Looking back down at our previous night’s campsite on the Lower Meadow below Lyell Glacier, from a vantage point at the edge of the Upper Meadow with Lyell Glacier just behind the camera.

This photograph taken from the upper of two alpine meadows below Lyell Glacier was captured in 2004 during our first ascent (of several more to come) to Donahue Pass from Lyell Canyon out of Tuolumne Meadows.

Alternate framing of the previously posted photograph.

Looking back toward Kuna Crest and Lyell Canyon from the meadow below Donahue Pass.

Came across this scene on our first backpacking trip in Yosemite in 2003. Teresa and I took a circle route up the Mist Trail and then around and down to Tuolumne Meadows. At this point in the path we left an open area and entered an almost mystical environment that quickly became more wooded as we set off for Cathedral Peak some miles out ahead. I recall stopping and in seeing the trail curve into the wilderness that we were finally not only leaving civilization behind, but any connection to it as well.

Looking back from whence we came (toward Kuna Crest and Lyell Canyon) provided a spectacular view with the clouds cooperating to build a fantastic backdrop. Lyell Glacier is just behind us, as the John Muir Trail winds past it on the way to Donahue Pass at 11,000+ feet – our next destination.

Easily visible along several of the trails that spread out around Yosemite Valley, Vogelsang Peak is easily identifiable with its pointy top. It oversees an unspoiled land, essentially unaltered from the natural course of its creation an evolution.

The Lyell Fork of the Merced River flows along the center of the miles-long meadow-like Lyell Canyon. Off to the side, one can find ponds and reflections of the peaks that lay ahead on the trail.

The John Muir Trail winds along the edge of the forest down Lyell Canyon which stretches some nine miles from Tuolumne Meadows (the direction we are looking) and then climbs up majestic craggy ridges to Donahue Pass at some 11,000+ feet (several miles distant behind this camera position).

Just before that steep rise begins, there is a tree graveyard (pictured here) where ancient gnarled branches and trunks are strewn across the end of the meadow as if they had fallen in some great battle.

The JMT runs about five feet behind this camera position, and I stepped off trail to shoot these trees over this particular branch which looked to me like the remnant antlers of some beast that had long since otherwise returned to the earth.

Near the far end of Lyell Canyon headed out from Tuolumne Meadows, thee is an open, treeless area where the John Muir Trail winds along below Kuna Crest. I’ve traveled this section many times on my way up and over Donahue Pass.