Archive for the ‘Adventures’ Category
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
A waterfall in the high alpine mountain country of 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 a waterfall from our trip up Hidden Creek, in Alaska’s Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This particular morning, I knew exactly what I wanted to shoot; I’d hiked up to the area here, above our camp, the evening and poked around a bit, looking for some scenes to shoot. As the following morning broke, I stole away from camp, camera in hand, and spent a few hours up here photographing.
For this image, I believe I used a crappy old scratched up 2-Stop Soft Edge neutral Density filter from Singh Ray – knowing I would get back home after the trip to open a box from B&H photo with 2 shiny new scratch-free filters awaiting me.
I still prefer to shoot with a filter, when possible, over taking multiple exposures and blending them together later. But damn if those filters don’t get all scratched up easily.
Not too long after shooting this frame, I was seated in my thermarest chair, enjoying a coffee and Mary Jane’s Farm organic oatmeal – mmhhhmmm!
Quite a nice morning. Sadly, it ended all too briefly, as we had to break camp and backpack up over the pass. Good thing we didn’t linger too long though, as we arrived just in time to get setup before the rains came. It’s nice to have the tents and cook tarp set up BEFORE the rains/sleet/hail/snow come down.
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Alaska, Alaskan Alpine Treks, Hidden Creek, Landscape features, scenics, Waterfalls, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Landscape features, Waterfalls, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
The Wrangell Mountains, covered in fresh snow, or 'termination dust', in early fall, and reflection in a small unnamed alpine lake. Wrangell mountains, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
How’s this one for a turn around? I just got back from a great hike with the Ball family, a trio of Texans who came up to Alaska in 2006 and ventured out on a trip that still stands on record as the worst weather of any backpacking trip I’ve ever done. 10 days solid of near snow, ice sleet and rain the entire trip!
Hardy folks, these texans; amazingly, they came back this year for round 2. Somewhat trepidatiously, I cautiously planned the hike. We scheduled it for a route that I walked last year in nothing but horrible weather .. I figured this way, when the Texans brought their nasty weather up here, I’d be on a route I was comfortable hiking in bad weather. 
Here’s the scene I awoke to Sunday morning – this is the view literally outside my tent door. What a fantastic morning, and trip overall, this was. Some great people, great scenery, and great weather. Welcome to Alaska, Texans!
We laughed a lot, hiked a lot, ate a lot, and enjoyed some of the best mountain scenery Alaska, or anywhere else, has to offer. Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve – best viewed from my tent door.
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Alaska, backpacking trips, Carl Donohue, Fall, Landscape features, scenics, Skolai Images, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, Lakes, Landscape features, Mountains, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 3 Comments »
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Standing alongside Horsetail Falls, near Valdez, on the Richardson Highway, Alaska. Please click on the image thumbnail to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
Here’s another photo from my trip down the Richardson Highway – Memory Lane. This one is Horsetail Falls, another waterfall in keystone Canyon, just south of Bridal Veil Falls, the image I posted earlier.
Waterfalls are so cool; I can sit and stare at a waterfall for hours, it seems, never tiring of the flow. The energy of the falls is often spellbinding.
I first visited this particular area, along the Lowe River in Keystone Canyon, on a trip to Valdez in 2000. That trip seems like several lifetimes ago now. It rained most of the time, and I left soon after, heading north to Wrangell – St. Elias National Park for a backpacking trip. I wish I hadn’t taken so long to return. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, destinations, Horestail Falls, Keystone Canyon, Lowe River, scenics, tourism, Travel, Waterfalls
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Landscape features, People, Travel, Waterfalls | 1 Comment »
Sunday, August 1st, 2010
The Beaufort Sea along the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The Arctic Ocean sea ocean, after spring breakup, rests on the beach. Melting permafrost in the bluffs signals warming temperatures. Arctic Ocean, Coastal Plain, ANWR, Alaska. Click for a larger photo.
Hey Folks,
Another photo from our recent trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Beaufort Sea. I hiked from our final camp across the coastal plain (well, across part of the plain, not the whole thing) with Steve Weaver hoping to photograph some of the icebergs we’d seen the previous day along the shoreline. Unfortunately, strong southerly winds had blown almost all the ice out to sea, and we were largely thwarted. This patch of ice, however, had been resting on shore, stranded when the tide rolled out, and we made a few images.
Coastlines are such dynamic landscapes, and in the Arctic particularly so. They can change drastically in a day or less, and do so frequently.
