SO37 6000x4000 pixels 1 frame 1 image A6000 SEL1650 @31mm
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2019 Trip Chronicles: Contents
Upper Kern Basin Backpack 8/28
Continuing from page 7 additional images.
SO33-2x1h 11000x3900 pixels 2 frame 2 column 1 row 32 image focus stack blend A6000 30mm
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Expansive view across a foxtail pine forest towards Kaweah Peaks Ridge and the Great Western Divide with Mt Kaweah, Red Kaweah, Kaweah Queen, Kern Pk, Milestone Mtn. The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail and John Muir Trail route in the area below this slope is visible as a distinct line in the full image, as well as a tent with a person at frame right.
SO21 6000x4000 pixels 1 frame 21 image focus stack blend A6000 30mm
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Foxtail pines growing amid coarse sanded granite soils between exfoliating granite slabs.
SO34 6000x3400 pixels 1 frame 1 image focus stack blend A6000 SEL1650@27mm
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Final phase of the dawn Earth shadow to the west, with its light pink hues reflecting in a nameless pond with Kaweah Queen at frame left. The strongest colors of the Earth shadow are always around the sun axis, where there are minimal ridges blocking the lowest-elevation warm light. Several mornings had brief moments like this that, as in this capture, still show a small airflow rippling the surface.
SO23-4x1v 11900x5700 pixels 4 frame 4 column 1 row 64 image focus stack stitch blend A6000 30mm
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The background shows the Great Western Divide and Kings Kern Divide, while most trees below on this shallow frog pond bench are foxtail and lodgepole pines.
SO25 3300x5000 pixels 1 frame 5 image focus stack blend A6000 60mm
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An aesthetically shaped backlit foxtail pine. Below in the foreground are drying, mostly gone to seed Lobb's lupine, Lupinus lepidus var. lobbii, that probably peaked 2 or 3 weeks earlier. There wasn't as much of this species present in the basin as I expected there might be.
SO12-2x1h 10100x4000 pixels 2 frame 2 column 1 row 22 image focus stack stitch blend A6000 60mm
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No name lake and Kaweah Peaks Ridge in nicely clear, dry air. For scale, note the tent with 2 people at frame left.
SO27-4x1v 15400x6000 pixels 4 frame 4 column 1 row 68 image focus stack stitch blend A6000 30mm
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Part of the upper Tyndall Creek basin with Forester Pass, Junction Peak, and Diamond Mesa, and a talus lateral moraine sweeping up against this ridge. The willows in the midground show where water is seeping through from the dammed meadow above, where I enjoyed a supply of fresh water.
SO28 6000x4000 pixels 1 frame 1 image A6000 30mm
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Dawn silhoutte reflection with Mt Williamson, Trojan Pk, and Mt Barnard. I will usually shoot a sequence of dawn or dusk single shots and during post-processing keep only those with the best color. On my A6000, I usually end up setting the exposure down at -2 or -3 compensation because I don't bother to go into the menu labyrinth in order to change from center to spot exposure. If results look too light or dark, I'll just delete, readjust, then lock the exposure for the following set of shots.
SO11-3x1v 10000x6000 pixels 3 frame 3 column 1 row 59 image focus stack stitch blend A6000 30mm
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A small seep meadow full of a bit past peak wildflowers with yarrow, Achillea millefolium, alpine goldenrod, Solidago multiradiata, giant red paintbrush, Castilleja miniata, soft arnica, arnica mollis, alpine shooting star, Dodecatheon jeffreyi, monkshood, Aconitum axilliflorum, Sierra willow, Salix orestera, and the Kings Kern Divide rising in the background including Table Mountain, Thunder Mtn, Mt Jordan, and Mt Genevra. Note how such meadows are often complemented by areas of willow.
SO30-6x1v 19100x6000 pixels 6 frame 6 column 1 row 107 image focus stack stitch blend A6000 30mm
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A 6-column stitch blend as Mt Russel, Mt Whitney, and Mt Hale rise beyond a small unnamed lake. The enlarged vertical slice view foreground shows pussy paws, Calyptridium umbellatum, butterballs, Erigonum ovalifolium, and belly flowers in the slightly rusty-hued coarse granite sand. The sand here is too deep compared to the grass closer to the lake for small herb roots to reach the bedrock below where water is capped above.
SO18 6000x4000 pixels 1 frame 1 image A6000 60mm
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Warm sunset light on upper branches of a foxtail pine snag with clouds and blue sky.
SO20 6000x4000 pixels 1 frame 1 image A6000 30mm
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Bowling pin silhouette dusk reflection in a pond. One needs patience to wait well after sunset for western skies to become this saturated. Afterwards, I had the tricky task, with a headlamp, of finding my way across a trail less expanse to my tent. Not finding my remote camp was not an option, as temperatures regularly reach frosty levels at these elevations above 11k by dawn at any time during summer months. Thus, I wisely and carefully bother to understand where my campsites are both on the topo and visually before leaving camps, which is different from the majority of backpackers who almost always site camps along trails and lake edges.
SO22 4000x6000 pixels 1 frame 15 image focus stack blend A6000 60mm
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Close-up of a twisting foxtail pine trunk full of pitch against blue sky. Note the dark, very sticky with sap pine cones against the sky.
SO17-5x1v 16300x6000 pixels 5 frame 5 column 1 row 78 image focus stack stitch blend A6000 60mm
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In the distance, the Kaweah Peaks Ridge with 13,802-foot Mt Kaweah at frame left. I saw no footprints anywhere in this waterless realm except those of bighorn sheep.
SO26 6000x4000 pixels 1 frame 4 image focus stack blend A6000 60mm
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Earth shadow early phase rising behind 14,042 foot Mt Russell and 14,491 foot Mt Whitney, reflecting in a small pool. Note the darker purple color at the frame-left skyline that rises up after the lighter magenta purples.
On my eighth day I crossed back over to the east side of 12,040-foot Shepherd Pass, re-crossed the steep snowfield at page right just east of Shepherd Pass, and continued down canyon to the Anvil Camp zone where I set up my tent, took a dunk in the stream, and made dinner before retiring early.
As related at the end of Page 7, at dawn Monday, August 28, 2019, I took the image at page top that shows the sliver moon above a silhouetted foxtail pine. I was impressed by the strong quality of the light, not only during the dawn sequence but also with the warm red light where I was camped at over 10k. I broke camp, packed up gear, and set off down the trail towards the trailhead. With 4600 feet of downhill over 8 miles, including the waterless 4.1-mile section, I needed to pace myself wisely. Along the way, I did work a couple of modest landscape subjects. At the last stream off Mt Keith, I filled up fully with water and continued on the 500 or so feet of uphill vertical to the Symmes - Shepherd notch. I then endured the dozens of switchbacks down to Symmes Creek, hiking at a strong pace though regularly stopping. From that stream, crossing the last mile was a weary effort as I pushed to the end. At the trailhead, I took a quick, refreshing dunk in the stream, organized gear, then drove off, epic mission accomplished.
I stopped at the McDonald's in Bishop for gas and continued on the rest of the long 6 hours home without stopping as the adventure ended. Back at home, I intermittently worked on post-processing not only this trip but also most of those from my 2 earlier trips. And then, in a likewise lazy manner, I have been writing the HTML for these web pages that will upload 4 trips before Thanksgiving.
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2019 Trip Chronicles: Contents
