Image captured 4/18/2015 from 11,709 foot Kearsarge Pass. This year's record low snows allowed me to ascend this pass earlier than normal, though a fair amount of snow is still kept on the sun-starved northern facing slopes, giving a dramatic relief on some of the highest mountains in California.

Kearsarge Pass is the border between the eastern Sierra's Inyo National Forest and Kings Canyon National Park. It's high access point, Onion Valley, situated at ~9,300 feet above sea level make this a popular trailhead to enter the backcountry.