Grant Ranch Wildflowers and a Tree
A couple wildflower photographs and a photograph of a lone tree atop the ridge near Dutch Flat, all from my short afternoon hike at Joseph Grant Ranch park today. (As always, larger versions of these photographs may be viewed at my Photography Gallery site.)
More Wildflowers
Today I was out early, hiking up some of my favorite trails (and not-quite-trails) to find more spring wildflowers. This time I went to Calero County Park in the hills south of San Jose. Most of the hills are still very green and the trees are leafing out. A few spots – on ridgetops, for example – are starting to go brown, but the surprise is that many of these areas are filled with California Golden Poppies.
(Larger versions of these photographs may be found in the wildflowers section of my photography gallery.)
Death Valley 2008
I began the month with a four day trip to Death Valley. Rather than copying and pasting, here is a link to a story I posted at my photography web site.
A Fall Weekend in Yosemite
I had the opportunity to make one last fall color trip to Yosemite this past weekend – and this time I didn’t try to cram the whole trip into a single day.
I left reasonably early on Saturday so that I could be in the Valley shortly after dawn. On the first day I spent a fair amount of time chasing the last gasp of the fall foliage. It had been at its peak the previous weekend, so I knew that many of the leaves would have fallen – but there were still some great examples of autumn color, including large maple leaves in some of the shady areas along the south side of the Valley.
I ended the day by shooting the classic view of Half Dome from the meadow near Yosemite Village before camping in Upper Pines on Saturday night. I often wonder what the other nearby campers must think about my “camping” practices. Since I’m generally off photographing until the last light fades, I usually show up in camp after dark. I sit at the campsite picnic table cooking up a quick dinner on my backpacking stove, and then pretty much go right to sleep. Then I’m up an hour or more before sun rise and gone.
On Sunday I was up at 4:45 – somewhat consoling myself that with the time change it was really kind of, sort of, like 5:45 the day before – and leaving without breakfast to drive to Glacier Point to photograph the sunrise. I’m more used the the crowds that often assemble there in the summer to view the sunset, so I was a bit surprised to find only three other people enjoying the stunning view of the Sierra sunrise. (In fact, as near as I could tell, there were only five people on the entire Glacier Point road at this early hour.)
Having had no breakfast and finding nothing open at Glacier Point, I began to think about heading back to the Valley for some coffee and food. An hour or so after sunrise I started to drive back to the Valley, but got distracted by frost on Bridal Veil creek meadow, and then by interesting foliage and a burned area of the Valley floor.
By the time I finished with these distractions I realized that I had barely enough time to get to (what passes for) a coffee shop at Curry Village. Unfortunately – but not surprisingly – they had almost closed up a good half hour before they were scheduled to do so. I decide to forego the last stale looking muffin in their display and instead went back to Upper Pines and broke camp. I figured I might find something to eat over at Yosemite Village, and I made the mistake of getting a “breakfast croissant” at Degnan’s. Let me officially warn other Yosemite visitors against this unwise choice! Mine was made even less palatable when the “cook” neglected to remove the paper from the cheese slices before serving it to me. Yum. Not. At least they had espresso. :-)
Having the rest of the afternoon free before my planned sunset shoot I spent a bit more time in the Valley, including some time photographing meadows and oaks near the Ahwanhee. My plan was to then drive up near the Wawona Tunnel to check out that classic view before sunset. I often forego this overdone view of the Valley unless the conditions are really special, but having sufficient time I thought I’d check it out. My main plan was actually to photograph a different view of Half Dome and El Capitan from Highway 120. When I got to the Tunnel parking lot I quickly realized that a managed fire above El Capitan was interfering with all photographic opportunities at the west end of the Valley, so I decided to do another classic scene at the Sentinel Bridge. This view includes Half Dome and at this time of year a lot of interesting fall foliage over the Merced River.
As the light finally faded I got in the car and started the drive back to the Bay Area, glad that standard time had arrived, allowing me to get home “an hour earlier” than the previous week.
(Photos from this trip will appear at my photography web site over the next few weeks.)
