Tag Archives: timberline

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

An Alpine Bowl

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An Alpine Bowl
Rock-filled meadows rise past the tree line towards the rugged terrain of the alpine zone, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

An Alpine Bowl. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Rock-filled meadows rise past the tree line towards the rugged terrain of the alpine zone, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This particular corner of the Sierra Nevada backcountry landscape became a bit of an obsession for me during out August backcountry photography foray. We camped nearby for a week, and every day we went out to explore and photograph portions of the surrounding alpine landscape. Our base camp was not far below the high country of open meadows and talus, which is my favorite kind of Sierra landscape.

With that in mind, it should probably be no surprise that I walked up into the area in this photograph several times. Access was quite close — a few hundred yards above our camp, after crossing a creek, I was in the lower reaches of the sub-alpine meadow, and from there it was a pleasant amble across the meadows, occasionally through some trees, and on up to the treelike and beyond. High in this bowl I found what I expected — a shallow lake replenished by snowmelt water coming down from high above.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Timberline Meadow

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Timberline Meadow
A timberline meadow with small trees is bounded by a granite bench.

Timberline Meadow. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A timberline meadow with small trees is bounded by a granite bench.

I recall the time, quite a few years ago, when I first understood that the places in the natural world (and the human world, for that matter) that we identify with are not necessarily the most iconic, biggest, most classically impressive places. I was at the end of a moderately short backpacking loop out of Tuolumne meadows, within perhaps little more than an hour of the trailhead. It was a day of potential rain, and that potentiality became reality at this point. I stopped, put on rain gear and covered my pack, stepped off the trail, sat down, and leaned against a rock to watch the rain approach. Decades later I still remember that rock and consider it a thing worth visiting — although I’m sure that no one else would even notice it.

I passed by the spot in this photograph a couple of times during our August backcountry photography visit to the Eastern Sierra. There are, I’m certain, thousands of similar little meadows throughout the Sierra — most from a stream meandering through, green with meadow grasses, bounded by granite and small trees. But somehow this particular spot caught my attention and, I think, may have become one of “those places.”

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

High Country Lake

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High Country Lake
An alpine lake sits in a treeless bowl below the Sierra Crest, Yosemite National Park.

High Country Lake. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

An alpine lake sits in a treeless bowl below the Sierra Crest, Yosemite National Park.

This is a very remote lake high in the Yosemite Sierra backcountry. For years I had visited areas a few miles away and thought about going here. Finally, on this trip — when I was again base-camped at that close location — I took a morning to wander over this way and explore this rocky basin with its shallow lake.

I looked at my map, pointed “that way,” dropped over a short ridge into forest, and headed toward this bowl. I was far from the first person to go here, but there was no trail and barely any traces of other people. (Perhaps I missed a more obvious route?) After a bit of bushwhacking the route began to climb up toward the lake and gradually open as the trees thinned. I arrived to nearly perfect solitude and silence, broken by the song of a bird or two and occasional shouts from climbers high above on a nearby peak.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Timberline Lake, Soft Light

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Timberline Lake, Soft Light
Quiet morning light at a Sierra Nevada timberline lake.

Timberline Lake, Soft Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An alpine stream descends through a boulder-strewn, meadow-filled Sierra Nevada valley.

I photographed this scene in what a colleague refers to as “the quiet light” — the soft light in shade, found here during the daytime but also found before sunrise and after sunset. This lights is not as striking as the more dramatically colored light of sunrise and sunset, but it has a special peaceful quality.

The lake wrapped around our basecamp, with nearby streams flowing into and out of it. The rocky shoreline on the far bank is backed by tiny bits of meadow, some trees, and a series of rocky benches rising to a low, glaciated ridge. Beyond that — and not visible from here — is an alpine lake. And above that rocky talus slopes rise toward the base of the highest peaks, in a world of rock.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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