The Range Of Light In Winter (Eastern Sierras, Alabama Hills, Mono Lake & Owen’s River in 4K)

The Range Of Light In Winter (Eastern Sierras, Alabama Hills, Mono Lake & Owen’s River in 4K)

I always look forward to shooting the Eastern  sieras in Owens Valley in the winter. During some   years, I have to wait a bit longer for the Eastern  Sierras to get covered in snow but regardless of  

How long it takes, I’m generally heading up to 395  the day after a big snowstorm if I can get there. As much as I love shooting the Eastern  Sierras, I’ve had mixed results over the   past few years as Winter storms became pretty  scarce due to the on going drought. I made my  

First trip to Owens Valley about 8 years ago  and back then, it was extremely rare to get   snow on the valley floor south of Bishop.  In fact, I remember being glad to find any   snow in the Eastern Sierras at all as barely any  moisture was making it over the range back then.

“Look at it yeah it’s way over the  curb! The rocks are completely yeah   they’re way over like it’s going up  on that um little wall wow look it’s   just flooding over the curb right  there look yeah see that guy…” But last year… well… last year  was just weird. In the Fall of 2022,  

We heard that we could expect La Niña conditions  and there wouldn’t be much snow in the mountains   at all that year. But then, in January,  it started to rain. And then it just kept   raining! And in the higher elevations it  just kept snowing. So in February of 2023,  

After a particularly huge storm with low snow  levels, I set off for Owens Valley hoping to   get a little bit of snow in the Alabama Hills  or along the river. I’m not sure what I was   expecting, but my hopes definitely rose as  I headed through a snow covered Cajon Pass.

“Heading North… got some uh again  low elevation snow below Cajon Pass.   I’m assuming they got like maybe 3 or  4 inches. About halfway up Home Pass…   37° I’m probably going to pull out of the  clouds right about here look at this… wow!

So yeah… still a lot of real patchy clouds  around the pass I think as I head down… ” Google Maps: “in 2 miles take Exit 141 for   us 395 toward Bishop at alonto  past Hisperia and Victorville” ” um just checked the elevation… it’s 3800  so we’re not even at 4,000 ft …we’re below  

3500 right now the uh sides of the snow  plow wall just went up considerably…” As I headed north on the 395 I was absolutely  stunned. I’ve been up and down this road   dozens of times but it’s always been so brown and  desolate. It hardly ever rained up there at all,  

But now the whole area was buried in snow  as far as I could see in all directions. As I pulled into Lone Pine, there was still  some snow left from the day before. I knew   as I headed West toward the Alabama  Hills that the snow amounts would rise  

With the elevation as Whitney Portal Road  climbs into the foothills of the Sierras. “Wow! Maybe I should start  shooting here! Look at that! Look at this! Look at thiiis! I’m rolling right? Gosh!” “So I think this is the turn to Mobius but  I wasn’t 100% sure yet you might have to  

Go all the way up there to get to Mobius and  I think I might able to make it out there.” Even though the views of the Eastern Sierras  were spectacular from the Alabama Hills,   I wasn’t sure my van could make  it through the melting snow and  

Mud if I wanted to push farther up towards  the Mobius Arch and beyond. In addition,   the harsh sunlight was blinding coming off of  the snow. I decided to come back at Sunrise   when the light would be better and instead  head North looking for other opportunities.

” I want to grab a quick shot of that so  stunning down there remember shooting over   here a couple years ago finding a spot with uh a  little bit of a clearing looking down that way.” By the time I arrived on February 26 it  had already been snowing for weeks in  

The higher elevations. When I made the  trip up the week before on the 19th,   395 was closed in sections beyond Lee Vining,  but you could still make it to Mono Lake. I   was curious to see if I could make it out  to the South side of Mono Lake to shoot  

Some snow covered tufas but when I arrived  the entire area was buried in heavy snow. “Okay the big plowing stopped at the waste  disposal site… somebody plowed this but it might   not have been a county person so it might not be  open down to um the tofa but still… can’t get  

Over this uh fog this inversion layer that’s just  sitting on top of the lake the little parking area   pull out somebody plowed out. I just don’t see  how… I need something in the foreground. There’s  

