Tag Archives: wheeler

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Nevada

Wheeler Glacier and Cirque Headwall

October 2, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Wheeler Glacier and the cirque headwall below Wheeler Peak, Great Basin National Park

On my recent first-time visit to Nevada’s Great Basin National Park I experienced the challenges and rewards of photographing a brand new (to me!) location. As I have previously noted, I usually avoid doing too much research about a new destination ahead of time, at least beyond what is necessary to successfully get there and back and locate places to stay and eat, along with the most basic known features of the place. (For anyone who hasn’t heard the message already, I’m trying to retain the potential for discovery in new places and to make it more likely that I will form my own orientation to them.) So, what I actually knew about this park in advance of my visit was somewhat limited: it is formed around the Snake Mountains, it is famous for its caves, Wheeler Peak is the second highest point in Nevada, there might be fall color at this time of year, that much of the park is not easily accessible… and there is a glacier!

From this and a few of my other photographs of the high areas of the park you might get the impression that it is largely and alpine place. It isn’t. In fact, the spots that do have that feeling are a small portion of the park and at least partially notable for being exceptions. Yet, once you arrive at such places they become your entire world. (Well, almost your entire world, since views of the surrounding “basin” terrain are rarely far away.) This glacial cirque cuts into the highest ridge, separating the two tallest summits in the park. The view straight into this glacial valley is, indeed, impressively alpine. (As I write this I have a photograph of a Pacific Northwest glacier scene from Mount Shuksan open on my computer, and it shares remarkable parallels with this photograph.) On this visit the effect was enhances by a recent dusting of early autumn snowfall that coats the mountains and the top of the huge rock glacier at the lower edge of the much smaller ice glacier.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Nevada

Wheeler Cirque, Autumn Snow

September 30, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light and autumn snow on the walls and towers above Wheeler Cirque, Great Basin National Park

I often return to national parks and other places with which I have developed a personal relationship over a long period of time. But sometimes I do get to visit a brand new place, and I did just that during the last week or so of this year, when I spent five days making the long trip out to Great Basin National Park and back. When I go to a new area like this I intentionally avoid trying to find out too much about it ahead of time, preferring to begin a process of learning the place on my own terms. I already knew a bit about the Great Basin and the basin and range country, and I did look up the location on maps, though I did not take a detailed look at the maps of the park itself. I knew that the park is near the Nevada-Utah border, with Baker, NV being the closest “town,” that Wheeler peak is the second tallest point in Nevada, that there is a glacier nearby, that there are famous caves, and that I could camp along the main road into the park. I left the rest for discovery.

As I drove across highway 50 from California I was surprised to find recent snow on all of the major mountain ranges in Nevada, and by the time I got to Great Basin NP I knew that I would see it there, too. I made this photograph on my final day in the park. I spent the morning exploring a less-visited area accessible via a long gravel road. (Where I discovered, at the wrong time of day, where to find a lot of fall color!) After lunch I went up to the summit of the park road at 10,000’+ and hiked out to the bristlecone pine grove, traveling a good portion of the distance on snow. It was cold — up here in the upper 30s at times during the day — and the sun goes down earlier this time of year, so I set a turn-around time that would get me back to my car before nightfall. I made this photograph within five minutes of the end of my hike, as the late light was slanting across the peaks and cirque walls from low in the west, and as clouds were forming above the summit ridges.

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Eastern Escarpment, Clearing Autumn Storm

October 31, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An early season autumn leaves a dusting of snow atop Wheeler Ridge, Eastern Sierra Nevada

This long ridge in the Eastern Sierra just north of the town of Bishop has long fascinated me, though for the most part I’ve only looked at it from a distance. (Or from the other side, as there is access via along valley to the west, but that’s a story for another post.) At first I was mostly aware of this steep section of the eastern escarpment of the range when it served as a spectacular backdrop for views of the pastureland and cottonwood trees of Round Valley. But with increased familiarity with the area and opportunities to view if from many directions and distances, I began to note what a tremendously rugged and daunting bit of terrain it is. In many ways, if you ignore the scant vegetation on its slopes, it looks more like the mountains of the desert, even reminding me a bit of places in Death Valley, though with more granite-like rock. Unlike many other Eastern Sierra locations, there is little (no?) evidence of glaciation, but plentiful evidence of erosion from water, including the classic alluvial fan spreading from the steep valley between the low hills in the foreground.

Despite the lack of glacial evidence, the scene presents many other classic components of the eastern face of the range in Autumn. Although it is small against the tremendous landscape, there is an aspen grove and a bit of summer-brown grass near the lower left. The main rocks seem to be the granite that we expect to see in the Sierra. The rocks are lit by filtered sunlight from the southeast. And the cloud drifting in front of the rugged face is the remnant of a passing storm that has dusted the highest peaks with a bit of early season snow, promising that winter cannot be far off.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Snow Storm, Eastern Sierra

October 6, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An early autumn storm drops snow along the summit of Wheeler Ridge, Sierra Nevada

This is not a photograph of eastern Sierra Nevada autumn aspens, a subject that has been quite visible in my stream recently. However, it is as much a photograph of autumn in the Sierra as is another photograph of those trees. During October we often seen the beginning of the grand changing of the gears that moves us from summer to winter. At times it may seem like summer will stick around forever, especially on one of those beautiful, crystal clear autumn days when the light simply glows. But inevitably these days cannot last and soon the first Pacific weather fronts arrive. The first few may only leave a dusting of snow, but the message is unmistakable — winter is coming.

This was such a weekend in the eastern Sierra. On the first day it was sunny and warm, and there was barely any sign that a change was imminent. Yet that night the change most certainly arrived, and when I awoke early in the morning it was in the low thirty-degree range at my camp and snow pellets were falling. Looking outside, through the clouds I could see that the surrounding peaks were covered with a thin coat of snow. After a bit of early morning photography I began my long drive back home, heading up US 395 along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra. Conditions were very changeable, and this scene quickly went from being completely obscured by clouds and rain to clearing conditions with only a remnant of the precipitation along the summit of immense Wheeler Ridge above Long Valley.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wheeler

Wheeler Glacier and Cirque Headwall

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