Category Archives: Adventures

Adventures and adventure photography. Could be travels and trips to remote places like Alaska or Patagonia, or it could be outside sports, such as whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, backpacking and hiking, dog mushing, trail running etc.

Waterfall, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Waterfall on the East Fork Tributary of the Little Bremner River, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image from the recent Bremner Mines to Tebay Lakes trip we did. This one is of a small waterfall we passed by as we paralleled the East Fork of the Little Bremner River, heading west down out of the pass at Harry’s Gulch. This was definitely one of the coolest sections of the hike.

The night before we camped on a grassy bench just below the pass, had a visit at dinner time from a grizzly bear, and then enjoyed a really delightful walk down the valley. The stream grew larger and larger as other tributaries ran into it – up at the head of the pass it was a fraction of the size it was here.

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Fall colors, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Fall colors in Monahan Creek, Chugach Mountains, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

hey Folks,

Here’s one of the few images I took on this recent trip – the weather wasn’t too great for photography, much as it hasn’t been all summer long. We started our hike with drizzly, cloudy socked in skies and and cold damp air. The weather improved a little over the 8 days, but never for long. The rain and cold threatened pretty much constantly. This particular morning the skies were partially clear, but by lunch time the clouds ad rolled in and the blue skies gone. I was hoping to get at least something from this area, because it’s such a great scene. The broad alpine valleys really appeal to me, the expansive Alaskan landscape feels so welcoming to walk through. This was taken right from our little kitchen area, and the fall colors were great. The evening before was dreary, though the damp air really made the colors pop a little more.

This was taken just east of Bremner Mines, in the Monahan Creek drainage, on our trek from Iceberg Lake to Bremner Mines.

Cheers

Carl

Hiking in snow

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Hiking in snow in Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s Sergei, also known as ‘Borat’. We ascended this pass on day 2 of our trip, in good weather, fortunately, and I scarpered ahead of some members of the group to grab a few photos. One of the few times I was close to the front of the group – it was a great group of hikers. Sergei acquired 2 nicknames this year – ‘Borat’, initially, because his Russian accent is almost a perfect rendition of the film character – his second nickname came a little later in the trip – Day 3, I believe. We’ll talk about that one on another post.

We had some great weather on this particular day, it cleared up nicely, and the hiking was superb – not too hot, but not raining. On this hike we went through 4 high alpine mountain passes, each of which was quite a slog. The first 2 were snow-covered, but the last 2 were snow free. This one had a nice glacier on both sides of the pass, which made good walking. The terminal moraine at the end of each glacier was a little more treacherous.

Cheers

Carl

Backpacking in the snow

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Backpackers stop in a snowy pass, near Bremner Mines, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Just back in from a GREAT hike – Bremner Mines, in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, to Tebay Lakes. We had an amazing time, and loved nearly every second of the trip. We started a little hesitantly – our flight in to the backcountry was a day late, due to inclement weather, and when we arrived, things hadn’t seemed to be on the improve.

We hit a good hail storm within 10 minutes of landing and heading off – so rather than ‘tent it’, we stayed the first night in a little bunkhouse cabin near the old mines, currently occupied by the Park Service archaeologist, Barbara, a delightful and knowledgeable lady who made our night a treat. The next morning the weather was marginally better, and by the time we hit the first pass, close to lunch, we’d already hiked through a small snow storm.

Here’s the view of the group at the pass, Jodee, Geoff, Svetlana, Mike and Sergei, from left to right. I think they’re wondering ‘what the hell are we doing up here’, before we set off down the steep snowy slope – an adventure, for sure.

All up, the trip was fantastic, the scenery incredible, the hiking a good challenge, and the group wonderful – everyone really chipped in and made this a memorable hike.

I’ll post some more over the next week or so.

Cheers

Carl

Camping by Mt Sanford, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Camped in front of Mt Sanford, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

So I got back right on time – the last glows of the evening were just dwindling down, and I arrived back at the ‘house’ and grabbed my camera, and set up this shot. 10 minutes earlier and the color in the sky was gorgeous. 25 minutes earlier and the mountain was on fire. Zanetti and Wrangell, further south, were even more spectacular. As per usual, my impeccable timing got me a drab sky and no great light.

