On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether youâre traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
?BillinGlendaleCA
If you head about a four hour drive north of Los Angeles, you can find yourself looking across a canyon at a glacier. I decided for my last stop on my Fall Color Tour 2021 that I’d take the road west from Big Pine to Glacier Lodge and take in the fall color for one last time. The bonus with heading up to Glacier Lodge is that with a bit of hiking you can get a pretty good view of the southern most glacier in the United States, Middle Palisade Glacier.
I initially parked near Glacier Lodge and took some shots using the trout pond next to Big Pine Creek as a foreground for the fall color surrounding the pond with the Sierra and the glaciers in the background. I drove back down the road to Big Pine and stopped at the parking lot for hikers spending the night in the Big Pine lakes basin. I hiked a bit up the north fork trail to get a better view of the glaciers.
I am planning to return to Big Pine Creek and make the hike up to the lakes this year. I’d like to see it in the late Spring when the flowers make their appearance and again in the Fall for fall color.
Fall color and the Sierra reflected in the Glacier Lodge trout pond. Yes, the white stuff in the tree’s shadow along the pond is snow.
Shot of the trout pond in infrared.
Shot of the trout pond using the Aerochrome emulation filter. While the regular IR filter really doesn’t show the fall color at all, you do get some using the Aerochrome emulation.
Fall color in the canyon of the South Fork of Big Pine Creek with the glaciers above the canyon.
A closer view of the glaciers with the fall color along the South Fork of Big Pine Creek at the bottom of the shot.
As the trail turns up the north fork canyon, you get a full view of Middle Palisade Glacier.
IRChrome(AeroChrome emulation filter) of the Middle Palisade Glacier.
As I headed down the hill to the confluence of the North and South forks of Big Pine Creek, I took one last shot of Middle Palisade glacier before it was obscured from view by the foreground mountains.
Baud
California is pretty.
There was a chance I was going to move there but it looks like that won’t work out.
Spanky
@Baud: Huh! Well, if there’s one state that’s pants-optional …
OzarkHillbilly
Nice shots, Bill.
Dan B
We’re you using a polarizing filter? The sky is very dark, similar to what I get when using polarizing filter.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: California has some of the most varied landscapes that you can find. Mountains, desert, rolling hills, wild coastline…
@Spanky: It depends on what part of the state you’re in.
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks OH. It’s really pretty country up there and hard not to get a good shot.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Yeah, but that view is wasted on the trout.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Dan B: I don’t think I did that day, but I do use one. The IR shot, I didn’t, just the IR filters. The sky is naturally darker with IR shots. I think with the last shot, I cheated a bit and replaced the sky with a gradient taken from the original sky since the Sun was really making the sky to the upper left too bright
ETA: I had a really nice polarizing filter that I lost on the trip up there the week before, I’m still upset about losing that filter, it was really good and expensive. It was one of the filters that attach with magnets, I took it off for some night shots and apparently dropped it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato:
They know what they did.
Dan B
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks. I couldn’t tell if it was altitude but it seems as though you were less than 5000 feet. Low humidity and a very clear day
Washington has a similar variety of terrain but your deserts are really deserts!
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: And what did they do to deserve such an awesome view?
Being the premier slapping fish is worth that reward?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Dan B: The altitude at the trailhead is about 7,600 feet.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: If you want to see a view, Google ‘Big Pine Second Lake’. That’s my destination for a spring and fall hike.
MomSense
Theyâre all beautiful but the first and the last are major swoon for me.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MomSense: It was a Fall Color trip, but there’s more of that!
prostratedragon
Bill, do you know whether the foreground in the last photo is regrowing from a fire a while back?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@prostratedragon: I don’t think that area has burned recently.
ETA: There was a lightning caused fire up in the area last year, only 41 acres and was further to the north.
Kevin
Really beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
prostratedragon
@?BillinGlendaleCA:Â Ah, thanks. Was wondering because the trees were so small and sparse but there was plenty of growth in general.
Grumpy Old Railroader
Thanks for the reminder that California has it all. Glaciers! Who knew? Desert. Mountains. Forests. Go to Lake Tahoe in May and take both your snow skis and water skis. Highest point in contiguous U.S. 60 miles from lowest point in North America. Redwoods. Beaches. Volcanoes. Geysers. Farmlands. Wetlands. Drylands. Marshes. The Great Central Valley.
Also wildfires, mudslides, earthquakes, Liberals and Rednecks
Wag
Nice shots!
Mike Mundy
There’s some nice campgrounds on the way to the trailhead.
way2blue
Your photos are always so pristine. Â Lovely. Â Thanks for sharing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kevin: Glad you like them.
@prostratedragon: I think it’s more a function of altitude, the trees get smaller the higher you go, especially outside of the canyons with a continuous water source.
@Grumpy Old Railroader:
And they say California doesn’t have seasons.
During Winter in the LA basin you can go to the mountains in the morning and ski, then head to the beach for some afternoon sunning.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Wag: Thanks.
@Mike Mundy: Yup, quite a few folk will camp there to get an early morning start for hiking up the north or south fork trails.
@way2blue: Thanks much.