Morning Mirror, Kings Canyon National Park

Deep within the wilderness area of Kings Canyon National Park along the John Muir Trail lies the Painted Lady in the Rae Lakes Basin. This fine art print of Kings Canyon’s backcountry gem is the culmination of years of preparation and anticipation. There is no easy way to get here, because you must carry all your gear with you, while you backpack it in, and the shortest distance to get there is 14 miles over Sierra granite, that involves climbing two 12,000 ft mountain passes. But the reward for your labor is some of the most beautiful landscapes in the US, as well as the world.

Setting out for this photo was years in the making and required staying an extra night in the Rae Lakes Basin that normally keeps you moving along the Rae Lakes Loop to see other gorgeous scenery. There was a bit of planning in order to grab this shot with still water in normally windy alpine country, and then chance, as there is the shadow of the morning cloud that lit up the face of the Painted Lady, and shaded the peaks in the range.

I had been out on this trip multiple times, but I did not give the other visits the time to specifically shoot this backpacking icon. But with one of my friends that had visited this area many times, we setup camp two nights prior to capture this shot. Although the Basin is surrounded by mountains, at 10,500 feet our camp had gust of wind with the occasional break in the wind and that’s when I went to work to capture this moment.

If you are looking to purchase this print, please fill out the Contact Page form or go to the Fine Art Prints page form with the pricing that is below, or if you have a custom space and need custom prints, please put that in the form details.

Kings Canyon Fine Art Print Pricing on Aluminum:

48” W X 30” H – $2,400.00
30” W X 19” H – $1,400.00

My buddy John has tons of videos of backpacking in the Sierra and this video will show you a little of what you encounter from the 2:15 mark to the 5:30 point of the video below. At the 5:26 point to the 5:33, you will see the Painted Lady while they are hiking along the John Muir Trail.

You can even see how choppy the water is at that elevation and when the opportunity presented itself, I jumped out with the camera and tripod and took advantage of still water for this shot.

Kings Canyon, Rae Lakes Sunset

This shot from the same trip was the evening before the Morning Mirror shot was taken. John is sitting in his ultra light chair enjoying the sunset and the view. The same ND filter and photography method was used to shoot this shot. It just so happened to be a little bit more wind in this photo.