Tag Archives: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Usain Bolt and Wrangell St. Elias

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5 intrepid backpackers do 'usain bolt' after crossing the Goat Trail, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
5 intrepid backpackers do ‘Usain Bolt’ after crossing the Goat Trail, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. Click the thumbnail to really see this classic photo.

Hey Folks,

It doesn’t get much better than this: 5 Usain Bolts in one photo! We’d just hiked across the infamous ‘Goat Trail’, of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, on our Skolai – Wolverine backpacking trek. The weather was awesome this particular afternoon, and what greater tribute to such a place could there be than the great Usain Bolt pose?

From your left, Chuck, Bret, Les, Carl and Rod.

In the background, the University Range and Mt Bona, 4th highest peak in the US.

The Goat Trail is a special walk for me – my first hike in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve was down the Chitistone valley, from Skolai Pass to Glacier Creek; across the scree slopes known as ‘the Goat Trail’. Every time I walk it again it blows me away; absolutely an amazing trek. This year we had a mix of weather, and were blessed to have such a gorgeous day for our hike over the steep and nasty Goat Trail.

Why the Usain Bolt pose? Because Usain is awesome, that’s why. And, ya gotta admit, it makes a cool photo, eh?

Cheers

Carl

Sunset over the Chugach mountains

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Dwarf Fireweed on an alpine hillside and a fiery sunset in the Chugach Mountains, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The latin or scientific name for Dwarf Fireweed is Epilobium latifolium and it is classified in the Evening-Primrose Family, or Onagraceae.
Dwarf Fireweed on an alpine hillside and a fiery sunset in the Chugach Mountains, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The latin or scientific name for Dwarf Fireweed is Epilobium latifolium and it is classified in the Evening-Primrose Family, or Onagraceae.

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image I took several years ago on a backpacking trek through the eastern Chugach mountains in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.  I finally got around to processing it today. The image is a compilation of 4 separate exposures, blended together manually in Photoshop.

This is from a backpacking trip we do from Iceberg Lake to Bremner Mines in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. It’s a spectacular trek, and a real favorite of mine. Last summer, 2009, one participant did the trek with me for his 2nd time. We cross 2 glaciers, traverse 4 high alpine passes, and camp in some of the prettiest spots I’ve ever been to.

Summer’s approaching quickly and I’m looking forward to trudging around the mountains again. I’ll be heading over to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park this week to do some exploring, some photography and soak up some of the big mountain country. As such, I’ll be gone for a while, but hope to have some new photos to post when I return, with some stories to accompany them. Following this next few weeks I’m heading up to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for 2 weeks on the Canning River. Then it’s back to Wrangell-St. Elias for the rest of the summer, before 2 weeks in Katmai National Park in fall to photograph the great grizzly bear. That should be an amazing 2 weeks, for sure.

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Wrangell mountains and winter’s release

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Stairway Icefall and Donoho Peak, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, winter, Alaska.
Winter snow covers Kennicott Glacier and alpenglow catches the peaks of the Wrangell Mountains and Stairway Icefall, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

The Wrangell Mountains in winter. Alpenglow catches the eastern edge of the range. This view is looking up the Kennicott Glacier. At right is the edge of Bonanza Ridge, Jumbo, Then Stairway Icefall, Donohue Peak just left of center, and the Ahtna Peaks behind that to the left.

Winter’s finally wrapping itself up here in the north; it lingers much as the sun’s final rays cling to these high peaks at days end. Spring makes it’s way north slowly, and and is completely diurnal for now. The days, growing longer weekly, yield. But the night belongs to the winter, the cold, dark silence of the quiet time.

This is the first real “view” I ever had in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, all those years ago when I first ventured north on a backpacking adventure. I’d taken a bus from Fairbanks south, and the weather wasn’t so great; not raining, but overcast. I didn’t really have any idea of the scale of the landscape I was amongst at the time. The bus dropped me off on the highway, at the Edgerton Cutoff, and I hitch-hiked from there in to McCarthy (about 90 miles). That was an adventure in itself, maybe I’ll recount it another time.

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Birds of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

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Male Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) perched on a spruce tree, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
A male Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator), perched on a small spruce tree in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a photo I took last spring of a male Pine Grosbeak in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. I had set up a couple of feeders around the Shack and these gorgeous birds would come in every day and have a good ole time.

Other regular visitors to the buffet were Black-capped and Boreal Chickadees, Common Redpolls, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Gray Jays and, of course, the effervescent Red Squirrel. Ravens came by, from time to time, but rarely dropped down to the feeder.  

The Pine Grosbeaks were my favorite though.

The grosbeaks are actually a finch, the largest of the boreal finches. A group of these birds together is called, wait for it, a ‘gross’ of grosbeaks. They’re such a cool bird, and very tolerant of my puttering around the cabin; they’d generally ignore my comings and goings.

