Mt. Edith Cavell, Jasper National Park, Canada.

Leave a reply

Tourists, Mt Edith Cavell, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada.

Hey Folks

Well, here I am in Banff. I’m still riding around the countryside with my parents, who give new meaning to the word “doddering”. We’ve visited nearly every public toilet in western Canada, which has been a real treat. So far, I haven’t had to unleash any violence, but I may resort to that medium of regulation sometime in the near future. My patience has been the mainstay of what stability we’ve managed to clutch. Dad doesn’t listen, and mum mumbles; a potent combination.

Actually, they’re doing OK, and I’m really enjoying showing them some of my favorite parts of the world. Continue reading →

Bull Elk, Jasper National Park, Canada.

Leave a reply

Bull elk, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Hey Folks

Here’s the latest from the road! I shot this saturday evening, just before dark. I had long been looking to forward to bringing my parents thru the Canadian Rockies one fall, Jasper National Park in particular. I knew they’d love watching the elk in rut, hearing the bugles and feeling the energy of the place. We had an awesome day, and visited Maligne Lake where we hiked out for a mile or so along the shore, and enjoyed some quiet of the forest and nearby mountains, before walking back and having lunch down the road by Medicine Lake. A quick run into town for a milk shake, some email and shopping (my mother is a certified shopaholic) and we were back out in the park looking for elk. just before dark we found this bull and his harem. I grabbed my camera and tried to get some slow shutter speed images, blurring the motion of the elk as they moved about. I was really hoping I’d got this series right when it happened, as the bull looked awesome through the viewfinder. After dinner this evening, I browsed through the images from today and was glad to see this was pretty close to what I was hoping for. A nice bull elk image, conveying the frenetic energy of the rut, and the intensity of the great animals.

Photographing elk is an addiction, I’m the first to admit. The rut is so different to other ungulates because of the setting (majestic mountains ranges such as the Rockies), the crisp fall air, fall colors, and the bugling. That bugling is such an amazing sound. my mum asked my why the elk bulls bugle, and I wasn’t sure. Some say it’s an expression of dominance, a challenge to other bulls, or a call to females. It could well be an expression of the sheer exuberance of being alive and a part of this incredible experience. I think if I could bugle like that as the mist settles down on the pine forest in the Canadian Rockies, I probably would too!

Cheers

Carl

Welcome back – Grizzly bear, Alaska.

2 Replies

Brown bear, or grizzly bear, Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Welcome back to the journal. I apologize for such a lengthy delay between posts. It’s been a lot of time in the backcountry, and very little time at the computer – which is just how I like it. I’m still traveling, in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, at the moment, riding ’round with my parents for a few weeks, before I return to Alaska.

I won’t go thru all the details of my travels for this last few months, other than to say it’s been awesome. The weather has been very nice this summer, for the most part, and the hiking second to none.

This photo is of a bear we call “Evander”, because he lost an ear in a fight a few years back. He’s one of the largest bears I’ve seen, and here he is in his prime, fat and ready for the winter. I’ve been fortunate to photograph him a number of times now, and every time I’ve run across him it’s been an awesome experience for me. Thanks Evander, for being such a cool bear!

I’ll try to write some more along the way here, and add some updates of my trips during the summer, and a few notes about what I’m up to.

Thanks folks

Cheers

Carl

Grizzly bears, Yukon Territory, Canada.

6 Replies

Grizzly sow and cub, Yukon Territory, Canada.

Hey Folks,

Well, here’s a quick follow up. Ron inspired this post with his bear photos from his trip into the Yukon and BC. I shot these bears along the Alcan highway on my way north this summer. I sat in the vehicle, and shot out the window, so I allowed myself to get pretty close. The bears were very tolerant if I moved slowly, didn’t make a lot of noise and was generally respectful towards them. Other travellers stopped, and generally did the same, so we all had a nice time. However, some folks just amaze me.

This one guy drives by, screeches to a halt, backs up, looks at the bears for a while, opens his vehicle door, steps out, walks towards the bears (there were 3, these 2 and another cub), and starts taking pictures. I’m thinking “now this is crazy!” .. but I didn’t say anything .. the bears pretty much ignored him, at first. Then they started showing a little more interest, and I leaned out my window and said “hey man, if I were you, I’d hop back in the car. Those bears can move pretty fast, and it’s not worth messing around near them.”

