Bald eagle, Alaska

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Bald eagle, catching a fish, Kachemak Bay, Homer, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Just as a head’s up – unfortunately, my posting here is about to slow down considerably. I, apparently, have a great deal of work to catch up on. And I was hoping, if things worked out well, I’d have some good internet time in the next few months .. but that appears to be unlikely now. I’ll try to keep posting here as possible, it’ll be a little slower for a while, I think. Bummer, eh?

In moving along with my ‘showing some older, pre-blog-photo-era images, I thought I’d post a bald eagle image. This is from the winter of 2002. Continue reading →

Spruce Grouse

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male spruce grouse, Wrangell St. Elias national Park, Alaska.

hey Folks,

Here’s a male spruce grouse that I photographed a week or so ago. These birds are SO cool, and will completely bury themselves under the snow in the winter, blasting up from their hides in a frenzied eruption of snow, feathers and noise when you stroll by – and scaring the hiker immeasurably in the process.

I’ve not had any luck with photographing grouse in the park before, though I have photos from other places, so this one I was glad to catch.

Male spruce grouse, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Cheers

Carl

Winter’s here

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Lakina river, early winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I’m winding down my short stay here in McCarthy, prepping for the winter. I’ve painted half the inside of the cabin, chopped a bunch of wood, and done a few other odds and ends. I also scouted out a few photo opportunities for this winter, though I didn’t get to shoot much this last few weeks.

We got a solid dumping of snow almost a week ago, and most of it is still packed on the ground – the temps have hovered around 40 deg most days, so there’s not much melting. As I write this, a few lonely snow flakes drift down from the clouds – and from the looks of things, another snow storm is not far away.

I’ll be heading back towards Anchorage in the next few days, where I’ll stay for a while to do website updates, photo editing, other office work, etc – it’s a tedious time at the end of summer. Once I get that stuff tended to, I’ll stock up on food and supplies, and return to the cabin for the winter. I’m keen to venture a little further afield this year, explore the place in more detail, and try to get some good winter shots. I think I’m a bit better prepped this year, and have a better idea of how this all works. We’ll see.

The summer is now gone, too quickly, as always. They say fall has just begun, but I’m pretty sure it’s gone too – unless by ‘fall’ they mean ‘snowfall’ – my car outside is slowly getting a nice covering of the white stuff. As always, I’m already thinking about tentative plans for next summer. I don’t know yet exactly what they’ll entail (hence ‘tentative’) but at this point, I’m fairly certain they’ll include a good deal of me wandering around the mountains of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, looking for some sunshine.

Cheers

Carl

Whitetail buck, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

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Whitetail buck, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

hey Folks,

Here’s one of my favorite images – a whitetail buck photo from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Tennessee.

Cades Cove in November/December is one of my FAVORITE places, and I’ll miss not being there this year, the 3rd year in a row that I’ve not been there. When I was in Atlanta, in years gone by, I’d look forward every year to heading up to the Cove to photograph the whitetail deer rut. The bucks are in their prime this time of year, and truly a glorious creature. One of the treats of returning each year was to run into the same bucks, year after year, it’s akin to running into old friends. This buck is one of the larger bucks, with a great wide 8 point rack, easily identified by his tiny little brow tines, the shorter ones directly above his ears. He was ever such a placid animal, though he did get a little feisty when other bucks came into his domain. Continue reading →

Twaharpies Mountain Range, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Twaharpies Mountain Range, peaks, sunset, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

hey Folks,

Here’s another image from a few years ago – on a trip to Wolverine, a ridge high above the Chittistone River in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. The Twaharpies Mountains lie south of the ridge, across the river, and came out late this evening with some gorgeous light. The peaks are pretty cool – classic alps. Just east of this peak lie the University Range, home to Mount Bona and Mount Churchill.

