Sunrise glows on the peak of Mount Jarvis, and a near perfect reflection lights up a small alpine tarn in the Wrangell Mountains, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a quick one I thought I’d post from the recent backpacking trip up around Mt Jarvis. This was from the 2nd morning spent at ‘Reflection Pond’.

A few mornings earlier I’d made a long dash thru the snow covered alpine country to try to catch this scene at first light. Alas, I was too late, and alpen glow, always all too brief, faded as I strolled over the tundra. So I got up a little earlier, and made sure I was in place in time this morning. The couple along on the trip, Tracey and Brad, from Chicago, were split on whether to come along. Brad stayed in camp, and Tracey joined me for the walk in near darkness over to this pond. It’s not easy to be woken at 5:00am from a sound sleep, and 5 minutes later clamber out of a tent in the dark, gather up all your camera gear, and hike a mile or so. Tracey managed it well though, and we go to this little tarn in good time. Great job Tracey.

The alpenglow and sunrise was really pretty, and I made a few images; this recent posting is from earlier the same morning. It was funny how quickly the color of the light changed. A warm, magenta/pink glow very rapidly became a nice warm yellow, then a cooler white as the sun rose. I’ve never seen it shift quite so quickly as it did this particular morning.

Another interesting note; it’s amazing to me how regularly a small breeze seems to kick up right at dawn, just as the alpenglow lights up a mountain peak, and ripples the surface of whatever pond I intend to photograph, obliterating a reflection. then, just as quickly, the breeze subsides and the reflection returns – always, just after the pink alpenglow ebbs away. I wonder if it’s some kind of temperature inversion or something that goes on, because it happens way too frequently. I’d be interested to see if others have seen this same thing happen a lot.

The Mt Jarvis trip was a great week. We got some nice photos, superb views, and I enjoyed the hang time with Brad and Tracey, 2 great folks, hardy souls, who braved the Wrangell mountains in September. Trust me, walking around at 7000-8000 feet in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in September is not for the timid. I’ll definitely be back there again and again.

NB: I’m currently in Katmai for 2 weeks. I’ll try to have a few posts scheduled for while I’m gone. don’t go away now, y’all.

Cheers

Carl