Re: Tuolumne Meadows winter conditions 18 January 2022

I had not heard of Obata Lake before I read this report....

---

Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

Well, from the picture it seemed to me that the photo was taken on the western side of the ridge (or on the saddle) that tops out at its north end at Johnson peak, and that the lake is the lake just to the southwest of Johnson peak (and NNE of Reymann lake as the crow flies). Then I used a search engine to look for "Obata lake", and found this: https://tedmuller.us/Outdoor/Hiking/2012/120924-ObataLake.htm. I had read about Obata before, and how he often came to this spot, but had forgotten his name. The USGS topo does not name this lake.

Among the other search results was this: https://www.themarginalian.org/2018/03/23/chiura-obata-yosemite/. The print of sunset at Mono lake is striking, to me at least, not only for the colors, but because, having been made over 90 years ago (when photography was still mostly b/w), it reminds me that some things don't change. As great as his photographs were, Ansel Adams didn't do red sunsets.

Lake Basin in the High Sierra, 1930, which can be seen at the link above, shows Obata Lake, just southwest of Johnson Peak. I've also heard NPS rangers refer to the ridge between this lake and Reymann as Obata Ridge. I've seen one other Obata print that looks to be the same lake and ridge area.

I'll recommend the book shown at the link (Obata's Yosemite). The story of the 1927 trip he took through the Yosemite high country is pretty amazing. And in it I just found the other print I was thinking of, Silence, Last Twilight on an Unknown Lake, Johnson Peak, 1930. Unknown, and unnamed (at least unofficially), no more.

Yosemite Conservancy was supposed to do some type of program honoring him last year. They probably did, and I just missed it, or perhaps it was cancelled or scaled back due to COVID concerns. I hope they are able to put it on again soon. I'm sure there will at least be some sort of event to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of his 1927 trip... but I hope we don't have to wait that long.

(Edited to correct a date error. The prints were made in 1930, but Obata's trip to the High Sierra took place in 1927.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2022 07:58PM by FatFlatlander.

Part of Tioga Road got renamed in his honor last year (2021). I'll let you search the internet for it...
(Chiura Obata Great Nature Memorial Highway)

---

Very cool! Thanks, chick-on. More incentive to get to the east side of Tioga Pass!

In reading through some of the sites that a Google search brought up about the dedication of that section of Hwy 120, I saw that Yosemite held an Obata Art Weekend up in Tuolumne Meadows in late August of last year. Bummed I missed it!

Just bought a copy that should arrive soon. Thanks for the tips!

---

Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963