Towering afternoon clouds over the Kearsarge basin with distant lakes far below, from near Kearsarge Pass.

Cloud Theater

Kearsarge Pass, Kings Canyon National Park, California

The Kearsarge resupply day: out of the wilderness, down 2,600 feet to a bear box at Onion Valley, then back up the same pass with five days of food. This was the consolation — a sky performing over the whole basin while I climbed under fresh weight. When the light is flat and midday, clouds are composition; I gave them most of the frame and kept the lakes as a footnote of scale.

Nikon Z 7_2 · 17-35mm f/2.8D · 17mm · f/5 · 1/250 · ISO 64

July 3, 2025

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