up into the hills above Bishop and below the mountains to see what would happen.

There were clouds. This can be a good thing or a bad thing in this situation. Without clouds the light can be less special, but if there are too many, especially to the east, they may completely block the sunrise light – and that light on the eastern face of the range is what we were there for. There was some clear sky overhead, and it seemed that the clouds to the east over the White Mountains were at least somewhat broken. These conditions bring the possibility – but not the certainty – that the dawn sun may find its way through gaps in the clouds, spotlighting areas of the mountains as the light works its way across and down their east faces. In fact, it worked out this way. We first photographed the range straight on, mostly centering compositions around Mt. Humphreys. After shooting that subject I looked around a bit more and saw bands of light starting to sweep across the face of the cloud-topped and rugged Wheeler Crest.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Flurries, Morning

October 26, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An early autumn weather front drops morning snow flurries along the rugged Sierra Nevada crest near Mount Morrison

This is another photograph from the final morning of our September photographic trip to the eastern Sierra Nevada. We were surprised to find it snowing lightly when we work up in Mammoth that morning, since there had been no mention of such weather in the previous day’s forecast. We decided to stick with our plan of making a big loop out to the east of Mammoth Lakes and then north by a back route to Mono Lake and highway 395 for our return trip. So we headed down the road out of Mammoth Lakes in the pre-dawn near-darkness and then started out across Long Valley.

Out in the valley as dawn approached, it became clear that the atmosphere was doing some very interesting things along the eastern edge of the Sierra. At first we saw a very strong weather cell over Mammoth Lakes that appeared to be dropping quite a bit of rain or snow, even though where we were it was virtually clear overhead. So we stopped and set up to make some photographs of these conditions. We continued shooting after the first red dawn light and watched as the snow squall worked its way south along the Sierra crest. In this photograph there is light snow falling along the ridge near Mount Morrison, but since the clouds did not extend to the east, the early morning light is hitting the upper slopes of this line of peaks.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Snow Squall, Sierra Crest

October 22, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

An early autumn dawn snow squall along the crest of the Sierra Nevada above Long Valley

On the last morning of our October aspen chasing (mostly) trip to the eastern Sierra we were surprised to wake up to snow that had not been in the weather forecast. It seemed that a local squall was centered more or less over Mammoth Lakes, where we were staying. We had a vague plan to do a loop far out to the east of town and then head north toward Mono Lake by back-roads, so we quickly loaded up the vehicle and headed out of town, first going south on highway 395 and then turning off to the east.

As we drove down the hill from Mammoth Lakes there was enough light for us to see a substantial squall to the east and a lot of cloudiness elsewhere along the eastern edge of the Sierra. We were headed right toward the squall, and we stopped as we got in line with it… as it more or less vaporized and blew away. But now we were able to look back toward Mammoth and the Sierra in the pre-dawn light, so we set up here and decided to wait and see what the sunrise light might reveal. The little storm above Mammoth continued to drop a mixture of rain and snow, and it gradually spread south along the crest as the first dawn light arrived.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wilderness

Fallen Snag, Dry Tarn

Dawn Light, Wheeler Crest

Autumn Flurries, Morning

Autumn Snow Squall, Sierra Crest

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