Lakes Below Duck Pass - Near Mammoth Lakes. Sierra Nevada, California. August 5, 2005.© Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved. This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell. Sun breaks through the clouds to illuminate lakes and surrounding meadows in the valley below Duck Pass near Mammoth Lakes, California. This is an older shot that I recently realized has not yet been posted here. There is a bit of an ironic story behind getting this shot. A few days earlier some friends and I had started on a 14-day backpacking trip along a good size chunk of the John Muir Trail. (Including one short section that I have yet to hike!) After about four days on the trail we arrived an Purple Lake, a bit south of Mammoth, where I began to feel a bit "under the weather." Because the next portion of the hike would travel across a section of the JMT that doesn't provide many quick exits in case of emergency, I decided that I would evaluate my condition the next morning before heading on. Since I still didn't feel great when I awoke I regretfully left the rest of my group and backtracked towards Duck Pass with a plan to exit to Mammoth Lakes and head home. So, it was by accident that I found myself descending this trail below Duck Pass in intermittent thundershowers, with alternating bursts of rain and sunlight - and ending up in the right place at the right time to see this beautiful scene as sunlight illuminated this set of lakes.