Winter in Alaska. The Viking Lodge Cabin, a public use cabin in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, makes a fantastic getaway for a winter trip. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks

Here’s a shot of one of my favorite places in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve; Viking Lodge Cabin. The cabin is not far off the Nabesna Road, which is nice; accessible. Unlike most public use cabins in the park, this cabin requires reservations, though that also means when you arrive, you know ahead of time you don’t have to share the cabin with anyone else who might show up. There is no fee to use the cabin, which is nice. It’s quite a treat, being able to head out in the winter and have a cozy, comfortable cabin to relax in.

An old barrel stove sits in the middle of the cabin, and warms the cabin pretty quickly, even in the depths of winter. It makes the world of difference after a day out in the mountains, skiing or snowshoeing, to come back to a warm cabin, rather than a cold tent. Perhaps in the morning it makes even more difference, waking up and having a nice warm pair of boots sitting by the cabin, rather than crusty frozen boots outside the door.  (more…)

Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell Mountains, Crystalline Hills and the Kuskulana River, from the Kuskulana River Bridge, McCarthy Road, Winter, Alaska. To view larger version of this photo, please click on the image above.

Hey Folks,

From a short trip to Wrangell – St. Elias National Park over the holidays.

Small piece of trivia – Minus 40deg F is the same temperature as minus 40 deg C.

Cold days indeed.

Stay warm folks,

Cheers

Carl

Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell Mountains and the Kuskulana River, Mount Blackburn, near Nugget Creek mine. Winter, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

hey Folks,

Welcome to mount Blackburn, winter, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s hoping you’re somewhere special, with people you love and care about, and enjoying the moment. And if ya can’t be with the one you love, well, love the one ya with. And love ‘em with everything you got. It’s a good time.

All my best to all you, and thanks so much for a great, great year. Here’s to many, many more of them.

Cheers

Carl

Hiking on the tundra beneath the towering Mt Blackburn, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

A female brown bear (grizzly bear, Ursus arctos) chases Sockeye Salmon up Brooks River. Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Wow, another month has passed by already! So here’s the Image of the Month for November, 2010. No surprises for what kind of photo would be posted this month; after 2 weeks of virtually nonstop grizzly bear photography at the end of September, I could do a whole year of Images of the Month with nothing but bear photos.

So, speaking of bear photos, I might just add that I’ve updated the 2 bear galleries on the website, as I undertake a major overhaul of all the photo galleries here. Tedious work, but they’re such a schemozzle I know I need to do it. (and, I really wanted to use the word “schemozzle” in a blog post). So, take a look at the new galleries .. virtually all new images posted, with larger photos, too. Here’s the Bears #1 gallery, and here is the Bears #2 gallery. I hope you enjoy some of the images. Oh, and I also added the dates for the 2011 bear photo tour.

So, back to this image; just a nice low angle on a sow racing through the water, splashing her way after some luckless Sockeye salmon. I’m glad I’m not a 5lb fish meeting a 800lb bear!

Hope you like it folks.

Cheers

Carl

Hiking along the lateral moraine of Kennicott Glacier, near Mount Blackburn, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Now THAT'S an ultra-light backpacking system. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

OK, here’s a list of my backpacking gear I thought I might put together, and have taken WAY too long to get it online. I would like to preface this post with a comment about gear; backpacking is NOT about gear, and I’m not a big advocate of the all too common push to make it about that.

Backpacking is about being ‘there‘. The gear can help facilitate doing that comfortably, but don’t think that this piece of gear or that piece of gear will magically turn a disastrous trip into a glorious one. And don’t think your pack will suddenly become unbelievably light because you buy an expensive down sleeping bag, and that you’ll now start prancing up over those mountains. Everything is part of a SYSTEM, and learning how to manage that system (including carrying it) is integral to having a good kit.

That said, here it is; hopefully, this list might be useful to someone wanting to look at what gear I use, or what backpacking gear they might want to look into if they’re heading to Alaska. It’s not at all a list of ALL the gear I have/use, but a general list of the gear I typically bring on a trip. (more…)

An adult grizzly bear standing, back turned, mouth open, in long grass, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a photo that might be of interest to photography fans here. To me, this photo expresses what nature photography is all about; shooting, re-shooting, shooting some more, time and again, and doing everything you can to ‘get that shot’, and still coming home empty handed. How so?

One of the photos I REALLY want is a big ole grizzly bear standing upright, with a nice background. So far, I’ve not yet made that image. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a few opportunities, and unfortunate enough to blow every single one of them.

To catch a nice, full-frame shot of a bear standing upright means anticipation, as well as luck. More often than not, when I’ve been close enough to make a shot like this, I’m shooting with the camera/lens in a horizontal position, and when the bear stands, I can’t fit it all in the frame. It’s simply too easy to miss this kind of shot and too hard to actually nail it.