Wolverine is a local name for the (officially) unnamed ridge on the north side of the Chittistone River, and a great spot for a basecamp or a point to point hike – I usually hike from Skolai Pass west to Wolverine, but some folks like to do it in the other direction. It’s a classic alpine walk, through some of the most magnificent scenery I’ve ever stumbled my way through. There’s a crazy butte on the north side of the ridge, like something out of the desert southwest, but all around are jagged craggy peaks, like the Twaharpies.

Maybe I’ll continue on with a short series of images from years gone by, rather than continually posting new photos. This counts as 2. 🙂

Cheers

Carl

Backpacking Tebay lakes, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

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Backpacking near tebay lakes, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

hey Folks,

Here’s what happens when the guide lets someone else lead. Sergei, aka, Borat, was confident of his ability to lead us to our next campsite. he’d been in this area with me last year, and figured he knew the way. So I said ‘sure, you go on ahead’, we’ll follow you. We were aiming to stay on the southern side of this ridge, staying well below the crest, traversing around to our campsite. Sergei pushed higher and higher t every opportunity, and before ya know it, we came over the top, looking toward Tebay Lakes to the north of us. Jodee’s standing here, looking around asking herself “What The Heck?” and the rest of the group had collapsed on the ground.

🙂

Well, that’s not QUITE the truth, but Sergei did lead us up this ridge – and it was a pretty sweet spot to hang out for a while. Continue reading →

Sunset over the Alaska Range, Alaska

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sunset over the Alaska Range, Alaska.

hey Folks,

Here’s an old image I dug up last night .. going through some old files for editing. I shot it a couple of years ago, returning from a trip to Denali National Park one fall. The sky began to clear up late in the afternoon, and I was driving back towards Anchorage. A week or so in the park with clouds and rain and on my way home, a sunset! I pulled over to the side of the road, wandered off into the woods, got completely SOAKED in this marshy area, and set up my gear near this Dward Birch (Betula pumila or Betula borealis), glowing orange in late autumn colors, and the clouds began to catch the last of the day’s rays. Then i walked back to my truck, and got my feet even more wet.

Cheers

Carl

Mount Drum, Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park, Alaska

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alpen glow, at dawn, on Mount Drum, Wrangell - Saint Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another image of Mount Drum from earlier in the summer – one fine, crusty and cold morning up on the windswept Sanford Plateau. We traversed the plateau from the north-west side, where we’d landed by bush plane along the Sanford River. Rather than cross the Sanford River, a foolish maneuver, we hiked over the glacial moraine, just above where the river comes out of the bottom of the glacier. The river was fairly rippin’ along, with all the rain this summer, so I was glad we didn’t have to wade it – I’m pretty sure the folks on the trip were glad about that too.

Most of that trip we had cloudy skies and light drizzle, although the rain really wasn’t that bad. Continue reading →

Dwarf Birch and Thompson Ridge, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Dwarf Birch in fall color and Thompson Ridge, Ross Green Lake at sunset, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

hey Folks,

Here’s another photo from the nice evening we got at Ross Green Lake. As the last of the light faded, I headed up over this small ridge to this patch of dwarf birch that I had found earlier in the afternoon. The red brush is the Dwarf Birch (Betula borealis) – a spectacular bush in the fall – it’s pretty hard to hike through, though – not much fun at all. But how it redeems itself in the fall – what a beautiful plant. Now if only we can do something about that alder. 🙂

In case you didn’t see the earlier post, this is Ross Green Lake and Thompson Ridge in the background.

Cheers

Carl

Fall in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

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fall colors near Ross Green Lake, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another from my ‘sunny afternoon’. The sky started to clear around 10am, and by mid-afternoon, it was beautiful. I was hiking up the valley, east, trying to get some nice views, and maybe find a nice location to shoot sunset images from. I did find some spots, but it was in vain, of course, because yet another storm came rolling in from the west, and the light waned. Pesky clouds!

This image is looking west, towards the Tana River and Tana Glacier. You can see the edge of the sand dunes in the background, just behind that ridge, before you get to the winding, meandering river bed.

Cheers

Carl