2013 – All For Glory: the Official trailer
November 14th, 2013 by Carl DHey Folks,
A fun little trailer for the annual “Year in Review” video, due for release sometime soon.
Enjoy!
Cheers
Carl
Backpacking Bremner Mines to Tebay Lakes, Wrangell St. Elias National Park
November 5th, 2013 by Carl D
Hey folks,
Here’s an image I took of a guest one morning on our Bremner – Tebay Trek this August. John was sitting quietly before breakfast, on this rock by his tent, and I had grabbed my camera to shoot some landscapes when I saw him here.
The fog in the valley below was amazing; so thick it looked like you could walk across it. Then as silently as it had appeared before dawn, it simply vanished and the entire valley scene opened up. We had a grand, but tough, day’s hike ahead of us, and ended up doing in one day most of what I would typically do here in 2 days.
This is a tough hike, and I don’t recommend it to people lightly; a guide from another outfitter leading his clients made it about 3 days into the hike and turned around, as he felt they weren’t going to make it out in the allotted time. It definitely helps to know the area better, and avoid the brush and the gnar.
It also helps to have such grand weather. This trek has always been good to me, weather wise, so far I don’t think I’ve had anything burlier than a hail storm the day we flew in, and a light rain/snow the next morning. Other than that, I’ve always had good weather here.
For strong intermediate to advanced backpackers, for sure. And definitely give yourself a good 10 days on this route. It’s a “bit of a mission”, as my friend Gabby from New Zealand would say. 🙂
Cheers
Carl
Image of the Month: Polar Bears
November 1st, 2013 by Carl D
Hey Folks,
Just back from the arctic and another fantastic experience photographing polar bears. More images to come. This was our last or 2nd last day, and a coupe of the young bears really went to town giving us a great show. Everyone came away with some fantastic photos of the bears playing and wrestling, it was pretty awesome. This photo is one of my favorites from the action.
Getting ready for the bald eagles in Haines, so I’ll try to post something “eagle-ish” before too long. And watch out for a new video coming your way!
If you like the photo, please show some love with a comment below, or at least a little ‘Facebook’ share or like. Thanks all.
Cheers
Carl
Polar Bear Cub Photo
October 19th, 2013 by Carl D
Hey Folks,
I just got back from 10 days in the arctic, photographing polar bears. Amazing creatures to watch and be around. We were lucky to have a few opportunities with mothers and their cubs (mostly 2 year olds). This particular afternoon we found a young sow and her cubs of the year (born this past January) and they were about as cute as cute gets. Great fun and everyone had a blast watching them.
I’ve got about a thousand things to do right now, so I’ll try to get around to editing some images and posting something more over the weekend or early next week, but for now, hopefully you’ll enjoy this cute little polar bear cub.
Cheers
Carl
Image of the Month: Oct, 2013. Brown Bears Playing
October 6th, 2013 by Carl D
Hey Folks,
Told you there were bear photos to come!
Just in from a few weeks in Katmai National Park where we had an amazing time with the bears and a whole lot more. Some incredible situations.
This one we were lucky enough to have these 2 adult male brown bears decide to play and wrestle away the day .. for nearly 30 minutes we watched, photographed and videoed the action. Good times indeed!
I’m heading to the arctic for polar bears. Catch ya soon,
Cheers
Carl
Alaska Harbor Seal
September 16th, 2013 by Carl D
Hey Folks,
Just back in for a day or so between trips, and thought I’d post a photo from this last trip; the Coastal Brown Bear Photo Tour. So, of course, I’ll post a photo of a Harbor Seal, instead of a bear. We had a few great days with the bears, in Geographic Harbor, Kinak Bay and then went up Kukak Bay for the last day and a half, where we were able to find some super, uber tolerant Harbor Seals. It was a real blast seeing them up close and personal.
We also got to photograph some bald eagles, which was neat, as well as a couple of wary sea otters. Sea otters are ridiculously cute, but can be challenging to photograph. We saw a beautiful gray wolf in Geographic Harbor, and also saw whales on our flight over from Kodiak to the Katmai Coast. All in all, a really fun trip.
Bear photos to come.
Cheers
Carl
Lakina River Packrafting Trip
September 10th, 2013 by Carl D
Hey Folks,
Big, big fun .. Â HUGE fun at the end of a recent (and very soggy) hiking trip, from the Kennicott Glacier, up hidden Creek, over the pass and down to the Lakina River. At the end of the trip, the clients flew back to McCarthy for a hot shower and dinner, while I met up with Jule (fellow guide and cook extraordinaire for our Grizzlies in the Fall Photo Tour) and 2 other folks for a packrafting adventure down the Lakina River. At high water, the river runs a solid Class II, III and a couple of III+ rapids. We bombed down the river in about 5 hours, including a couple of quick stops for bodacious snacks, bathroom breaks, etc.
Just a few moments of this made it on to my video camera, so I edited them together for this little Packrafting Trip video teaser. More info and trip details to come, but for now, enjoy the clip, and read up about Alaska Packrafting Trips – you’ll be wanting to come on a packrafting trip before you know it. Great fun stuff!
Cheers
Carl
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Sea Kayaking with Harbor Seals
September 6th, 2013 by Carl D
Hey Folks,
Another photo from our July sea kayaking trip to Icy Bay. After a great day paddling across the bay, hiking along the edge of the Karr Hills and taking a close look at the Yahtse Glacier, we paddled back toward camp and found Harbor seals .. lots of Harbor Seals. There are an estimated 3500 harbor seals in Icy Bay, and we saw plenty this afternoon.
It seemed like every other ice floe had a small family of seals lazing upon it, resting on the ice in the sun. Though any of them are somewhat skittish, because they’re so NOT used to human visitors, we had our share of seals that allowed us a closer look.
One interesting aspect of the wildlife ecology here is the prevalence of Harbor seals yet complete absence of orcas, a major predator of the seals. I’ve never heard of anyone, ever, seeing an Orca in Icy Bay; for some reason they just don’t come into the area. As a result, the seals are abundant, and somewhat casual, less wary than they can be elsewhere.
I shot a few video clips of the seals on the icebergs, as well as a number of still photos, as well. It really helps to have such relatively calm waters to sea kayak in when photographing, and Icy Bay is great in that regard. Even though some times its windy here, generally the water is reasonably calm and protected; great sea kayaking.
Heading off for a Brown Bear Photo Tour soon; I’ll maybe catch some more harbor seal photos on that trip, as we’ll be along the Katmai Coast. Big fun!
Cheers
Carl
Image of the Month; Sept 2013
August 30th, 2013 by Carl D
Hey Folks,
Welcome back! I know I might’ve missed a few months here recently; it’s been tough to get time to blog lately. This month’s image, from a recent trip Sea Kayaking in Icy Bay Trip, is one reason why I haven’t posted anything recently.
We were lucky enough to have some amazing weather this summer – 5 days in Icy Bay with a backdrop like this show what I mean. Seb and his partner Lauren flew all the way to Alaska from France to see Mt. St. Elias. I tried to point out to him here he was looking in the wrong direction; that it was right behind him!
Heading back out soon. I’ll try to post again before I go.
Cheers
Carl
Image of the Month: April 2013
April 8th, 2013 by Carl D
Hey Folks,
After a great month of March, I’m finally getting around to catch up on the blog. We had a great month, skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and photographing the aurora. For the most part, the weather was fantastic, and all the trips went well.
This shot is from one awesome night we had up on the Dalton highway; Minus 24 degrees, but well worth sticking it out. We had a few quiet nights, but some really dynamic displays as well. Good times! Thanks to everyone for coming out and enduring the cold!
Cheers
Carl
