Hey Folks,

Here’s a photo I took a little over a month back, of Long Lake, off the McCarthy Rd. You can see what happens if you get to close here; the last photographer obviously tried a little too hard to push the boundaries.

This lake freeze over, except for this small outflow at the western end of the lake, and another small section on the northside of the lake, where a spring bubbles into the lake, and keeps the surface from freezing.

That section is a spawning ground for salmon all through the winter, even into April, and is one of the latest spawning areas in Alaska. The winter spawn is an important food source for a lot of animals in the area, including lynx, wolves, wolverines, raven, mink, marten, foxes and coyotes and more.

Won’t be long now until the lake thaws and the waterfowl settle in. Loons nest here every summer, so I hope I’ll get to photograph some of them soon enough.

Cheers

Carl