December 2025 has been an odd duck around northeastern California. La Niña has the Pacific behaving like a cold shoulder, and up here at 4,000–5,000 feet we’ve been riding a streak of dry, unseasonably pleasant weather. One perk of all that stability has been a run of sunsets that seem to taunt me every time someone else posts them online. So, on December 5, I headed up to Miner’s Point on the eastern shore of Eagle Lake to see if I could catch one for myself. Lots of high clouds in the sky upon my arrival showed promise, and I ultimately got some shots I like, even if they weren’t all in the direction I expected as those clouds moved around a fair bit while I was there.
This image was captured just after my arrival as the sun was sitting right on the western ridgeline and throwing a warm glow across the slopes and the lake’s glassy surface. The shoreline here is shallow and littered with big, pale rocks, which makes wandering around at sunset feel a bit like a stroll through a half-submerged sculpture garden. When the lake’s calm (and when the local shorebirds aren’t yelling at me), it’s a great place to settle in, watch the colors change, and let the day unwind.
A few minutes later and a few feet away…
A common sight I see at Eagle Lake is USAF C-17s flying low to the water. Someday I hope to get a nice shot with my telephoto lens when I’m up there shooting wildlife. Even though I only had my 24–105mm, I couldn’t resist grabbing a snapshot when this one turned and was silhouetted against some pretty sunset clouds (which had already moved, so they weren’t really over the lake).
I grabbed a frame to the north, as there was a bit of color that direction.
I looked to the west and saw some color way off in the distance and played with it a bit. Luckily, I was out on a bit of a rocky outcrop into the lake, so I had some water between me and the shore to reflect these great clouds.
Eagle Lake sits just above 5,000 feet and remains one of California’s largest natural lakes, an approximately 21,000-acre endorheic basin. It’s best known for its Eagle Lake rainbow trout, but the surrounding habitat draws raptors, waterfowl, and the occasional distracted photographer. I’ve always thought of this place as “home water,” whether I’m fishing with my son or just roaming the shoreline with a camera. On this early December evening, with the sun sliding behind the western ridge and the clouds drifting into new shapes by the minute, Miner’s Point delivered exactly the kind of quiet, reflective moment I’d hoped to find.