County Route 21, Mono County, CA, 9/17/2007
Here's a view of pine trees by the rocky shore of Big Virginia Lake at 9,805 feet above sea level in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. It is the largest in the cluster of lakes known as Virginia Lakes in the Eastern Sierra Nevada in Mono County, California. In the distance to the north is Dunderberg Peak (elevation 12,374 feet). Big Virginia Lake is the second in a chain of lakes that lie within a succession of glacier-carved terraces at the head of Virginia Creek Canyon. The lakes are all connected by the perennial Virginia Creek. At sunrise, I enjoyed the foggy and dramatic scenery in the canyon as I drove along Virginia Lakes Road (Mono County Route 21) on my way to the lake, arriving here as the sunlight was strengthening and the clouds were clearing. This was a cool beautiful summer morning beside one of the most beautiful lakes in the Sierra Nevada! In the Virginia Lakes area are a resort, pack station, and a small community. Virginia Lakes is popular with anglers, hikers, and campers. A trail beginning here serves as a gateway to the Sierra backcountry and Yosemite National Park. Big Virginia Lake offers excellent fishing for rainbow trout, as well as some brook and brown trout. As I was preparing to photograph this scene, a group of fishermen arrived and placed their red chairs beneath the pines at the water's edge. The ripples on the lake surface reflected the blue sky and red mountain as alternating wavy bands of opposite colors; the lower left corner of a large print of this photograph is a work of abstract art in its own right!
