Tag Archives: essays

Chattooga River Photo, North Georgia Mountains.

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Chattooga River, whitewater paradise, Jawbone Rapid, Five Falls area, Georgia - South Carolina Border

Hey Folks,

I’ll maybe try to get one more post in here before I hit the road, so I’ll do 2 for today. This is a photo from the past. I’ve been catching up on some editing and web updates he last few weeks here, and haven’t really got out to shoot too much. As a result of that, I’ll try to post a couple of shots from years gone by that I like – and maybe even post a few of the countless thousands I didn’t like. 🙂 This photo was from an overnight trip a couple of years ago to the Chattooga River in north east Georgia. The Chattooga River defines the border between Georgia and South Carolina, and lies between the Sumter , Nantahala and Chattahoochee National Forests.

Congress designated the Chattooga River a “Wild and Scenic River” in 1974, and I’d attest to that designation. It’s both wild and scenic! The designation protects a corridor along the river for nearly 60 miles, though it’s somewhat silly

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Waterfall, Baker River Photos, Region XI, Patagonia, Chile.

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Waterfall, Baker River, Region XI, Patagonia, Chile.

Hey Folks

I’m going to ease away from the blog for a little while here. Not because I want to, but because, well, I won’t have regular email access for the next few weeks. Hopefully I’ll be able to check in reasonably often and maybe post something, but it’ll be slow around here. I can’t tell you right now exactly where I’ll be, but it should be a lot of fun.

In the meantime, here’s another photo of the endangered Baker River, or Rio Baker, down in Region XI, Patagonia. I’ve written about this situation a little recently,

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Notes from a Caribou Whisperer

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The Caribou Whisperer

WARNING: – The following journal was sent to me (Carl) from my dad. Read on at your own risk – he does tend to ‘go on’ a little.

JOTTINGS ON OUR TRIP TO ALASKA AND THE NORTH AMERICAN ROCKIES

Dear Blog,

I’m not sure whether that’s the correct way to address a blog, but it’ll have to do for now.

Sorry for the delay in penning these brief notes on our trip to Alaska and the North American and Canadian Rockies. I had to wait till the ice melted in my veins and the blood started flowing again.

After a very pleasant stay of two days in the lovely city of Vancouver, made all the more pleasant by catching up with an old Aussie mate and his partner, we embarked on our Cruise up the Inside Passage to Alaska.

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Grizzly bear photo, Denali National Park, Alaska

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Grizzly bear, Denali National Park, Alaska.

Grizzly Bears of the Denali Tundra

Few animals reign over a landscape like the grizzly bear does the Alaskan tundra. They are awesome in every sense of the word. Even for those of us who have spent decades in the backcountry, seeing a grizzly remains the definitive Alaskan experience.

While Katmai National Park offers high-density viewing, Denali National Park provides a different thrill: seeing bears roaming the vast, open interior. However, for the serious photographer, Denali can be a lesson in frustration.

The Photographer’s Dilemma in Denali

Denali is a unique challenge. Particularly for photographing grizzly bears. You are close to incredible opportunities, but the logistics often get in the way. Most sightings happen from the park shuttle buses, which aren’t built for photographers. You are often shooting through glass or from angles you can’t control.

This leads many professionals to skip Denali, yet the draw remains. There are very few places on earth where you can find grizzly bears moving across such a massive, unobstructed stage.

Ethics and Regulations in the Backcountry

When I am hiking or backpacking in the Wrangells or Denali, I rarely set out to photograph grizzlies. The risk-to-reward ratio is rarely in the photographer’s favor.

Denali regulations require a 300-yard distance from bears. Photographing them in Katmai is much easier, and often results in better images, because we can be so much closer. Even with a long telephoto lens, that is too far for a professional-grade shot. Most decent photos require being within 60 or 70 yards. That’s a distance that is both illegal and unsafe when you are on the ground. When a bear comes over the horizon, the goal is safety and respect, not the shutter button.

The “Quirky Wise Old Bear”: A Backcountry Encounter

A few years ago, while coming down off a high ridge in the Denali backcountry, a friend spotted a massive grizzly. Easily the largest I’ve seen outside of Katmai. The wind was howling, and the bear hadn’t yet caught our scent.

I stood up, signaled our presence, and watched the bear’s reaction. He didn’t flee. He gave us a look that felt almost comical, as if he knew exactly how ridiculous we looked huddling in the wind.

He quartered up the hill and passed us at about 50 yards. We moved on, only to realize we were both headed toward the same valley. My friends thought we were being stalked; in reality, we were just sharing the same route. We spent the next hour climbing and changing direction to give him the space he deserved.

The expressions that bear gave us were beautiful—a wise, old animal knowingly in charge. I didn’t take a single picture of him. Some moments are better lived than captured.

Bull Moose and reflection photo, Denali National Park, Alaska.

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Bull Moose and reflection, Denali National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

It’s WAY too late for me here in Anchorage – I just walked in a little while ago from this little blues bar, called Blue Central.

They have an open mic night every sunday, and I was fortunate to get to play this evening for an hour or more – nice finish to my week.It was tons of fun, and the folks I played with did a bunch of different styles of music, so it was interesting.

