Aspens, Ross Green Lake, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

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Aspens, fall color, Thompson Ridge, Ross Green Lake, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another image from the one evening we got any light. This was just after some clouds rolled in and began to block out the sun again. A few minutes after I took this image there was no light left on the peaks. The peaks are part of Thompson Ridge. Thompson Ridge is named after J.B. Thompson, a prospector who crossed the area on foot in 1906. There is a pass west of here, outside the park across the Copper River, called Thompson Pass, that’s pretty well known – it’s on the highway system.

This little patch of aspen in the foreground were really cool. We didn’t see any other trees in the area at all, except for one small white spruce across the valley, maybe a mile away. And here, on the edge of Ross Green Lake, is this stand of aspen. A few minutes earlier they’d been basking in gorgeous warm light, and then those nefarious clouds came a-rollin’ in! Bah!

Cheers

Carl

Willow, part 2

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Willow bush, turning orange, fall colors, Wrangel - St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another willow I wanted to shoot from the first time I saw it. The color was really unique on this one – there were 2 other willow maybe 30 yards from it, both the typical yellow. This one had this cool orangey color to it that I really liked. Not only were they same species, but they are the same plant – their roots connect under the sand. Willow are pretty hardy, and the only plant here in the sand dunes that could get higher than about 1′ tall – and some of these willows were 20′ tall. That says a bit, IMO, if they can grow 20 times higher than any other plant in the same region.

If you don’t think they’re a hardy plant – I can tell you from experience that hiking through a thicket willows will change your mind on that one pretty quickly. 🙂

Cheers

Carl

Willow, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Willow bush, fall colors, sand dunes, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another from the Tana River sand dunes. We were basecamped in the area, day hiking up, down, and around the region. Every morning we’d walk right past this little willow bush to our kitchen, and then back again to our camp. Every night we’d do the same. I kept thinking “I gotta shoot that bush, it’s SO cool”. One afteroon I did – I wish I could’ve got a little higher, to get a little more separation between the top of the bush and the shrubs in the background, but this was all I could manage.

Cheers

Carl

Fall colors, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Fall colors in the alpine tundra, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

hey Folks,

Here’s another photo from the recent trip – some nice all colors right by camp. What’s wild is 10 yards from where I took this scene we were shooting the ripples in the sand dunes in a desolate, dry terrain. This Alaska landscape sho do get crazy.

I’m going to be out for a while, so will upload some scheduled posts, and reply to comments, etc, as I’m able. I’ll try to drop in every so often and let you know what I’m up to – right now, I don’t really have any idea of what that will involve, other than trying to stay warm, and out of the rain.

Cheers

Carl

Ice Cave, Tana Glacier

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Blue ice from ice cave, Tana Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another from the Tana Glacier, only this time from in a little ice cave I spotted. Well, I didn’t venture too far into it, it was more of a bridge than a cave, but I went inside enough to get dripped on. Pretty cool. The blue inside these glaciers is so vivid – it’s exciting to see it, weird as that sounds, that a mere color might excite someone.
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The Tana Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

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Small blue tarn on the Tana Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another image from the Tana Glacier – this one from our afternoon hiking around on the ice. We kinda found this little blue tarn by accident – I hadn’t seen it from the air, and didn’t see it at all until I nearly walked right into it. I hiked over this little crest and right beneath me is this incredible blue pond. I took a few images here, but it was drizzling rain most of the time, so I moved on up the glacier towards an ice cave I had seen from afar. In hindsight, I wish I’d spent more time at the tarn – the colors and patterns to be had were infinite.

Glaciers really are a pot pourri for a photographer – they offer such an array of compositions, from close intimate abstract shots of patterns and colors to wider, expansive landscapes. They’re cool to shoot (now that’s a good pun! 🙂 ) from the air, and they’re great to shoot from on foot. This was my first time on the Tana Glacier, and it’s funny how each glacier has his/her own personality – they’re tons of fun. But it can also be dangerous to explore them, so if you head out in glacier country, be careful.

Cheers

Carl

Thompson Ridge, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

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Sand Dunes, fall colors, Thompson Ridge, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

hey Folks,

Here’s one of the few images I’ve made this summer with blue sky! This particular afternoon we got a little light, and I hiked and photographed as much as I could. Of course, by the time the light started to get really warm, low cloud rolled in from the southwest and all went flat again.

I like this scene, with the sand dunes undulating beneath the spires of Thompson Ridge. Ross Green Lake lies between the green willow-covered ridge in the middle ground and the jagged crags of Thompson Ridge beyond.

Cheers

Carl

Fall colors, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

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Fall colors, autumn color, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another image from the recent trip to Ross Green Lake. This one from down on the riverbed, looking across the sand dunes toward the ridge to the north-east and the rich fall colors there. The myriad different tones and colors on display were enticing – unfortunately the brush is not quite as welcoming to walk through as it is inviting to do so.

Fall is over way too quickly here in Alaska (like summer) and I’m keen to get back to the park and capture some more photos of the great fall colors this year.

Cheers

Carl

Tana Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Broken calving ice at the terminus of the Tana Glacier, near the Bagley Icefield, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another aerial photo I took, right before we landed at Ross Green Lake. This is the terminus of the Tana Glacier. It used to be possible to hike from Ross Green Lake, east of here (to the left) across the glacier, and around to Iceberg Lake. As you can see from this photo, the Tana Glacier has become an array of crevasses – not something one can easily, or safely, hike across. The route hasn’t been hiked in a few years. I wish I had an opportunity this trip to explore it a little more, and possibly find a new route across. It looked to me, from the air, like it was possible slightly to the north of here, but I can’t say without hiking it first, or at least a good look from the ground – from the air, in a place as vast as this, perspective is everything, and things are often not as they appear to be; the scale is so hard to gauge.

I like the story this photo tells – of the place of ice and water on rock, and how this stuff works. Look at the rock in the foreground, and the debris surrounding it, torn, cracked, splintered and shattered by power of the ice and a little gravity. In the background, you can clearly see a medial moraine, running down between the seam of 2 glaciers that run together off the great Bagley Icefield to create the Tana Glacier.

I did get to hike, one afternoon, down from our camp to the Tana Glacier and walk around it a bit. it’s amazing being on the ice. I’ll post some photos from that hike later.

Cheers

Carl

Sand dunes, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

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Sand dunes, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

What’s this, you might ask! Sand dunes and ripples in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska? Yup!

At the headwaters of the Tana River, near Ross Green Lake, the glacial silt from the numerous glaciers and ice fields in the area is blown about the incessant wind, and there are some incredible sand dunes down the Tana.

We landed at the airstrip at Ross Green Lake, and were immediately taken by the cool landscape around us. Jagged snow-capped crags and spires sank into the clouds south of us (Thompson Ridge), a myriad of fall color sparkled on the hillsides, a deep cool lakes of every hue nestled into the depressions in the valley, the Tana glacier fell into pieces at its terminus to our west, and rippled sand dunes and waves of fine sand patterned themselves beneath our feet. ‘Cool’ is the only word that describes the place. Continue reading →