Three Aspen
Discover better ways to cross the Sierra Nevada and take great shots along the way.
Passes through the Sierra Nevada are, for most people, just transportation arteries, connecting their respective destinations. The same isn’t true for Tioga Pass, which happens to run through Yosemite National Park. It is as if some need the national park service to tell them where beauty awaits them. Marked pullouts are always more crowded than unmarked pullouts. Foreign visitors, unfamiliar with turnouts, pull out and wonder what they may discover. Many people have the herd mentality internalized; fortunately we don’t.
Pick another pass to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains and you will discover hidden treasures that rival the sights of Tioga Pass. Drive off the beaten path to explore an unmarked road and you may discover a location of great beauty or merely a place devoid of people that you can enjoy by yourself. Only a few detours lead to good photos, but when they do, you usually enjoy the rewards even more. You worked hard for them and you did not just duplicate everyone else. It makes the photographs we capture on these trips even more precious.
Carson Pass and Monitor Pass are two of these rewarding detours. Any pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains will yield a plethora of fantastic photo opportunities for you. Take my advice to heart and try a different route through the mountains on your next trip. I promise, you will see something new.
How to get there
You can find excellent photo locations along Highway 88, east of Carson Pass and along Highway 89 and Highway 395.
GPS position
Carson Pass aspen grove:
Carson Canyon rock climbing trees:
Monitor Pass giant aspen grove:
Dunderberg Peak viewpoint:
How to photograph Carson Pass, Carson Canyon and Monitor Pass
Aspen Branch
Imagine speeding along a curvy mountain road. Nothing significant happened during the past hour. Your passenger is slowly dozing off and your mind drifts off as you whiz around the corners. You are relaxed, you enjoy hugging the corners and the driver behind you is pushing you to go even faster. You are comfortable in the warm car. It is cold outside.
Now imagine a flash of colors whizzing past you around another corner. It will pass you in a split second and before you see what it is, it is gone. Will you pull over? Will you let the driver behind you pass, wake your passenger with the maneuver, turn back and get ready to jump out into the cold on the hunch that that flash of color may be a gorgeous picture? Or will you let it fly past with the vow to pull over at the next opportunity?
I know the temptation to keep driving. The hypnosis we feel when we drive long distances severely hampers our awareness for great photos. The discomfort of stopping the car and turning back, having to look for a place to safely do so, investing all that time just for the slight chance of a photograph is overwhelming. Does the upside of a photo really outweigh all those down sides?
It does!
Carson Canyon: floating aspen
Train yourself to decide fast and react to visual cues that only register subconsciously. Our subconscious mind can register sensory input in microseconds, but our conscious mind needs seconds for decisions. It weighs the pros and cons of stopping and most likely pushes you forward. Act fast and learn to listen to that feeling telling you to turn back.
Explore a promising looking road leading away from the main highway, following a hunch you may have! Stop when a burst of color flashes into your awareness and try to discover what just happened! Follow your intuition, silence your rational mind.
Dunderberg Peak
After you have come to a stop and reached your photo location, you still need to turn it into a great image. Our mind’s awesome power will filter all irrelevant information, but our camera will not. Learn how to isolate a subject from the surrounding clutter to make the picture as attractive as the mental picture you have of a place. Now you need to use all your craft and skill to turn those places into beautiful works of art. Let your intuition guide you to the composition, let your sense of space and beauty figure out the graphic elements and only then let your rational thinking mind deal with exposure times, depth of field and other technical hindrances.
Best Time of the Day and Best Season
Fall and spring will be the most colorful seasons, but you can find great subjects here throughout the rest of the year as well. You probably will not have control over the time and will drive by a location whenever you get there. Depending on the available light, different subjects may present themselves.
Time required
When you plan to cross the Sierra Nevada, plan a day instead of just the hours it will take you to drive and spend the time photographing.
Equipment
- GPS (not just to find places but also for survival in the colder season)
- Since this is a driving trip, there is little reason to leave things behind. Lenses of all focal length and all your filters can see action here.
- Backup (Image Tank or Netbook)
- Emergency preparedness items (between fall and spring): blankets, flashlight, warm clothing, food, water, spare tire
Fees
There is no fee for any of the places in this article.
Difficulty Getting There
The passes may open very late in the year and close early depending on snow conditions. Always check your planned route with the California Department of Transportation (link below) and make alternative plans. I always have some emergency supplies and blankets in my car. A GPS can save your life, especially when you get stuck in winter. People who get lost can die. Make sure your car is in good condition before you leave. Come prepared and act responsibly.
Turnouts are only for slower vehicles, to let faster ones pass. It’s a law here, so use them to let people pass and do not park there to go sightseeing. This can be extremely dangerous.
Close Locations
- Bodie SHP Ghost Town
- Chemung Mine
- Mono Lake
- Ebetts Pass
- Calaveras Big Trees State Park
- Sonora Pass
- Tioga Pass (Yosemite National Park)
- Lake Tahoe
- Wrights Lake
- Squaw Valley Ski Resort
- Donner Pass
- Mono Craters
- June Lake Loop
- Mammoth Lakes Basin
- Devils Postpile
Useful Resources
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4 Comments
interesting !
Great article as usual Andre. I love the pic of the 3 Aspen trees at the beginning; excellent work.
Frank
Awesome, did you use a fisheye for the photo of the aspens and then straighten it or did you do something else?
Thanks everyone!
I did not use a fisheye lens, just a wide-angle. The photographs I show are usually straight from the camera. If not, I will disclose the edits I performed to help you get the same results.