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Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 10:27 pm
by 96avs01
I'll add a few that haven't been mentioned:

Parker Lake
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Cliff Lake
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Lake Ediza
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Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 3:37 am
by Cloud Ocean
This thread just makes me think "show me a lake which ISN'T beautiful in the Sierra Nevada."

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:08 pm
by David Senesac
asiwalkirun wrote:This thread just makes me think "show me a lake which ISN'T beautiful in the Sierra Nevada."


To be honest in my personal opinion, many of the lakes mentioned, rate rather middling. And most of the pictures posted have modest aesthetic value though I'm not going to be specific and hurt anyone's feelings. Just making a point that just because forum members mentioned various lakes does not count for much.

To the fisherman, the lake they fished at and caught nice fish is beautiful. To the peakbagger, the remote lake they found on some bench on the way to the summit is beautiful. To the urban resident newbie Sierra hiker, every lake they visited was beautiful. To the young photographer any lake next to impressive peaks is beautiful. So to some extent beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The majority of ordinary people have a low threshold for beauty out in nature. It is all good for them. Outdoor photographers like this person however tend to evolve a more discerning narrow aesthetic they can articulate about at length. Much like the art critic disecting a painting. It does not mean they don't see beauty in ordinary art that others gush over. Just that they reserve "most beautiful" to a higher standard of aesthetics, the theory of beauty

Are all Sierra lakes beautiful to this old person? No not at all but that is just my opinion given my experience. Likewise everything in the Sierra is not beautiful. There are a few natural places that are butt ugly. And there are lakes and ponds that are likewise. However the majority of lakes are neither particularly beautiful nor ugly but rather somewhere in between, pleasantly nice visibly, and a quiet pleasant joy to visit. Spectacular landscapes and peaks are uncommon and much of a lake's aesthtetic beauty is a result of landscapes it resides in. On this Summitpost mountain page linked below, the title image at page top that I captured in 1986, is a rather shallow sterile bedrock pond with granite rock dully encrusted with centuries of black organics. It is not particular beautiful if just looking at the pond alone. And the majority of Sierra lakes conversely don't have particularly exceptional landscapes near them so at best are simply nice.

http://www.summitpost.org/isosceles-peak/151840

The most beautiful lakes when visited at the best time of year at the best time of day, under fine weather conditions, are simply stunning experiences. Like the image linked to above of Vee Lake on a calm mid morning when turf is in peak summer green, dappled with wildflowers, looking towards Seven Gables under gorgeous deep cobalt blue skies. Many lakes look their best when calm, reflecting impressive mountain scenery around them. And that usually means early morning before breezes have started. However lakes can look superb even at midday with waves rolling across aqua waters, from limited perspectives under some atmospheric conditions. Many have never noticed for instance that lakes can be bluest near midday and are usually not too blue early or late in day. So a photographer interested in capturing beautiful blues in a lake would be wise to do so at that middle time of day.

David Senesac
http://www.davidsenesac.com

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 5:08 pm
by peninsula
Off the beaten path, but well worth the visit is Lake 11,092 in Kings Canyon

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:15 pm
by Vitaliy M.
Wow, that is beautiful. Not too sure about all the effects though.

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Thu Oct 03, 2013 3:28 pm
by peninsula
Picket Creek with its associated lakes is an awesome location above the KernKaweah drainage, Sequoia NP.

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 3:25 am
by peninsula
This lake collection is below Window Peak, one of Ranger Randy Morgenson's favorites according to the book.

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 4:58 am
by sierraman
I visited Window Peak Lakes Basin in 1983. I remember the visit to this day because the valley was utterly pristine. There was no sign whatsoever that anybody had ever been there before.

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 8:27 am
by sierraman
Wow, I had no idea these posts were so powerful. Mention a lake by name and it will be polluted, destroyed and degraded. Well, we might have lost the 30 or so lakes referenced in this thread, fortunately there is about 300 more.

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 5:59 pm
by simonov
Romain wrote:I second Precipice:
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Thirded:

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Big Hamilton Lake looks good from some angles:

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South Fork Lake 2 near Cottonwood Lakes:

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Lakes below New Army Pass:

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I no longer have a photograph, but the most beautiful lake I recall seeing in the Sierra is Columbine Lake at the top of Sawtooth Pass.

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 7:30 pm
by colinr
simonov wrote:I no longer have a photograph, but the most beautiful lake I recall seeing in the Sierra is Columbine Lake at the top of Sawtooth Pass.
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Thunderclouds are obscuring the view of the range's highest peaks, the lighting isn't great, nor was I using a good camera, but my first Sierra peak hike and ensuing first posts to SP revolved around a Sawtooth outing; Columbine from near Sawtooth Pass on July 24, 2005:

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In case you also wanted to see the easier to reach Upper Monarch Lake, west of Sawtooth:

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I don't carry a camera lately besides my phone, but I was fortunate to visit at a good time and was impressed by the beauty of the Conness Lakes and the small ponds east of North Peak (part of Twenty Lakes Basin). It felt like cheating walking just a couple of miles to reach them. I posted a few of the images to SP after my last trip to the Sierra in early July (I'm itching to get back as I rehab from a substantial injury sustained on the trip, but this thread helps me get a quick fix). A sample from my profile page:

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Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:33 am
by Sierra Ledge Rat
un-named tarn below mt. huxley

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tulainyo lake

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Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 12:35 am
by Daria
Little McGee Lake:

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Bighorn Lake:

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Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 5:30 am
by David Senesac
Well thanks for putting some life in this thread. I see back in 2013 I posted some links though no embedded images. And all the link paths have since been changed so are stale. Will repost just the first, 4x5 from 2005 just to show yeah they still exist in my galleries.

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The beauty of lakes is always more than just the waters as the surrounding landscapes, especially peaks, are usually the most important facet of their aesthetics. Thus the task is to find impressive peaks and their nearby waters. Then visit such when wildflowers and greenery are peaking during summer during calm, usually during mornings, while one has luck of uncommon whispy clouds.

So now a couple more recent lakes from last summer that are not captured with film but rather digitally. Multi row column stitch blends with considerable focus stack blending. The composite originals are huge images that I display just narrow slice crops of so via links since the forum software would punyize it.

12,000 x 7,500 pixels Box Lake with Peppermint, Bear Creek Spire, Dade, Abbot, Mills
http://www.davidsenesac.com/Gallery_C/MT04658-04677sl.jpg

12,000 x 10,600 pixels no name in Little Lakes Valleys
http://www.davidsenesac.com/Gallery_C/MT04740-04753sl.jpg

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/Spring_2015/spring_2015-1.html

http://www.davidsenesac.com/Summer_2015/summer_2015-1.html

Re: Most beautiful lakes in the Sierra

PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 12:26 am
by ROL
David Senesac wrote:The beauty of lakes is always more than just the waters as the surrounding landscapes, especially peaks, are usually the most important facet of their aesthetics. Thus the task is to find impressive peaks and their nearby waters. Then visit such when wildflowers and greenery are peaking during summer during calm, usually during mornings, while one has luck of uncommon whispy clouds.


I just get lucky sometimes...

Banner Peak, Island Pass
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Banner Peak Clearing, Island Pass
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Sunset, Garnet Lake
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Shadow Lake, After the Storm
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Sunset, Cathedral Peak
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Floating Erratics and Cumulus, Tenaya Lake
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Evening, Long Lake
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Chocolate Peak Reflection
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7 Gables, Little Bear Lake
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Sunset, 60 Lake Basin
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Broken Log, Tuolumne (Gibbs Tarn)
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...beauty is how you find it, and what you make of it – at least I've found. ;)