One thing that’s difficult to convey in photographs is just how awe-inspiringly big the Sierras are. These photos show various ways to communicate that scale.
The story here is that we spent a day exploring Milestone Basin, a trail-less, glacier-carved bowl of granite chiseled out of the Great Western Divide.
Hiking up to 10,000 ft without trails gave the opportunity to really take in the landscape, and come at it without the benefit of a set path.
1) Me, in front of the Great Western Divide, which looks diminutive because of how flat the meadow is behind me
2) Bill trudging up granite. This one shows how far we’ve climbed, far above the canyon formed by the Kern River
3) The view into Milestone Basin, before we climbed down into the Kern then back up into the basin. It’s deceptive how small this photo makes it look.
4-5) the same shot of milestone basin, zoomed in. Without a human for scale it’s tough to see how massive it is
6-7) Much further up in the basin (hours of work to climb here). You may not spot Bill at first, but once you see there is a human standing there you get the sense of scale
8) The view East, back down into the Kern. No people for scale.
9) The framing of the branches on Milestone Creek make the image shrink, feeling more relaxing and approachable
10) Bill hiking up another granite sheet, where a large tree has found purchase in the soil. Without a human standing there, you couldn’t tell how big this all is
11) another nice shot of Milestone Creek heading up into Milestone Basin. Without a person, it’s tough to tell that the creek is quite large — big enough to swim in!