The sun begins to shine on the high snow capped peaks of the great Sierra Nevada Mountains and the hills above Hot Creek Gorge just south of Mammoth. Stars still twinkled in crisp clear early morning light as sunlight struck the peaks turning the bright white snow pink and orange. This is the time it was the coldest and the steam was much more pronounced in the early morning chill and you could really feel it coming up through the ground into your feet. I wanted to walk down to the creek and dip my feet in the warm waters of Hot Creek but I resisted and stayed to take pictures but as often is the case the temperature continued to drop even as the sunlight seemed to warm the colors on the distant peaks. This turned out to be one of my top favorite shots of my recent trek to the Eastern Sierra’s for the Fall Colors that line the canyons of the mountain peaks in the distance.