Tag Archives: hoffman

Summit Boulders and Tree, Sunset

Summit Boulders and Tree, Sunset
Sunset light on the summit of a Yosemite granite dome on a hazy late-summer evening.

Summit Boulders and Tree, Sunset. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light on the summit of a Yosemite granite dome on a hazy late-summer evening.

Even back before the recent increase in California wildfires, smoke haze was common during the later summer and early autumn months in the Sierra Nevada and, for that matter, over much of the state. For years I noticed that something was different about the atmosphere in September, and it wasn’t until relatively recently that I realized that the hazy softness in the September sky is, at least in part, due to widespread smoke. To be sure, most of the time it this haze is subtle. And, it can also be beautiful in the right situation. On this evening, it softened and warmed the light just before sunset.

We had been camped in this area for several days, and on this evening I took a long and slow walk with my camera. I headed around the far side of the lake that was next to our camp, gradually working my way toward a high point beyond that overlooks one of the great canyons of the Yosemite backcountry. On this summit I found a few glacial erratics and one small tree hiding in their shadow. I paused to make this photograph, then continued on along the spine of the low peak to descend back towards camp on the other side.


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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographer David Hoffman

Photographer David Hoffman
Photographer David Hoffman

Photographer David Hoffman. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 21, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer David Hoffman works the late afternoon canyon light at Capitol Reef National Park

Capitol Reef National Park is, of course, a spectacular place to make photographs, with a wide variety of potential subjects ranging from the obvious icons to things that are possibly not as immediately obvious. I’ve had the good fortune to photograph there on perhaps four occasions now. Each time I visit I discover new aspects of the park that I had not previously known. My first visit was largely to the popular and accessible tourist areas near the Fruita district. A second visit took me to another side of the park over gravel roads. A third visit went beyond those roads to investigate some less known areas that required some advance knowledge and hiking.

The fourth visit was a bit different from each of the others. After photographing alone elsewhere in Utah, and before meeting some other photographers to “work” a more remote area, Dave and I met up for a few days in Capitol Reef. Since it was his first visit to the place, we combined photography of some accessible areas with visits to a few of the areas that are a bit more off the beaten track, and we visited some of the familiar areas at odd times when few others were there. Here, Dave is photographing the rocks and walls of one of the many canyons in the park.


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.
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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.

‘Rim of the World’ Overlook, Morning

'Rim of the World' Overlook, Morning
'Rim of the World' Overlook, Morning

‘Rim of the World’ Overlook, Morning. Sierra Nevada, California. May 7, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view toward Yosemite and the High Sierra from the ‘Rim of the World’ overlook above the Tuolumne River canyon along highway 120.

‘Rim of the World’ is the name given to a scenic overlook above the deep valley of the Tuolumne River along route 120, the northern route into Yosemite National Park. It is something of an odd place. It is a fairly pedestrian traffic pullout, though it overlooks the immense and impressively deep canyon of the Tuolumne. But the view is at least partially obstructed by things like power lines. However, it is a view that on clear days can extend great distances to very high Sierra peaks.

I most often simply blow past the spot on my way to or from the park. However, on this morning as I passed I thought the low morning light looked interesting so I found a spot to turn around and drove back. There was a bit of high cloudiness, and the light was coming across the folds of these foreground hills from the right, lighting up various bits of ridge and trees and illuminating the morning haze enough to amplify the effect of distance. If I’m not mistaken, the further ridge with its faintly seen snow fields is in the area of Mount Hoffman.

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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.

Cloud Shadows on North Dome

Cloud Shadows on North Dome
Cloud Shadows on North Dome. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon cloud shadows race across the top of North Dome with Mount Hoffman beyond and Yosemite Valley below. Photographed from Glacier Point.

Mt. Hoffman is one of the most historic locations in the park. It was from Hoffman’s summit that members of the California Survey Party did much of their early mapping work in the 1800s. Today there is almost a trail to the summit – a steep but not overly difficult route (if you are used to off-trail alpine travel) from May Lake.

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