On my day off, I hiked from Tioga Pass to the summit of Mt. Dana, 13,057 ft, to look for sky pilot, alpine gold, buckwheat, and the flowers of the "sky gardens." I saw them all, along with marmots, pikas, squirrels and views upon views, ranges upon ranges, Mono Lake, and even glaciers!
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Sierra Columbines
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Sierra Columbine
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Marmot!
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Pika with grasses for an alpine salad!
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Belding's Ground Squirrel!
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Dana slopes and Kuna Crest near the Mammal Playground
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Dana Meadows and Cathedral Range from the shoulder of Mt. Dana, around 11,500 feet. The Tioga Pass Road is...
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Saddlebag Lake
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Mt Dana Summit from shoulder
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Onwards and upwards!
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Alpine Buckwheat Eriogonum ovalifolium var. nivale. The white flowers turn red after they are...
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Tuolumne Meadows and Domes and Dog Lake This is a view from the plateau on Mt. Dana's shoulder. The domes that...
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Kuna Crest and Kuna Lake
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Alpine Flower Garden! Notice the buckwheat: some have mostly red petals, others mostly...
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Marmot!
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Cut-Leaved Daisy Erigeron compositus
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Alpine Gold! Hulsea algida
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Alpine Gold
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Alpine Gold in context
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Alpine Gold's view
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Rambling Daisy Erigeron vagus
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Dunderberg Peak Clara and I saw this peak covered in snow two autumns ago and from the north....
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Mt. Lyell and Lyell Glacier This view is of the area Clara and I backpacked last year, near the border of...
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The Dana Plateau This is a famous place for bighorn sheep.
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First Sky Pilot! Polemonium eximium, finally, even if it is past its prime! I found...
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