Oak and Dogwood Leaves and Other Things
As my previous hint suggested, I did another one-day photographic trip yesterday – this one to Yosemite Valley to see autumn colors. Up at 3:15 a.m. and on the road before 4:00 a.m. I arrived at the park entrance at 7:00 a.m., still before sunrise. Since there wasn’t yet enought light to photograph dogwood leaves and other autumn foliage along highway 120 I went ahead to the first view of Half Dome and El Capitan and shot a few images there before heading back up 120 to spend some time on the foliage. Then I headed down into The Valley where I found the foliage in abundance – it was just about as colorful as I’ve ever seen in the Valley.
I started at El Capitan Meadow (after a short snooze to make up for my early rise time) where there are a bunch of really beautiful black oaks in the middle of golden grasses. I spent over two hours working this spot before heading on to the Curry Village area. I left the car here and did the “tourist hike” to Vernal Fall, hoping to photograph a tree at the base of the cliff at the fall. When I got back to car it was later than I expected and darkness was arriving a bit early, so I started back down the valley to try to grab a few late shots, but without a whole lot of success – the high overcast was now thicker and there wasn’t much of a sunset.
The light was challenging all with light overcast and occasionally thicker clouds. This is a mixed blessing – large scale scenic vistas were somewhat obscured by haze and flat light; on the other hand the softer light can work well with foliage and similar subjects.
I have posted a few examples in my Gallery – This link should get you to several of them.
Fedak: Big Basin to the Sea
Fedak posts description of his hike from Big Basin State Park HQ to Waddell Beach. I’ve wanted to do this hike, or at least a similar version, for some time. I’ve hiked a ways up the trail from Waddell Beach a couple of times, and I’ve hiked out from Big Basin HQ to a point where I could see down to the ocean – just haven’t found the time (or worked out the car shuttle) to do the whole thing.
A Cancelled Trip
By tradition, I join a group of backpacking friends almost every year for an “end of season” pack trip in mid-October. The usual plan is to head to Tuolumne Meadows late on a Friday and hike, either that night or the next morning, to the Fletcher Lake – Vogelsang High Sierra Camp area. However, mid-October Sierra plans must be subject to change…
… and this time the plans changed.
It has been a bit of an unusual fall in the Sierra so far. It isn’t uncommon to get a dusting of snow or two in late September or the first half of October, but more typical weather this time of year includes lots of beautiful golden sunshine. However, this year we’ve seen a string of early Pacific storms pass over the Sierra. I’ve been up there on each of the past two weekends to photograph aspens in the eastern Sierra, and both times I had to concern myself with temporary closures of the higher trans-Sierra passes. (On the plus side, I’ve also been able to include newly fallen snow in many of the photographs.)
Yesterday, my plan was to leave the south SF Bay Area by about 2:00 and arrive at Tuolumne by 6:30 or so, at which point I would shoulder my pack and start up the Rafferty Creek trail in the fading light and complete the hike using a headlamp. (I’ve done this before – it has its pluses and minuses, but mostly pluses…)
However, this morning finds me sitting at home on a couch typing on my computer instead. Another front came though yesterday, dropping quite a bit of rain in the Bay Area. Knowing that the Park Service folks close Tioga Pass Road if there is even a slight dusting of snow this time of year, I was concerned that I wouldn’t make it to Tuolumne. I might have, but they did close the road by about 8:30. In that case, my hike would have been in snow flurries. At night. With no moon. Alone.
While that situation does have its attractions (I’m strange that way… ;-) the sensible part of me said, “no.”
Knowing that the Yosemite dogwoods are turning fall colors right now and that the road is likely to be open and clear by tomorrow and that it will close soon for the winter, I may just do a quick up-and-back trip on Sunday.
For now, I think I’ll have another espresso… :-)
Anatomy of a Sierra Nevada 'Aspen Blitz'
It is September – actually it may October when you read this – and time to chase the aspens in the eastern Sierra. I made my first serious attempt of the year yesterday. Here’s how the madness unfolded…
On Friday night – pack stuff for the day, including enough gear that I could stay out overnight if necessary. Try to get to bed early but more or less fail. :-)
Up at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. After a quick bagel and an espresso I’m on the road before 4:00 a.m. I drive out of the Bay Area and across the Central Valley in the dark and begin to see a bit of light in the east before Jackson. Fill the tank in Jackson and head on toward Carson Pass. The sun rises a bit before I reach Kirkwood, so I stop and shoot a few sunrise photos looking north towards peaks around Lake Tahoe… and including an inch of snow in the foreground.