This photo was taken around 1:15am .. maybe later. I think Steve and I arrived back at camp around 4:00am, and I went to bed at nearly 5:00am. up at 10:00am-ish to break camp, roll the raft, and wait for a bush plane. We arrived, finally, in Coldfoot, around 5:30pm,(the temp was 90deg F, a start contrast from the Arctic Ocean we’d just left) unpacked the gear from the plane, sorted it and loaded the van, ate dinner, and hit the road, rolling into the Yukon River area stop late at night. Then up early the next morning to drive from there to Anchorage. 36 hours later it was out the door to pick up folks for the next trip to Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Summertime can be like that in Alaska.
I’ve been out to the Beaufort Sea here a number of times, now every time I’ve been so fortunate as to have an absolutely glorious final evening. The wind wasn’t bad at all, the bugs had quieted down, and the expansive vastness of the place really moves me. It’s a fantastic experience, to see such a harsh and rugged environment also be so sensitively fragile; the quiet tundra, the shorebirds, a whisper of air and the glowing rays of the sun, low on the horizon. After the trek back to camp I simply couldn’t go to bed, but sat for nearly 45 minutes by my tent, just watching, listening and enjoying the grace of the Arctic coastal plain. It’s a phenomenal place.
The bluffs on the left of the frame, like Castles Made of Sand, slowly slip into the sea – eventually.
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Alaska, ANWR, Arctic, arctic ocean, beaufort Sea, Carl Donohue, coast, coastal, Landscape features, National, ocean, Refuge, scenics, shoreline, Skolai Images, Wildlife
Posted in ANWR, Adventures, Alaska, Cool stories, Environmental Issues, Landscape features, Musings, Oceans, Rafting, Summertime, Sunsets | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Chitistone Falls, in the Chitistone valley. The Goat Trail is a popular backpacking route, from Skolai Pass to Glacier Creek, along the Chitistone River, in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the thumbnail to view a larger version of this photo.
Hey Folks,
Chitistone falls are one of my favorite waterfalls in the park yet I rarely get to see them. When I do the Goat Trail now, I head north after crossing the scree slopes, and go away from the Chitistone river, rather than down lower toward the river, which is the only way to view the falls. However, this particular evening was so nice that after dinner I headed out for some photos, and knew right away I’d be spending some time watching and photographing the falls. It’s a tough slog to walk another 4 miles after backpacking all day, but can be SOOOOO worth it.
The trek down from where we’d camped was nice; it’s great to walk unencumbered after carrying a heavy backpack all day. I set out with my camera bag over my shoulder and my small backpacking tripod in one hand. For trekking I carry the carbon fiber Gitzo G1058 tripod and the ultra light Really Right Stuff BH-25 ballhead. It’s a great little combo for backpacking and hiking, weighing under 2lbs. Gitzo have since replaced this model with a newer version, the GT-0540 and GT-0530. I’m not sure how they’re different to my older one, but if you’re looking for a really great little hiking rig, this setup works well for me.
So I moseyed my way down from the high shoulder we were camped on, watching the light get sweeter and sweeter on the nearby high peaks of the University Range. When the weather is nice, few things are quite like walking alone in the Alaska mountains late in the evening. What a beautiful hike this is!
I got down to the plateau I was aiming for, and, before even pulling out my camera, simply soaked up the atmosphere. The American Tree Sparrows were still singing their summer call, those 3 vibrato-laden little notes that proclaim the alpine summer. Hardly a breath of air moved and yet the sounds of the mountains carried down the valley; a moving experience in the Chitistone Canyon.
The word ‘Chitistone‘ is derived from a native Ahtna (Athapaskan) word, ‘chiti‘, that translates as ‘copper‘ in English; so ‘chitistone‘ is ‘copper stone‘. The bulk of the rock around the Chitistone canyon is Nikolai greenstone and limestone. The entire region is famous for copper production, with Kennicott Copper Mine being perhaps the most famous of all. Fortunately, the mining has largely ended in the region now, and the canyons and mountains are left alone for the bears and Dall sheep and hikers, and the mountains themselves. It’s a grand landscape.
On a warm summer day, when the glacial melt is high, the river is fairly broiling, and the falls can be thunderous. Quite a spectacle.
This particular viewpoint has always reminded me of Artist Point, in the more famous Yellowstone National Park. This one receives far fewer visitors.
Chitistone Canyon rocks.
Cheers
Carl
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, Chitistone, Chitistone Canyon, Chitistone Falls, Chitistone River, Goat Trail, Landscape features, scenics, Skolai Images, Waterfalls, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, Landscape features, Mountains, Rivers, Summertime, Waterfalls, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 3 Comments »
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
Sunset over the Chitistone Valley and University Peaks. Mount Bona stands in the background. Please click on the thumbnail to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
One gorgeous evening, a 2 mile hike (one-way) from camp and some more photos that I had been hoping for some time now to make. Lucky me!
