Dale Matson
Click On Photographs To Enlarge
Courtright 25mm Zeiss Batis
For the particulars on Courtright, I have included a link
from my 2016 posting
So why write about
Courtright Reservoir again? And again, as I have said about other multiple
postings, “The mountains are never the same and I have used different cameras
and lenses yearly.” This year I used my Sony A7R3, Zeiss Batis 135mm 2.8, Batis
25mm 2.0 and Sony 100-400mm GM. The sharp Sony 100-400 GM is the first native
long lens for the Sony e-mount and better than the adapted Canon 400mm DO lens
I used last year. The GM is great for wildlife when combined with the 1.4X TC.
I assigned a custom button on the camera to "crop" or APS-C mode which increases the image size. So, some images are about 35mm for the Batis 25, 200mm for the Batis 135 and 800mm for the 100-400 with 1.4X TC.
The Road to
Courtright was opened again on May 25th and these photos were taken
soon thereafter. This year I went in the afternoon to optimize the light for
photos looking east from the vista point above the reservoir. The vista point
is before you actually descend to it. Because of this I didn’t stop at the
McKinley Grove of Giant Sequoias along the way.
My time down
by the reservoir was also shortened so I did not see any raptors to photograph
this year. I believe there is at least one Bald Eagle and one Osprey nest near
the lake. Last year I got shots of each bird.
Courtright is
a beautiful place and in the summer, at about 8,000’, much cooler than my home
town of Fresno. There are great places around the lake for camping, and fishing
and a boat ramp too. The Maxon Trailhead across the dam is the beginning of
hikes east into the Sierra and Kings Canyon National Park. Two hikes include Black
Cap Basin and Red Mountain Basin. I have backpacked as far as Disappointment
Lake and done a day hike from there to Hell For Sure Pass that overlooks
Goddard Canyon in Kings Canyon.
The water
source for Courtright is Helms Creek but Courtright serves as both a reservoir
and as a forebay for Wishon Reservoir downstream. During periods of low
electricity demand, water is pumped back up to Courtright from Wishon. (The
water source for Wishon Reservoir is the north fork of The King’s River. The
Helms Project is one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the world.
Bald Mountain Lookout From Dinkey Creek Road 560mm
Leconte Divide From The Vista Batis 135mm
Mt. Goddard (13,563') Far Right
Mule Deer
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