S-Hummock Pond Seven Gables & Gemini Peak

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John Muir Wilderness, Sierra National Forest, Fresno County
mid morning Wednesday August 9, 2000, slide 00O12-7
Pentax 67 AEII, 55-100mm, Benbo Trekker
Drum scanned Kodak EPN100 220 film to 200mb RGB file
Adobe Photoshop 6.0 processed for accurate image fidelity
Lightjet5000 printed on Fuji Crystal Archive paper
signature bottom left

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The long Sierra Nevada mountain range has several thousand lakes and ponds. Most are at higher elevations where glacial actions scoured depressions in rock. Since the last glacier period was a mere 10,000 or so years ago, its resulting features on the Sierra landscape are still geologically relatively fresh. Much of the higher elevation rock in the Sierra including that in this scene is hard granite. So only modest erosion of that rock has subsequently occurred which is the matter to fill up the scoured depressions. Additionally because much of the Southern Sierra is at high elevations where each year's growing season is relatively short, another source of depression deposition, vegetation debris, is limited. Consequently the above timberline areas contain many small lakes and ponds of which this one is typical.

Notice this small pond is shallow, just several inches deep, with a coarse granite sand bottom quite visible through the relatively clear clean water. Rocks above the surface of the pond have a slight rusty cast due to small amounts of iron in the granite minerals leaching out. The pond itself is far from sterile as tiny watery animal life blooms at these elevations as soon as the winter ice and snow melts out. Consequently a tiny seasonal deposit of usually brown organic matter also provides some color to such ponds. The most conspicuous denizens of this pond are the common Yosemite toads with their dark tadpoles a common contrast against the bottom. When picked up, one will often hear the frightened little amphibians produce a tiny high-pitched squeak.

The elevation here in the South Fork of the San Joaquin River drainage is well over 11,000 feet with background peaks well over 12,000 feet. Still melting snowfields here mid summer grace the aesthetic below north and east facing steeps. It is common for the northern and eastern exposures of Sierra peaks to be their steepest slopes because winter snows from southwest storm winds tend to drift deepest in such protected lee sites.

Of course the shadowy north facing slopes also hide from the melting sunrays. Below the steep cliffs one sees the usual talus fans where rock broken off by avalanches and frost wedging slowly pry away rock. Notice how all three peaks have vaguely similar two peaked summits. The local granite in this image formed miles underground tens of millions of years ago during the Jurassic Period has similar mineral chemistry and subsequent jointing. Jointing is a rock characteristic of a tendency to crack and weather along preferred directions.

The most common plant in the timberline areas is grassy turf showing here as most of the green in this scene. Grass with its vigorous growth of roots much like a thick rug provides the dominant matrix upon which all living plants and animals depend. A common peculiar formation in shallow ponds one sees in these alpine realms are grass hummocks several of which are miniature islands in this pond. The narrow one in the foreground has a vague S-shape hence I refer to these waters as the S-Hummock Pond. Note the small pink wildflowers, alpine aster, aster alpingenus, decorating a further sinuous hummock beyond. Beyond the pond and turfy meadow mid right are some brighter green willow hiding against a short rock wall and stunted whitebark pine, pinus albcaulis, finding wind protecting slots in the monolithic granite. Scurrying about turf and rock in the warming morning sunlight were cute little chipmunks and belding ground squirrels.

Our fifth day of a 9 day trip, three of us were camped nearby this location for three nights at a wonderful spot. Here in the peaceful morning calm, I set up my big tripoded camera in back of the S-Hummock to carefully position the reflecting background peaks in the open water spaces of the pond. Yeah we have been given such a beautiful world.

Crop at 100% print size:

   David Senesac
   email: sales@davidsenesac.com

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