Adult bears rarely stand upright, and when they do, they don’t do it for very long. Generally the behavior is a ‘look around’; something alarms the bear and they stand up to get a better view, sniff the air, and see whether they need to flee, or ignore the potential danger. A few seconds is all they stand for, most of the time, and they drop back to all fours. That means to make the photo, the photographer has to be in position and ready for the shot ahead of time; there simply isn’t time to switch the camera/lens to a vertical position and shoot – well, I should say RARELY is there time to switch. Sometimes it happens, but not often. (more…)

Dawn light on the Wrangell Mountains and reflection in an alpine tarn near Hidden Creek and the Lakina River, 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 photo from the trek we did in August, from the Fosse, near the Kennicott Glacier, over to Hidden Lake, up the Hidden Creek drainage, and down to the Lakina River. What an absolutely gorgeous morning this was!

We’d spent the previous day basecamped near here, and it rained and sleeted virtually all day long. Rather than pack up wet and move on, we simply dayhiked and spent another night here. The main hope was to avoid packing up camp in the rain, but part of me was also hoping maybe, just maybe, we’d get a break, and score some nice light in the morning. Fingers crossed, I went to bed listening to the endless patter of rain on my tent, the temperatures sinking ever lower and lower.

The rain ended around 3am, and the temperature had dropped further. I went back to sleep hoping against all hope the skies might clear up.

Unfortunately, I slept too soundly, and missed first light, but immediately upon waking, I knew things must be good. It was very cold, definitely below freezing, and silent. A good sign. I unzipped my tent door and viola! What a sight!

I threw on some clothes, and got outside to photograph as quickly as I could. I woke the folks on the trip, the Ball family from Texas, because I knew they’d love to see this. ‘Wow’ was all Saundra uttered when their tent door slid open.

‘Wow’ was right. This was definitely a ‘wow’ morning. Indeed, a ‘wow’ trip, but this morning the ‘wowest’ of them all. Fresh snow covered the peaks just west of us, and the air was so wonderfully clean the light literally dripped off the mountains. Absolutely amazing morning.

We photographed for a couple of hours, had a great breakfast, packed up camp, and took a fantastic hike down the valley into the Lakina. We spent the following evening camped on a gravel bar in the Lakina river drainage, with a gorgeous sunset over Castle Peak. This was a great, great trip, and one I’m so glad the Ball family got to share. They still hold the record for ‘worst weather yet’ on a trip, their infamous Skolai-Wolverine trip of August 2006. I can’t think of anyone who needed some really great weather on their Alaska trip than these great people, and I was so glad they got it this time. Good times for sure!

Cheers

Carl

Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve is home to the Wrangell Mountains. Mt Jarvis, 13 421' high, stands east of Mt Wrangell, and catches the first light of the day. Early morning (pre-dawn) alpenglow reflection in a high alpine tarn, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks

Image of the Month for October, 2010. Mt. Jarvis, in the Wrangell Mountains, and reflection in the early pre-dawn glow. This kind of light is sooooo subtle; it’s really a reflection of the light on the clouds to the east, still quite a while before the first real alpenglow lights up the east.

By that time, of course, a slight breeze had stirred up the lake’s surface and the reflection was gone. Once the alpenglow faded, the breeze ebbed, and the surface stilled. Nice, but the moment was gone.

Sometimes when I photograph a scene like this I’ll zoom in to have no foreground elements other than the reflection, such as just above the moss and grass above. Usually, however, I prefer to anchor the scene with something, and I like the way the foreground here kind of complements the lines of the reflection. It is also balanced by the negative space in the lower right hand corner.

A split density filter (or several) is a must have for this kind of shot (unless you choose to do multiple exposures and blend them afterward. And, of course, a tripod. Always bring a tripod.

Cheers

Carl

Brad and Tracey take in the views from 8200'. Near Mt Jarvis, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a quick one from the backpacking trip around Mt Jarvis. Brad and Tracey, soaking up some sunshine on Day #1. We hiked from the airstrip up to a  killer campsite, then clambered up on to this ridge, summiting at around 8200′. We’re just yards from the east flanks of 13 000′ Mt Jarvis here, and the views are superb.

We spent a while here, then descended back to camp for some hot food and a fun evening, enjoying the grand scenery. Nothing quite like being high in the Wrangell Mountains on a sunny afternoon!

Kudos to Brad and Tracey for slogging through way too much slushy, wet snow. We were all saying we should’ve brought skis with us; I’d have blasted some huge telemark turns on the way back down. Well .. I’d have tried, anyway.

That’s all for now, until the Image of the Month posting Oct 1. I’ll be back from my current trip to Katmai, photographing Grizzly Bears, and will try to post some images from that trip later.  I’m sure it’ll be a blast, and I hope to have a bunch of cool new bear photos. We’ll see how that goes. Until then, be safe.

Cheers

Carl