Photo retakes from the Tahoe National Forest, Nevada County, CA, July 4, 2014

Both images are of French Lake, taken on the same spot from different angles.

The original images were taken on June 30, 1934, by N.H. French and are part of the Wieslander Vegetation Type Map (VTM) collection.

Photo details: VTM site Lat/long: 39.40695 -120.51549 High resolution: image
View of the north end of French Lake, from 7700 feet.

Photo details: VTM site Lat/long: 39.40695 -120.51549 High resolution: image
View of the south end of French Lake, from 7700 feet.

This was the first VTM photo site I've found that required a hike to get there. Not only was the photo not taken from a road, but it was not taken from a trail. The hike from my car to the site was a little over a mile, but it felt like more. It was all uphill, and we didn't really know where we were going. The first 2/3 of the hike was along a narrow, rocky road (image below). The last third of the hike involved somewhat random wandering over rocks and around bushes towards a view we hoped to see but weren't sure exactly where it was. My Garmin GPS, and Gaia GPS on my iPad, were my friends on this hike, helping us get to the photo location and, especially, helping us get back.

Part of why we chose to look for this particular VTM site is that Quercus vacciniifolia (huckleberry oak) was present in the area, and we wanted to look at their galls. We did find a few galls but we had very little time to look for them because we were running out of daylight. Note the two Andricus vaccinifoliae galls on the oak in the image below.

There were nice flowers along the way like this Triteleia ixioides (golden brodiaea), but we didn't have time to look at them either.

We also found a few little ponds, with Isoetes (quillworts) growing in them.

The view east towards Meadow Lake.

A shot of the entire French Lake. Unfortunately I had to shoot into the sun for these retakes, since we got there late in the day.
On the side of the lake where the dam is, there's an interesting fish ladder.

I'd like to go back and take photos earlier in the day when the sun is behind me, but in the meantime we considered this effort a success.

[Back to retake page.]


Photo details: VTM site Lat/long: 39.40695 -120.51549 High resolution: image View of the north end of French Lake, from 7700 feet.


Photo details: VTM site Lat/long: 39.40695 -120.51549 High resolution: image View of the south end of French Lake, from 7700 feet.


This was the first VTM photo site I've found that required a hike to get there. Not only was the photo not taken from a road, but it was not taken from a trail. The hike from my car to the site was a little over a mile, but it felt like more. It was all uphill, and we didn't really know where we were going. The first 2/3 of the hike was along a narrow, rocky road (image below). The last third of the hike involved somewhat random wandering over rocks and around bushes towards a view we hoped to see but weren't sure exactly where it was. My Garmin GPS, and Gaia GPS on my iPad, were my friends on this hike, helping us get to the photo location and, especially, helping us get back.
Part of why we chose to look for this particular VTM site is that Quercus vacciniifolia (huckleberry oak) was present in the area, and we wanted to look at their galls. We did find a few galls but we had very little time to look for them because we were running out of daylight. Note the two Andricus vaccinifoliae galls on the oak in the image below.
There were nice flowers along the way like this Triteleia ixioides (golden brodiaea), but we didn't have time to look at them either.
We also found a few little ponds, with Isoetes (quillworts) growing in them.
The view east towards Meadow Lake.
A shot of the entire French Lake. Unfortunately I had to shoot into the sun for these retakes, since we got there late in the day. On the side of the lake where the dam is, there's an interesting fish ladder.
I'd like to go back and take photos earlier in the day when the sun is behind me, but in the meantime we considered this effort a success.