Cheers

Carl

Hiking Sanford Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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A hiker enjoys an ice arch on the Sanford Glacier, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s Steve “Don’t Dude Me” New – posing in front of the Arch. Every so often a rock or three would fall from the bridge in the background, and crash down onto the ice below – pretty awesome stuff. We enjoyed the glacier and moraine, but the hiking is tough on that terrain. Fortunately we didn’t have to hike too far across the rocks and ice – and the moraine made the river crossing WAY simpler than it would otherwise have been.

Cheers

Carl

Delicate Arch – Alaska-style?

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photo of a hiker atop an ice arch on the Sanford Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image from our first afternoon on the Sanford Glacier – well, on the moraine section of the glacier. We arrive at the landing strip, donned raingear to ward off the ever-present drizzle, and set off up the valley. Before long, we found a place to camp, setup camp, had a nap (always a critical part of a day’s hiking), and then we hiked up the valley to the moraine, and explored that a little. Right before we got on the moraine we saw a grizzly bear, maybe 75 yards away. The bear reared up on its hind legs, took a look at our intimidating crew, and then dropped to all fours and raced off into the brush. Good bear!

After hiking around the glacier a while, we found this arch, which was really cool. Of course, we didn’t have cameras with us, so we made sure the following day to take a short detour off our route up to this arch for some images. I’m glad we did, what a cool place this is. What’s really cool is that it changes on such a scale that it could well not be around next year. I hope it is, but I’m sure we’ll find something else equally as interesting if not. Such seems to be the way of glaciers.

I convinced Dan “Two Plates” Kelly to head up on the bridge of the glacier for a photo-opp. Dan’s never one to shy away from such a chance to shine, and he posed nicely for this. I’ll post another image soon of his brother, Steve “Don’t Dude Me” also at this arch, from below.

Cheers

Carl

The Sanford River, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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The Sanford River drainage, sunset, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I just returned from a week on the Sanford Plateau. This is the view north from camp on our second evening. One of the few nice evenings we had – more rain, more wind, more clouds, more wind, and then crazy insane winds that nearly drove us off the range. Nearly. I was really hoping to get some nice stuff of the big mountains visible from up here, but the weather didn’t co-operate like I hoped it might. Such seems to be the summer. We had an AWESOME trip though, and thanks to Sergei, Steven, Daniel, Kevin and Wendell 🙂 – awesome folks, awesome fun, awesome times. And best of luck with Daniel who’s about to head off to MIT for his first year of college – I’ve never met an MIT person before – I’m still kind of in shock.

More to come over the next few days – while I’ll be gone leading a trip from Bremner Mines to Tebay Lakes in Wrangell -St. Elias National Park until the 20th – so I’ll schedule a few posts for while I’m gone. Pray for sunshine.

Cheers

Carl

The Golden Oil of ANWR – it’s over!

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oil in ANWR

Hey Folks,

By now, you’ve all heard the rumors, I’m sure. How the massive oil fields, despoiling the pristine earth lying deep beneath the frozen, barren tundra of the lonely coastal plains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (known by its acronym ANWR), could save our planet. How, if only those whacko enviro-freaks, who are bent on ruining the lives of countless hard-working patriotic Americans, have consistently and ruthlessly undertaken to bully the American Congress and the oil industry into submission, and not allow the oil and natural gas that is currently being wasted underground to be extracted and delivered to gas stations across America.

I’m sure you’ve read the facts, and seen how, if the estimated 10 billion barrels of ANWR oil could be drilled and refined, gasoline prices at the pump would plummet; but not just the gas prices,

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Hubbard Glacier photo and Disenchantment Bay, Alaska

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Disenchantment Bay and the Hubbard Glacier, near Yakutat, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

So ya can’t go to Yakutat without a trip up to get some Hubbard Glacier photos.

I wanted to do a flight-seeing trip to shoot this glacier, but the light wasn’t that great. And when the light was great, I was out at the beach. I need to get back down there and shoot some stuff of this glacier from the air to complement the images I got from lower down.

The Hubbard is one of the most visited glaciers in Wrangell-St. Elias – you can’t really do a book on Wrangell-St. Elias National Park without at least some photos from the Hubbard Glacier.

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