Tag Archives: wilderness

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Shoreline and Evening Reflection

August 13, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunset colors reflected from high peaks along the rocky shoreline of a backcountry High Sierra lake

The second evening of this brief eastern Sierra pack trip was much different from the first. On the previous day, as we began our hike, it was already cloudy early in the morning. By mid-afternoon it was apparent that we were in for some weather — thunder clouds were building and spreading across the sky, and soon we began to hear distant thunder. I was at the back of the pack as we headed towards a high lake. I switched from boots to water shoes to wade a river, briefly considering whether to make camp right there before crossing. As I reached the other side and got back into my trail shoes the light sprinkles began. Another ten minutes up the trail I came to a second, deeper and faster crossing just as the rain began in earnest. A choice: Spend 10-15 minutes doing the footwear switch and getting into full rain gear for self and pack? Or make a stand right there and set up camp? I chose the latter, quickly finding a tiny flat (enough) spot to set up my tent in the rain — always an “interesting” task! — and then climbing inside. It rained for the next three hours!

The next morning — the day I made this photograph — I got up slowly, waiting until a few minutes before sun reached my camp and I could start the work of drying things out. I finally packed and headed on up the trail, planning to rejoin my group at the lake where we planned to camp on the second night. Clouds began to appear once again, and it briefly looked like the weather might repeat the show of the previous afternoon, but by the time I arrived at this lake, found the rest of my party, and set up camp… the skies were clearing, and we ended up having a beautiful and peaceful evening. After dinner I took my camera equipment and headed to a high point over the shoreline to photograph. Our camp was a distance above the shoreline at the left side of the photograph, and from this spot I could trace the rocky edge of the water towards the far side of the lake. The blue of evening light and reflected sky contrasts with the warm, saturated color of the reflection from peaks still in the evening sun.

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 Reflections

August 12, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The quiet morning surface of a subalpine lake reflects the slopes of a Sierra Nevada mountain

In early August I had the opportunity to join a group of friends for a brief backpack trip up to the Sierra Crest in the Hoover Wilderness Area along the northeastern Yosemite boundary. We packed a lot of variety into a short trip — starting at the lower end of an east side canyon and culminating along the still-snowy crest, experiencing typical Sierra summer blue sky and hours of heavy rain, seeing beautiful wildflower displays fed by strong run-off streams, and dealing with the inevitable clouds of mosquitos. This wasn’t primarily a photographic expedition for me, but almost any backcountry travel is going to include some photography, so I carried a smaller and lighter kit that still allowed me to photograph a few things.

I made this photograph very early in the morning. The rest of my group did not share my early morning habits, so when I got up and left my tent before dawn I was alone. I walked to the top of a nearby promontory from which I could overlook the lake and its surroundings as the first light arrived. I am always struck by the immense quiet and stillness found in such places in the very early morning. The air was still and the lake’s surface smooth — no one else was yet out and about, and nothing was moving aside from an occasional fish rising to feed. As the sun slowing spread across the shoulder of the peak on the other side of the lake I photographed for nearly an hour before returning to camp, where my hiking partners were just beginning to stir.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Early Season Alpine Terrain

August 1, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A lakeside meadow begins its short summer period of growth as snowpack melts along the Sierra Nevada crest

I think I can use this photograph to tell a story or two. In late July of this much wetter than normal year, I visited the Sierra in the area roughly between Tuolumne Meadows and Lundy Canyon over a period of four days. After five years of California drought, the balance tipped the opposite direction this past winter, and did so with a vengeance. Many areas got as much a twice the normal amount of precipitation this season. Many areas opened late, lots of facilities were damaged, and a number of places (such as Tuolumne Meadows campground) were still not open when I visited. But I managed to find a high elevation campsite just outside the park, and I decided to mix a little hiking with my photography.

This lake is perhaps a couple of miles from a trailhead that offers two relatively easy ways to get there. I took a familiar one along a north-facing slope above the shoreline of a big lake, because it is shorter than the alternative and in some ways easier. Or so I thought. It turned out that the snow from this big winter is still thick in areas above 10,000′ of elevation — like this one — and more than half of my little hike turned out to be on snow. There was also water everywhere — waterfalls and cascades visible high up on mountain slopes, streams dashing madly down below, flooded meadows, and more. My second challenge turned out to be this water — and I finally came up against a creek that I wasn’t willing to try crossing while hiking solo — a bit too dangerous. The lake in this photograph lies in a subalpine basin below peaks on the Sierra crest. The snow had just (for the most part) melted out of this sodden meadow near the lake’s outlet stream, so I decided to make a few photographs that included the large blocks of granite standing in the meadow along with the very tall alpine ridge in the background.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Eastside Dawn

June 26, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada near Long Valley

I regard myself as a bit of a sunrise connoisseur, having arisen well before dawn on many, many mornings — almost every morning, actually — and often gone out to observe and photograph at first light. Trust me, I do understand how hard it is to get out of a warm bed (or warm sleeping bag) in darkness, dress, and head out into the still-dark world. But if you can start to make it a habit there is a good chance that you’ll become addicted — and what better kind of addiction is there than to need to see the first light?

I photographed this on an autumn morning when I headed out into the valley to the east of the escarpment of the Sierra. It was, as it usually is in mid-October, very cold when we arrived. But it was also very quiet and still, and steam was rising from nearby springs and creeks as the sky began to listen and the first light touched the peaks of the Sierra. It worked its way down the face of the range, across fluted alpine faces, into deep mountain valleys, and eventually to the rounded, tree-covered hills at the foot of the range.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wilderness

Shoreline and Evening Reflection

Dawn Reflections

Early Season Alpine Terrain

Eastside Dawn

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