He goes: “Ya think so?”

I said “yeah, you might wanna get back in your truck”.

He says “OK. I wonder momma bear is.”

I shook my head, once, twice, and then said “yeah, I have no idea. You better get back in your truck, sir”.

Fortunately, he did, and all was well. I do love a happy ending.

Cheers

Carl

PS – Here’s another photo of one of the cubs:

Grizzly bear cub feeds on wildflowers, Yukon Territory, Canada.

Granite wall, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada.

2 Replies

Granite wall, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada.

Hey Folks

Wow! Here I go and sy ‘Ill try to update this journal more often, and then I go and don’t post to it in 2 weeks. That’s not too hip. Sorry about that.

I’m looking forward to heading back over to Wrangell St. Elias National Park in a couple of days. Hopefully the weather forecast will in incorrect (which has been to happen) and the sun will shine. We’ll see.

I don’t really have any specific to write about. This photo was taken one evening in the Canadian Rockies, in Jasper National Park. I believe this mountain is part of the Colin Range, but I can’t be sure. I didn’t take notes, like I should have, and now I can’t recall. It’s an impressive slab of granite though .. way cool. The evening sun lights it up nicely in the summertime, and makes it even more impressive.

I’ll post a couple of grizzly bear photos in a few, just so I’m not outdone by Ron Niebrugge.

🙂

Cheers

Carl

Copper River and Mt. Drum, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

3 Replies

Copper River and Mt. Drum, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another image taken from Wrangell St. Elias National Park. This scene looks towards the park from the national Park boundary, the Copper River. Mt Drum and the Wrangell mountains oversee the immense Copper River Basin providing an incredible backdrop to this vastness. The Copper River is one of the largest rivers in Alaska, and also, like all large rivers, critical to the life and cultures of the ecosystems existing around it. The Copper River actually starts out on the east side of these mountains, on the Copper Glacier, which runs off Mt Wrangell. Continue reading →

Mt. Sanford, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska, again.

Leave a reply

Mt. Sanford, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Well, I’m here in Anchorage, after a long trip, and glad to be here. Anchorage is such a cool town, and I look forward to getting to know it a bit better. With all the time I’ve spent in Alaska over the years, I’ve not spent much of that time in Anchorage, and so don’t know too much about it. I do know that traffic is a hassle, as I was reminded yesterday afternoon when I arrived. Continue reading →

Mt. Sanford, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska

3 Replies

Mt. Sanford, from Rock Lake, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Well, well, well .. times have indeed changed. I’m currently sitting in the plush surroundings of the Princess Cruise Line Copper Center Lodge. I’m sitting in the ‘Wrangell Room” appropriately enough, gazing out one of the 15 twelve foot-high windows, across the Copper River Basin, where I can see Mt Drum, Mt Sanford and Mt Wrangell. If for some reason I took it upon myself to stand up, out of my comfy swivel chair, I could also see Mt Blackburn to the south. An impressive view. Continue reading →

Alaska Range, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska

6 Replies

Alaska Range, sunset, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Well, I finally made it to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, and it sure feels good to be here again. I arrived at the park’s northern entrance, at the small community of Slana, and drove the Nabesna Road into Jack Creek, where I made camp. Since then, I’ve poked around a little, hiked up Caribou Creek (I often wonder if anyone has ever done an accurate, or even inaccurate, count of how many “Caribou Creeks” there are in Alaska – I’m guessing over 100!), and also spent some time yesterday talking with a ranger and some other local people to gain a little more perspective and insight on the park. Today I would like to do another hike, and then hope to meet and talk to Michael Quinton, a National Geographic staff photographer who lives near the Park entrance at Slana. Continue reading →

Grizzly bear cub, Yukon Territory, Canada.

2 Replies

Grizzly bear cub, Yukon Territory, Canada.

hey Folks

Well, I made it. Many, many miles of sitting behind my steering wheel finally got me up to Alaska. And whata gorgeous day it is to arrive. This morning, as I made my way through the final couple hundred miles of the Yukon Territory, I saw moose, tundra swans, grizzly bears and a coyote. I managed to take a few images of the coyote, and also the bears as they grazed on the wildflowers and grasses. I saw a number of black bears in western and northern BC, but no grizzlies. Grizzlies are SO cool, it’s always a treat to see them, Continue reading →