Cottonball Clouds over Deadhorse Minarets

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Ansel Adams Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Madera County
mid morning Friday July 21, 1989, slide 89B_2-19
Olympus OM-4T, Benbo Trekker
Drum scanned Kodak Kodachrome 64 35mm film to 100mb 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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This view at about 9,890 foot elevation is westward towards the southern section of The Minarets in the Ritter Range. The creek in this foreground flows out of Deadhorse Lake that is tributary to Minaret Creek that is tributary to the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River. I was on the third day of a 4 day backpack out of Devils Postpile National Monument. The trail to nearby Minaret Lake is a stiff 2,450 feet uphill vertical and about 7 miles. The previous day had been showery from an uncommon cold front. After the front passed at the night, the weather became cool and blustery with a procession of clouds all morning. Rapidly sailing over the crest clouds usually prevented my photography due to too many shadows on the landscape.

Peirson's paintbrush, aka Indian paintbrush, castileja peirsonii, was abundant on this small talus meadow including the lumpy area behind this bend in the creek. In the Sierra talus meadows are common. They are usually lumpy with rocks poking through. Such meadows form atop talus where a stream has been depositing sediments in spaces between boulders. Deposited soil then supports turf. The turf accelerates this process by providing a dense sediment catching rug of roots that is further colonized by willow and other plants. Here the light green bushy willow, salix, can be seen at the upper margins of the meadow at frame right. Likely below the talus is glaciated bedrock like the knob poking out mid frame right. Water filtering through the porous talus meets the impervious bedrock then flows downhill. Where the water nears the surface at the meadow edge, water loving willow colonize. The linear length of willow at center surrounds the creek that is only visible cascading among rocks where it meets the meadow.

Mixed in with the paintbrush and grass is alpine willow, salix arctica, which can be seen here covering part of the rock in the lower right corner. Note its catkin standing up. This ground hugging willow creates a wide mat of roots across the turf such that all the turf high leaves of willow in the foreground might well be one interconnected plant.

Joining these others in the foreground are a few small pink flowers of alpine laural, kalmia polifolia. A bit to the left of where the creek leaves the willow, is a magenta patch of sierra primrose, primula suffretescens, which is abundant within talus of this area. At center at an area fronting unseen Deadhorse Lake are mountain hemlock, tsuga mertensiana, which are the dominant trees below the Ritter Range crest. However far behind them clinging to the steep rock walls are green spots of what are likely krumholtz stunted whitebark pine, pinus albicaulis, the dominant Sierra tree at highest elevations. When I approached this location at the creek, several eastern brook trout darted for cover.

Geology of this area as well as much of the impressive Ritter Range is ancient Jurassic Period metavolcanic. That is volcanic sediments that through geologic time have undergone mineral change by the intense pressure and high temperatures of having been deeply buried under other sediments. During ice ages, the last of which ended about 10,000 years ago, glaciers covered much of this area to just below the highest peaks. The horn at right is Starr Minaret at 11,502 feet. It is named for Walter Starr Jr. a famous early Sierra climber who fell to his death on nearby Michael Minaret where he was found by Norman Clyde after a long search.

To take this shot I got down low to the ground and remained in a prone position for over half an hour during which I only shot a few frames because the wind was usually blowing so hard. Quite remarkably just as this extraordinary mass of cottonball clouds was rising over the ridge a momentary lull occurred during which I waited briefly till its semicircle complimented the shape of the cirque's ridgeline. One of the most dramatic images I've had the pleasure to capture.

Crop at 100% print size:

   David Senesac
   email: sales@davidsenesac.com

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