I grabbed a small white spruce sapling that some snow-machiners had run over and destroyed, and used it to set up the perch. For a background I hung a fleece blanket up and positioned it for a nice clean background. It’s a little bit ‘contrived’, but hopefully it works OK.

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A Big Month for Skolai Pass Photos

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Sunset over Skolai Pass, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Skolai Pass, the north end; Sunset over Skolai Pass, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Skolai Pass has rocked into March 2010. This month’s edition of backpacker magazine, which I wrote about earlier, has a full page image of mine from Hole in the Wall, accompanying an article about hiking the Goat Trail.

And this month’s edition of Popular Photography includes another photo from Skolai Pass by photographer Doug Roane, taken on one of last year’s Skolai Pass Photo Tours. Check out a large version of Doug’s amazing photo here. Better yet, take 15 minutes and browse the collection of images on Doug’s website. Awesome stuff!

Falls overlooking Skolai Pass and Russell Glacier - Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, AK
Skolai Pass, the south end; Waterfalls overlooking Skolai Pass and Russell Glacier – Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, AK. For a gorgeous larger version, visit Doug’s website at www.dougroanephotography.com

Doug’s photo was voted 2nd place in the March “Your Best Shot” competition. Huge congratulations Doug, a recognition well-earned.

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Photo sale to the CIA

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Winter snowshoeing, boreal forest, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Winter snowshoeing, boreal forest, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

All photo sales are unique, but this one was pretty weird. My phone rings around 5:30am, I kinda half open my eyes, clasp for the phone, miss, knock it off the table beside my bed, try to catch it, bang my head on the guitar standing against the wall, drop the phone, and it crashes to the floor. My go-to response in this situation is pretty simple; I curse. It’s a sin, I know, but it’s a hard habit to break. So I curse again, and then pick up the phone.

Surprisingly, the person on the other end of the phone is still there. I gurgle a quick greeting;

“hello, this is Carl.”

“hello, this is special agent ——– ………. “

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Hole in the Wall and Skolai Pass, The Goat Trail

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Mountain Avens and Dwarf Fireweed, Hole in the Wall, Skolai Pass, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Skolai Pass, Hole in the wall rock formations, glaciers, Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The flowers you see here are (white ones) Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala) and Dwarf Fireweed (Epilobium latifolium)

Hey Folks,

It’s always nice when a magazine editor wants your photo for their story, and you get published. Especially when it’s a photo from one of your favorite places anywhere.

But it’s WAY nicer when you get published in a magazine you enjoy, read and value. This image posted here is in the current edition of backpacker magazine, page 65 – full page vertical, which is nice.

The image accompanies an article on backpacking “the Goat Trail”, in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This was the first route I ever hiked in Wrangell-St. Elias, and definitely a favorite of mine, so having my image chosen to accompany the story represents much more than just another published photo and a check to me.

It’s also cool for me because a few of my friends are published in the same edition of the magazine. It’d be remiss of me not to mention Ron Niebrugge, also a photographer I admire.

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The Vertical World of the St. Elias Mountains

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Vertical frame of a steep wall of the St. Elias mountain Range, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Fluting and deep power on the St. Elias mountains. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Few people realize just how special these mountains are. Everyone knows Denali, of course, and the Himalayas, but the St. Elias Mountains just don’t seem to have caught the public eye like those others. I suspect it’s because they’re full of “seconds.” Mount St. Elias is the second highest mountain in both the US and Canada. Mount Logan is the second highest mountain in North America. We live in a culture of competition where there often isn’t a prize for second place, but that suits me fine. It just means when I go visit, there’s hardly anyone around.

From Sea Level to Eighteen Thousand Feet

Part of what makes Mount St. Elias so commanding is its proximity to the coast. The mountain rises right from the beach to over 18,000 feet. From shore to summit, it is only 2,000 feet shy of its more well-known brother in the Alaska Range, Denali. Because the summit is only 10 miles from the tidewater of Icy Bay, it has as great a vertical relief as any mountain on earth, including the highest peaks in the Himalayas.

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Bridge to Nowhere – Gilahina Trestle, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

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The Gilahina Trestle fades into winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Alaska’s Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere – The Gilahina Trestle fades into winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Click for larger version.

Hey Folks,

The Gilahina Trestle, crossing the Gilahina River, was once an impressive structure. Built in 1911 as part of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway (nicknamed “Can’t Run and Never Will”), the Gilahina Trestle was not quite 900′ long, and nearly 100′ high. Rumors say that it took less than 8 days to build, and the first train ran across its length on January 28, 1911. It’s since fallen into some disrepair, as is evident from this image. It’s a rickety ole job, at this point, and walking across it with nearly a foot of snow covering each board was, uhhm, sketchy. But I made it out for a few photos and back in one piece.

The Gilahina Trestle is now listed on the National Historic Register, which means it’ll probably come in for some funding to repair/restore it.

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