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.

Ice Cave, Tana Glacier

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.

I shot this image, as with most of these compositions, with and without a polarizer, to see the effect, and to get a couple of different takes. I tended to like the images with less polarization, where the glare shows a bit more. A polarizer filter, much like a pair of polarizing sunglasses, can almost completely get rid of the glare in a place like this. But I found the images didn’t grab me as directly. I liked the edges the glare created

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Thompson Ridge

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.

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.

Sand Dunes and Ross Green Lake

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.

The weather was also cool – cold, at times, windy, cloudy, rainy, and snow fell on the peaks above us several of the nights we were camped in the area.

Some more light would’ve been sweet, but one does what one can in the outdoors. Both times the sun came out to greet us mid-afternoon it was gone before sunset – high, flat clouds rolled in, quickly, from the coast and brought stormy weather and flat, gray light – not so good for photography.

I’ll try to post a few images from this trip over the next week or so, and give you an idea of the landscape we hiked and explored.

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Fall in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Aspens, Ross Green Lake

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!

Here’s another from my ‘sunny afternoon’. The sky started to clear around 10am, and by mid-afternoon, it was beautiful. I was hiking up the valley, east, trying to get some nice views, and maybe find a nice location to shoot sunset images from. I did find some spots, but it was in vain, of course, because yet another storm came rolling in from the west, and the light waned. Pesky clouds!

This image is looking west, towards the Tana River and Tana Glacier. You can see the edge of the sand dunes in the background, just behind that ridge, before you get to the winding, meandering river bed.

Dwarf Birch and Thompson Ridge

Here’s another photo from the nice evening we got at Ross Green Lake. As the last of the light faded, I headed up over this small ridge to this patch of dwarf birch that I had found earlier in the afternoon. The red brush is the Dwarf Birch (Betula borealis) – a spectacular bush in the fall – it’s pretty hard to hike through, though – not much fun at all. But how it redeems itself in the fall – what a beautiful plant. Now if only we can do something about that alder. ?

In case you didn’t see the earlier post, this is Ross Green Lake and Thompson Ridge in the background.

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Willows and Sand Dunes

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 afternoon 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.

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. 🙂