A little bit of Tufa right in front of me but  other than that I just I can’t see. Maybe this? The entrance to South Mono Lake parking  lot was indeed buried under 2 ft of snow.   I briefly thought about just trying to walk  a couple of Miles through the snow but I  

Didn’t have my snowshoes and I wasn’t sure how  long it would take to get out there and back.   Instead I tried to get some photos of the amazing  inversion layer that was hovering over the lake. 30 minutes later I was back in the van  heading north on 395 as I wanted to see  

What the view was like from a pull out over  looking Mono Lake further up past Lee Vining. “There’s the turn off. Tioga… look how  deep the snow is coming into Lee Vining.” The view from the pull out above Lee Vining was  amazing and you could see the Eastern sieras  

Stretching all the way down to Mammoth Lakes and  beyond. After shooting a few time lapses, I headed   south again and just out of curiosity drove  out to see if it would be possible to hike to  

Hot Creek on my way back. But again I would have  needed snow shoes to make it out in the deep snow. “Coming back out of the road for um hot springs…  um there’s only about four cars parked there  

So there was parking but um yeah there’s like  there’s no it’s still 2 to 3 ft deep out here.” I headed south again looking for options but  by the time I got back to the Alabama Hills,  

The clouds had cleared the good light was  gone and it was time to call it a day. “It is about 5:45 right now I think  I’m the only person in Alabama Hills   waiting for the uh sky to take off. Already  burning nicely down to the uh Southeast.”

“Okay attempting to leave it’s a bit muddy  right down here but it’s downhill so that   should get me down to the middle of this  track out of here with some momentum.” I finally made it out to the Mobius Arch parking  area but I felt it was probably as far as my van  

Could make it. Even though my Sienna had all-wheel  drive, I was very cautious as I slowly edged my   way back out. As the temperature warmed, the  snow covered dirt road became a slushy mess  

And it looked like it would be all too easy to  get stuck and need an expensive tow to get out. After parking, I spent most of the morning  and some of the afternoon shooting before   yet another storm began moving in. I  headed up to Bishop for some El Pollo  

Loco before calling it a night at the  rest area just north of Independence. “okay so it’s about quarter to 4. This is the  van this is the uh Big Pine Rest Area. You can   see the snow is blowing in pretty good the wind  blowing and um already about in inch and a half.”

“You can see these clouds moving  in. I might do a time lapse in a   minute and then I’m shooting this direction.” “Continuing driving North. Spectacular  light on these mountains just coming   through cracks and the clouds setting up stuff  like this. I’m going to have to stop again. ”

“Spending the morning just  shooting along the Owens River.” “Going to go ahead and um head out.  I just shot my butt off all morning.   It’s 8:30 I started walking at 5:15 you’re  going to have to move guy go uh come on! “Go I got somebody with horns  up here… go on! Got to 

Mooove!” After spending the morning shooting the snow  covered Eastern Sierras from several spots along   Owens River, I headed off to chase the storm down  Highway 190 to Death Valley. My adventures from   that trip including driving through a snowstorm  with with white out conditions while inside of  

Death Valley National Park we’ll be coming up  in the next episode. Before ending THIS episode,   here are a few shots from my amazing time  shooting the Eastern Sierras in February of 2023.

While there are many stunning views to be found throughout the Sierra Nevada range, I have to believe that John Muir was referring to the Eastern Sierras South of Mono Lake when he came up with the title “The Range of Light.” When the morning sun hits these snow covered peaks in the Winter, you simply have no choice but to simply pull off the road and stare.

I have made many, many trips to the Owen’s Valley to shoot the Eastern Sierras over the past several years, but my trips in February of 2023 were pure magic. During a particularly nasty Winter storm, the snow level dropped to around 3000 feet and everything in Owen’s valley, including the Alabama Hills, was covered in snow. Over the course of two weeks, I shot from Mono Lake down to the Alabama Hills and at several spots along the Owen’s River. I also made two trips out to Death Valley, but those trips deserve their own episode, so that episode will be coming up soon.

#EasternSierras #Alabamahills #OwensValley