Tag Archives: Fall

Erie Mine, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Erie Mine Bunkhouse, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Erie Mine Bunkhouse and the Wrangell Mountains, fall colors. Erie Mine is one of three mines that made up the famous Kennecott Copper Mines, Kennicott, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

From the aerial shoot we did in September; this one is of the old bunkhouse at Erie Mine, one of the 3 Kennecott Mines, in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

It’s interesting to me how much money, time and investment the National Park Service put into Kennecott, an old abandoned Copper Mine. The basic tenant of the Park Service is “don’t take stuff out of the place, and don’t leave your trash behind”.

It seems odd to effectively celebrate an organization that did quite the opposite of that. The mining company, like most mining companies, took what they wanted from the landscape, and left all their sh** behind when they were done. Now, what they did is revered.

But, such are the ways of the NPS; sometimes they’re hard to follow.

Cheers

Carl

Mt. Sanford

Mount Sanford, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Mount Sanford, early morning, fall colors and a kettle pond, boreal forest, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

So while I’m off in Katmai photographing the bears, I’ll schedule a post or 2 from the summer. Here’s a shot of Mt. Sanford not long after sunrise one gorgeous sunny fall morning. What a view!

Cheers

Carl

RSS Feeds and WordPress

Sunrise over Kuskulana River and the Kuskulana Gorge, fall colors, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Sunrise over Kuskulana River and the Kuskulana Gorge, fall colors, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

I received a note the other day (thanks Warren) about my RSS feeds being messed up. Is anyone else having any problems with it? Is anyone else subscribed to the RSS feeds? Does anyone else read this? Is anyone ACTUALLY out there?

No, seriously, if anyone is having any trouble with it, please let me know. The problem so far, is apparently twofold;

1) the feed seems to only offer the first 2 or 3 letters of the title of the post, and

2) posts get repeated in the feed.

I suspect the latter problem is my fault, for not unclicking the “Notify Subscribers” button at the bottom of the WordPress Dashboard when I edit a published post. I have no idea why the title of the post gets cutoff in the feed. I watch the blog through google Reader and it works fine for me (as an aside, google reader (Sadly google reader is no more) works great – I use it daily for my blog reading and newspapers.  If you’re unsure what a “reader” is, it’s a page you can set up for yourself, with your own account, like an email account, where you can subscribe to different “feeds” – such as blogs or newspapers, etc, etc. Everything the paper publishes with get posted, with headlines and usually a short blurb) in the reader – scan it for articles of interest, open them and read them – hence .. “reader“; tonsa fun!!!).

Anyway – so i’m not sure why the “”default” RSS feed tab format in FireFox web browser on a PC” shows my RSS feed all messed up. the titles (I saw via an email sent to me), say

“Aussiefoto (that’s me!) has published a new blog post: Stu..”
“Aussiefoto has published a new blog post: Bro..”
“Aussiefoto has published a new blog post: Ba..”

and on and on. If anyone out there has any ideas how to fix this so it works a bit more user friendly, please advise me, either in comments below, or via email. Thanks so much. And I’ll try to click “No” on the “Notitify Subscribers” button when I edit any posts I’ve published. I think that will solve the repeated postings problem ( I hope so – what I will REALLY try to do is properly edit my stuff BEFORE publishing it).

On to other more important matters. If you’re not subscribing to this blog, this might be a perfect time to sign up. And I’ll whack another 10% off  a print, up to 16″x20″, if you do so. just click on “Subscribe to the Blog Feed” below (you have to have an RSS reader setup), or enter your email in the box to the right and click “sign up” (this sends the post to you, without the photo, I believe, via email). That’s how easy it is. Networked Blogs (no longer functioning) is not an RSS feed, but it kinda works in a similar way. Kinda – you have to be on facebook to use it.

If you have a reader set up, you can also click on the appropriate widget in the sidebar, toward the bottom – there are options for Google Reader, (No longer an option) Yahoo, Newsburst (no longer), etc, etc. Google Reader is the best.(Update: as most of these RSS readers have gone by the wayside, I suggest you subscribe via the sidebar sign up).

That way, then you too can get messed up, repeated, truncated posts in your RSS feed. 🙂 Just kidding – hopefully, I’ll get the problem sorted out asap.

For what it might be worth, I am subscribed to about 50 feeds in my google reader; many of which are blogs by my friends, photographers, hikers, etc, but also newspapers and whatnot. All kinds of goodies. Some I delete if they don’t appease me. Most of the major newspapers offer a feed to particular subjects, such as “political news”, “sports”, international news”, “environment”, etc, etc. That way you can subscribe to just get feeds on subjects that might interest you. Worth setting up, in my opinion.

Again, if anyone can offer some input on how to rectify these 2 issues I just mentioned, I’d really appreciate. I’ll offer a print up to 8″x10″ if someone can solve it for me. Thanks.

Cheers

Carl

PS – oh .. the photo above is of the Kuskulana River .. folks who’ve been to McCarthy, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park might recognize the scene, the bridge goes right over it. In the fall, the colder temperatures slow the glacial melt down, and the river water level subsides dramatically; as does the amount of silt and dirt it carries, meaning it clears right up. Here it is almost a clear pristine turquoise – gorgeous, and not at all like the seething, roaring brown cesspit is can be in the summer.