I stop to take a few photos at Silver Lake and eventually work my way over the pass. I stop on the other side to look out over Hope Valley which holds many stands of aspens, quite a few of which are starting to turn yellow. I do a bit of photography in Hope Valley as far down as Sorenson’s and then head on down toward Woodfords where I turn right and head up past Markleeville to the start of Monitor Pass.
Lots of aspens on Monitor Pass beginning with some impressively colorful stands right along the road at the base of the climb. There is another brilliant stand near a lake about half way up, and the giant aspen groves near around the top of the pass are coming into condition. I stop at the pass and shoot in a the groves here for awhile before starting down the other side. (Near the top of the descent I make a mental note to return to several spots in this area later in the day should I return by this route.)
At the bottom of Monitor Pass I turn south on highway 395 and eat lunch as I drive toward Walker. After climbing the narrow Walker River canyon beyond town, the land opens up before Sonora Pass where many large groves of aspens are visible up high. I don’t go up that direction this time, but continue south with time for a detour out on a a dirt road south of Sonora Pass road. This takes me up to some very colorful groves – though the light isn’t great this time of day – but the road becomes a bit rougher than what I’m in the mood for, so I head back to 395 and on towards Bridgeport.
After passing through Bridgeport I take another dirt road south of town, those one marked “Green Creek.” This road is mostly in pretty good shape, and it travels though high and interesting country that would be worth the drive even if the aspens weren’t there. Eventually it climbs though some outstanding aspen groves up high – this is an area that is visible from Conway Summit below in 395. After the aspens the forest changes to coniferous trees and shortly joins the road to Virginia Lakes, where I stop for a few photographs.
Leaving Virginia Lakes I calculate my remaining daylight hours and decide a) that I have time to visit Lee Vining and b) that I’ll return the way I came and shoot at those spots I noted earlier on Monitor Pass later in the day. I pass by some aspens stands as I descend toward Conway Summit and the junction with 395 – these will be good in a few days – and turn right on 395. The groves just south of Conway Summit are very colorful but there seems to be no place to pull over, so I continue on to Lee Vining.
After buying $15 worth of gas for $20 and getting an espresso and a snack at “Latte Da” (where, by tradition, I sit on the porch for ten minutes) I start to retrace my path. When I arrive back at Conway Summit the sun is lighting the huge aspen groves there from behind so I stop to shoot some multi-image panoramas. I leave Conway Summit with the goals of getting back to Monitor Pass in time to shoot some hills on the east side of the pass before the Sierra crest blocks that light and then shooting at the pass in the last light.
I arrive at the Monitor Pass road more or less on schedule. After stopping to photograph some hills near the bottom, I head up to near the top where I can get a panoramic shot of the valley and ridges to the south and east of the pass. Then it is on up to the pass proper where I spend 15 or 20 minutes shooting the colorful light in the aspen groves at the pass as the sun drops. From here I quickly head just over the pass to a spot I had earlier identified as a possible sunset shoot location, and I arrive just as the last light is going. I think I may have just barely gotten a decent shot here, but now the light is gone and it is time to head home.
At the bottom of Monitor I decide that the better road over Carson Pass is probably a better bet than the slightly shorter but twistier route over Ebbetts, so I turn right, pass through Markleeville and Woodfords and climb over Carson Pass as the last light goes. Now it is just a plain old long drive home, with a stop along the way for some disgusting fast food and some Starbucks coffee. 600 miles later I’m back home at 11:45.
Next weekend I may take a somewhat more civilized two-day trip back to the aspens, though this time I’m thinking I’ll head south of Lee Vining towards June Lake, Rock Creek, and the North/South/Sabrina Lake area…
More Proof of Aspen Color
Aspen-Lined Road. Sierra Nevada, California. September 29, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell
Just a “get out of the car and shoot” photo on a back road just south of Bridgeport…
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Dan's Outside 
Wildflower Hike at Almaden Quicksilver
Knowing that the central California wildflower season is just about at its peak, I went out for a short hike this morning at Almaden Quicksilver County park and photographed wildflowers along a few of my old favorite trails.
Three Purple Wildflowers. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 12, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
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April 12, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Trails, Trips | Comments Off on Wildflower Hike at Almaden Quicksilver