We just trekked from Skolai Pass, in Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, to ‘Wolverine‘, a landing strip high above the Chitistone Valley, over the relatively popular ‘Goat Trail‘. This is a classic hike, and one I try to make every summer. Before I talk about it further, I’ll qualify what I mean by ‘popular’ here.
Probably not 50 people hike this route each year, more likely 40, at most. Consider, for example, that nearly TWO THOUSAND people venture to hike the entire Appalachian Trail each year, and one starts to see that the word ‘popular‘ is entirely contextual. I only say ‘popular‘ here because so few people hike anywhere else in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park.
We had a real mix of weather on this trip, so I was SUPER lucky to grab such a gorgeous evening here at this location. the clouds dissipated throughout the course of the day, which we spent backpacking across the Goat Trail, a steep sloping scree-sided series of ravines, traversed by a meandering myriad sheep and goat trails; hitting the correct ones makes a huge difference on how easy the traverse is. The ‘wrong’ ones can easily be impassable for people, especially those carrying heavy backpacks. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, Chitistone River, Landscape features, Mount Bona, scenics, Sunsets, University Mountains, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Landscape features, Mountains, Sunsets, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 3 Comments »
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
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
Tags: Alaska, backpackers, Carl Donohue, Goat Trail, hikers, hikes, trek, Usain Bolt, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, People, Summertime, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
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. Please click on the thumbnail to view a larger version of the photo.
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. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Chugach, Dwarf Fireweed, Landscape features, scenics, Sunsets, verticals, wildflowers, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, Flowers, Landscape features, Mountains, Sunsets, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Coastal plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska (aerial photo).
Hey Folks,
Last night I attended public comment hearing for the preliminary stages of a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). In short, this comment period allows the public to offer information and thoughts on some of the issues they feel might need to be addressed, and oftentimes their thoughts as to how those issues should be addressed. The CCP will be a document that “outlines and guides long-term management” of the Refuge. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) are the land management agency responsible for managing the Refuge. If you would like to add your input at this stage, here is Comment Form for the Refuge. Before you do, it’s worth browsing the FWS ANWR webpage for some useful ideas on how this works (they’re not looking for reasons why the coastal plain might or might not be opened to drilling – that decision is to be the work of Congress, not the simple folks of the FWS).
One of the critical topics up for discussion is the designation of ”wilderness” in the Refuge. Currently, nearly half (41%) of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 19.3 million acres is designated wilderness. The remaining 10 million acres are not currently designated “wilderness”. The FWS are presently proposing to study these areas and determine whether or not they qualify as wilderness; the ‘Wilderness Review‘ section of the CCP. A recommendation could then be made to Congress to designate these areas wilderness. Such a designation would render the Refuge off-limits to oil and gas extraction.
The arguments were the same tired commentaries we’ve heard countless times now; (more…)
Tags: Alaska, ANWR, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, coastal plain, photos, Section 1002, wilderness
Posted in ANWR, Adventures, Alaska, Environmental Issues, Landscape features, Musings, Rafting, Rants, Rivers, Summertime, Travel | 8 Comments »
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Playing a Native American Indian flute on the arctic coastal plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
I’ve been wanting to write for the last week about the current Gulf Oil disaster, but haven’t really been quite sure what to say. There are simply so many tangents to this mess that I’ve not known where to start. The deaths of 11 people seem, unfortunately, to fade into the melée of concern about big oil, political ineptness, poisoned ecosystems, fathomless litigations, ad infinitum. The web we weave seems larger than the spread of oil.
It makes sense, to me, to start at home. The reality is that this catastrophe stares us right in the eyeball. The mirror reflects our own lives – I drive a car, I love my gore-tex and silnylon tents, my synthetic-fill jacket, my polycarbonate cameras. I eat fresh bananas and whole grain breads shipped here from afar. My computer was flown directly from Shanghai, China. The world I live in is a fossil fuel world. That world includes crude oil belching from the ocean floor into the Gulf of Mexico, and on to Gaia knows where.
So I bear responsibility in this mess; I want cheap gasoline, cheap oil. I complained about the soaring gasoline prices just 2 years ago. I failed to demand that the federal government not exempt BP from an environmental impact study. I failed to demand that Minerals Management Services mandate a remote-control shut-off switch on all drilling operations. I failed to demand that the oil industry follow the strictest, safest procedures possible. (more…)
Tags: ANWR, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Gulf of Mexico, oil
Posted in ANWR, Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Environmental Issues, Landscape features, Musings, People, Rants, Travel | 10 Comments »
