Fred Weyman Wilderness and Landscape Fine Art Photography
Thousand Island Lake
Among Sierra lakes, Thousand Island Lake's (9,833 ft.) shoreline and island intricacy is exceeded only by Lake Aloha (see my Lake Tahoe Gallery). Also remarkable are the underwater meanders of the inlet stream (center).
Banner Peak, Thousand Island Lake
Although Thousand Island Lake (9,833 ft.) is justifiably one of the more popular backpacking destinations in the Sierra, it has also earned the nickname 'Thousand Person Lake'. In the morning light, Banner Peak (12,936 ft.) forms a huge colorful backdrop. Wind blown dust in the Nevada deserts intensified the colors.
Thousand Island Lake Sunset
At sunset, cool breezes and a different mood move over the lake. With sunlit Carson Peak (10,909 ft.) on the horizon, the sweeping curves of two recessional moraines added foreground depth and interest. I scrambled a bit higher on the eastern flank of Banner Peak but didn't find a better composition than this one from a small knoll about 400 feet above the lake.
Emerald Lake
One of the most scenic stretches of trail in the Sierra is the six-mile stretch of the John Muir Trail between Shadow Lake and Thousand Island Lake in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. The treeline trail follows mountain streams, traverses colorful rock outcrops, and passes large lakes with huge mountain backdrops. It also passes by or near some of the most unique smaller, mostly unnamed, lakes in the Sierra. The peaks on the far left are on the southeastern border of Yosemite National Park.
Garnet Lake Camp
In a deeper glacial canyon 1.5 miles southeast of Thousand Island Lake at the base of Mt. Ritter (left, 13,143 ft.) and Banner Peak (right, 12,936 ft.), is the less accessible but equally striking Garnet Lake (9,678 ft.). To avoid the appearance of a high Sierra garage sale, I hid most of my camping gear for this photo, however I decided that my backlit tent added a bit of visual interest and some sense of scale without being too distracting.
Minarets, Cecil and Iceberg Lakes
This was one of the photos that taught me that good views of dramatic peaks often are obtained by scrambling up the immediately adjacent, unscenic, ankle-breaking pile of rocks. Although the foreground spur showed up as a small single circle on the topo map, I didn't realize it would have to be a major part of the composition. If I ever return to this area, I'll camp up here and catch the sunrise.
Garnet Lake
Wind blown dust in the Nevada deserts created rich sunrise colors on Mt. Ritter (left, 13,143 ft.) and Banner Peak (right, 12,936 ft.). Although they aren't visible on these low-resolution web-ready versions, a family of Mergansers made the only ripples on the still morning water of the 1.5-mile long Garnet Lake (9,678ft.).
