Mount Saint Elias, 18 008′ high, stands tall in the evening light over an unnamed glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska – aerial photo. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Well, just back from 2 weeks to photographing brown bears in Katmai National Park, and I’m off again already; I’ll be gone for some time on this trip, 4 weeks down along the coastline of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, where I will meet up with Erin and Hig, of Ground Truth Trekking. They’re spending 2 months in the area,  finding out

“what would it be like to live on ice? In the fall of 2011 we will set out to spend two months living on the shifting, melting surface of North America’s largest glacier, along with our two young children.

Trekking between a series of camps on the Malaspina Glacier, on Alaska’s remote and harsh Lost Coast, we will explore this dramatic and wild landscape, weather the fall storms, and document climate change in action.”

Pretty cool stuff. You can read more about the expedition on their blog, here. They’ve already been out a few weeks, and I’m looking forward to meeting up, and hearing all about their adventures. From the tweets I’ve seen, they’re having a blast. I spoke with Hig today, and he’s excited about the trip as it’s going so far. So my plan is to join their trip, for a while, and photograph as much as I can of it. As well as explore the magnificent Wrangell-St. Elias National Park coastline, a place I’ve not spent as much time as I’d like to. So, for 4 weeks, I’ll be trudging around, hiking, pack rafting and experiencing the Malaspina Glacier and the “Lost Coast”. I also hope, of course, to get some big views of those mountains, the incredible Saint Elias Range, the world’s highest coastal range, and home of Mount Saint Elias, pictured above.

The trip should be a blast, anytime I can spend 4 solid weeks in the backcountry I’m a happy fella; to do so in such a unique area as this coastline will be truly memorable, I’m sure. Lots to photograph, and lots to learn about in such a relatively rarely visited area. It’ll be awesome to hang with Hig and Erin some more, and learn from their knowledge and experience. Hig has a PhD in geology and Erin a masters in molecular biology, so I’m sure I’ll learn an amazing amount from both of them.

I’ll schedule a few posts for while I’m away, so please do check in from time time. I should be back in on Nov 7, and have plenty to talk about when I arrive. That’s the plan, anyway. But we all know what they say about plans and mice and men.

Cheers

Carl