There’s nothing quite like sitting in with people you’ve never met before, and making music together. It’s all the more fun when they start playing tunes you have no idea what they are, how they go, what key they’re in, or anything else. You just have to listen closely.

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Bull Moose Photo, Denali National Park, Alaska.

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Bull Moose, Denali National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Here’s another photo from my little run up to Denali. We’d been tooling around on the shuttle bus system during the day, trying to find some wolves, and had no luck. Later in the day we were heading back to our backcountry unit, and my buddy Doug headed for camp – he was done in after a long day and wanted a nap. I wanted a bull moose. So I pointed Doug towards camp and then proceeded to walk all over the backend of Denali looking for a moose. Finally, I found this fellow. He wasn’t the largest bull moose in the park, he’s not fully grown yet, but he was reasonably obliging for my photos – more importantly, I didn’t find any others.

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Skolai Pass Tribute

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Mt. Bona, Russell Glacier, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Thanks so much for all the comments and emails I have had from readers so far, it’s great. I’ll try to keep up and be better about posting images, new and old and writing something about what’s going on. It tickles me that people out there are interested, thank you.

On another note, I would like to write this post in salute to Mr Paul Schoch, from Wisonsin, whom I never met, but wished I had. Mr Schoch went missing in Skolai Pass this fall, in mid-September. I won’t offer details here, other than point to a newspaper story for those of you who aren’t familiar with what happened. Mr Schoch’s tent was spotted, by my father, as we flew over the area looking for him, after Paul hadn’t shown back up at the landing strip for his scheduled pickup.

Newspaper Story

It saddens me that someone came to an unfortunate end in a place I love so much, and to which I return, often more than once, every year. Skolai Pass is possibly my favorite place anywhere. I was so excited to take my parents to this place, and show them a place I hold so deep. At the same time the reality of the wilderness was made perhaps no more evident than by Mr Schoch’s disappearance. It IS wild, rugged and remote country, and from what I’ve read, Paul seems to have valued those kinds of places as I do. In some weird and almost unspeakable way, I think I’d rather come to rest in a place like that than somewhere else.

It serves little purpose for me to speculate as to what may or may not have happened.

What’s important is that his family and friends find some solace knowing their husband, father, or friend, died in a beautifully wild and truly awesome place. I wish them all my most sincere condolences and most heartfelt sympathies. Their grief, I’m sure, is in some way an important part of his death (as grief always is) and also a reflection of his life. To his memory, and to all those who knew and loved him, my deepest regards.

Sincerely

Carl

PS – This photo is of the Russell Glacier, and Mt. Bona, a 16 421 foot high peak, on the south side of Skolai Pass, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Happy Birthday, Mum!!

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Bull Moose, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

Hey Folks

Today’s my mum’s birthday! Happy birthday, mum! Mum refers to October as her ‘birthday month’, meaning she celebrates her birthday for the entire month of October.. which translates to ‘whatever mum wants goes for the month of October’. Pretty nifty deal, for her, I spose. Anyway, it’s all OK, because she’s mum. Happy birthday, mum – Love you!

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Oil Barrels, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

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Empty oil barrels, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Hey Folks,

Here’s the last of my series on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for now.

I’d like to write some more about the place, but will do that later. I wanted to post this because I read somewhere the other day that because the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not a pristine wilderness, we may as well go ahead and drill there. What so often is forgotten or neglected is that much of the disturbances to the pristine nature of the land here are a function os previous oil exploration. Out on the coastline, the tundra is littered with signs and debris of oil exploration. Whilst I was hiking one afternoon, I counted over 300 empty oil barrels lying on the tundra in one very small section of coastal plain.

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Alaska brown bear chasing salmon, Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Bear Encounters in Alaska: Perspectives on Bear Attacks and Wilderness Risk

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Grizzly bear, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska
Young male grizzly bear on the tundra in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Bear Attack in Wyoming

I’ve been reading a little about a recent case of a bear attack, this time in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Fortunately, the fellow who was mauled is alive. Here’s one version of the story.

A lot of discussion has focused on this incident on various nature photography forums. I’m always particularly interested in the subject because I spend so much time photographing bears. I’ve had a few encounters that caught my attention. Much of that discussion revolves around the potential for this kind of thing to be a vehicle for new, tighter regulations brought into place by the National Parks’ Service, placing ever tighter restrictions on photographers and the activities they engage.

My Experience

I’ve been photographing bears in the wild a long time. Probably longer than most folks. I don’t know all there is about grizzly bears, but I do know more than most. I spend weeks on end every year photographing grizzly bears, hiking and backpacking in bear country, and talking to researchers and other naturalists who know bears.

So I’ve got my bear bones.

Points of Discussion About Bear Attacks

1. We Hope the Victim/s are OK

While I think that’s a worthy discussion, hopefully it’s not the be sole focus of our concern. Firstly, I hope the guy’s OK. I’ve been close enough to many grizzly bears that I can barely (now there’s a great pun) imagine how terrible it must be to be mauled by one.

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