Grizzly Bear and Fall Colors

Grizzly bear and fall color, standing in warm afternoon light on the edge of a salmon stream. Ursus arctos, brown bear, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Grizzly bear and fall color, standing in warm afternoon light on the edge of a salmon stream. Ursus arctos, brown bear, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

As I mentioned in a post a few days back, I am pretty excited about some of the grizzly bear photos I took on this most recent trip to Katmai National Park. Over the years I’ve spent so many weeks there, shooting and re-shooting photos of grizzly bears, that it can be difficult to really bring home some new images. This photo is one I was super happy with.

I took, of course, countless images of bears eating salmon, chasing salmon, catching salmon, standing around, sitting down, sleeping, fighting, playing, etc. But what I really wanted to capture was some dramatic images in dynamic weather or dynamic lighting situations. We were fortunate to have an abundance of both, Continue reading

Grizzly bear photo

Grizzly bear adult, fall, Katmai National Park, Alaska.

A grizzly bear (brown bear, Ursus arctos), stands on the edge of a salmon stream in Katmai National Park and Preserve. Grizzly bears can range in color from dark brown and black, as this one is, to a blond, almost white color. Fall foliage, Grizzly bear, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a photo from the first morning out on my recent trip to Katmai. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and I was able to get out and shoot before returning to camp to meet the folks coming out for the first week’s photo tour. I’d also walked and photographed the river the previous evening, and it gave me a great opportunity to scout around a bit and get a head’s up on things like the river level (which fluctuates greatly year to year, even week to week), which bears were hanging where, where the best fall colors were, etc, etc.

The bear population this year was even higher than last year, with over 70 bears in the area. I recognized many from previous trips I’ve made here, but this beautiful dark bear was one I hadn’t seen before. Continue reading

Mt Drum Photo, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

The Copper River, fall colors, Mt Sanford and Mt Drum. Copper River Basin, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

The Copper River, fall colors, Mt Sanford and Mt Drum, near Simpson Hill Overlook, Glennallen. Copper River Basin, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

A view from just near the Simpson Hill Overlook, near Glennallen. The mountains here are (from left) Mount Sanford and Mount Drum. Mount Sanford is over 4 000′ the higher of the 2, but because it’s further away, looks to be shorter here. Mt Drum sits about 25 miles away from the Copper River and Glennallen.

The fall colors here can be quite spectacular on a good year. This year was a little dull compared to most, but the Cottonwoods, even on a poor year, still glow in evening light.

The alpenglow on this particular evening was quite grand, and I, of course, pretty much missed photographing it. I have an uncanny knack for not being in the right place at the right time, and true to form, was down walking through the woods when the light hit its peak.

Maybe next year I’ll do better. I did find another really nice viewpoint to shoot one fall evening, so hopefully next year I’ll manage something more.

Cheers

Carl

Mt Sanford

Fall colors on the tundra and alpenglow on the face of Mt Sanford at dawn, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Fall colors on the tundra and alpenglow on the face of Mt Sanford at dawn, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

I just returned from a few quick days over in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park before heading off to Katmai for a photo tour. We’re enjoying some of the finest days of the summer, and I wish I could’ve stayed longer, but I must pack and get my gear ready for this trip. It sure is hard to get on the road and take the park “exit” when these mountains are standing tall and strong amid clear blue skies behind you.

It’s been a really great summer, though, and I’ve had a blast. This next 2 weeks in Katmai should be a great finish to a really good summer. Ironically, Anchorage has had one of the dreariest, and wettest, summers on record, while I’ve had some great weather, amid the fog, rain and snow. All good fun, though, eh?

Mount Sanford rocks.

Cheers

Carl

More photos of Mt Sanford

Wrangell Mountain Reflections

Reflections in the morning, of fresh snow or termination dust on the Wrangell Mountains, near Mount Blackburn, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Reflections in the morning, of fresh snow or termination dust on the Wrangell Mountains, near Mount Blackburn, 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 another image, taken earlier, of the scene outside my tent door a few mornings ago. After spending the previous day in the rain, cold, sleet and snow, I went to bed hoping for an improvement in the weather.

All during dinner, I had watched the snowline on the peaks above camp come ever slowly down the mountains – lower and lower. Now, listening to the rain fall on my tent, I didn’t imagine much change happening.

Turning off my headlamp, it was lights out, and I had barely a flicker of hope for the rest of the hike – the continuing patter of rain falling on my tent a sound I was about done with. Eventually that sound faded and then ceased altogether – at first I thought it had simply turned to snow, but a glance outside confirmed that nope, the rain had actually stopped. Woo hoo! Continue reading

Hidden Creek

Hidden Creek valley, in the Wrangell mountains. A popular backpacking route, Hidden Creek in the Wrangell Mountains is a wonderful hike. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hidden Creek valley, in the Wrangell mountains. A popular backpacking route, Hidden Creek in the Wrangell Mountains over to the Lakina River is a wonderful hike. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

I’ve headed out again for the next trip, but will schedule this post in advance. This is from close to the pass above Hidden Creek, looking back down the valley we’d just hiked. We walked up the south side of the valley (right side in the frame), then crossed and climbed up to a bench on the north side of the pass. Camping up there was simply awesome. 2 bands of Dall sheep were wandering the mountains above us, and we saw mountain goats higher still.

Hidden Creek is simply stunning. This particular afternoon, we crested the pass and camped on the other side of the saddle, which is where the previous post’s photo (“Reflections”) was taken. Suffice it to say that the back half of the trek is just as rocking as the front half.

Suffice it to say, I’ll be on this route again next year. 🙂

Cheers

Carl