Skolai Images

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Hey Folks,

This will be my last post here for a while. I’m heading off to the big wilderness again in the morning. This time, my plan is a little different. I’ll be over in the park until just before Xmas, when I have to return to Anchorage and baby sit 2 dogs, Keba and Musa, until the new year - then I’ll be back over to the park scrounging around in the dark.

This photo isn’t one I took, but it was my idea. This is from a trip this past summer down the Chittistone Valley. We had a GREAT time. The first time ever on one of my trips that a couple got engaged - Nick and April, 2 very cool folks from Seattle, WA. I was pretty impressed that someone would take a trip like this to propose, way to go Nick. Maybe when I get back I’ll post a photo of Nick and April. They had an awesome time, loved the trip, and even invited me to their wedding!

This little point is near a place called “Wolverine” that I hike to, and I knew they’d both love the sidetrip up to here. I took a bunch of photos of them both out on this overlook, and they wanted one of me for some reason. I said, “here, this will look very cool - shoot this”. I’ve actually done the entire route hop-scotch style, left, left, right, together, right, left, and so forth. Very artful!

Hopefully, my next post will be a little more inspired than this one.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s another photo from my trip this year to Tebay Lakes. We hiked south from the landing strip, at Upper Tebay Lake, and found this ridge on the backside of Tebay Falls, where we camped. I got up early one morning and had a blast shooting the dawn, with an array of wildflowers. Most mornings there would be an ever so slight breeze, which made it difficult to get closeup photos of the wildflowers, but I managed to get a few that were sharp. Fortunately there were flowers everywhere here - way more than probably anywhere else in the park that I’ve seen. This little patch of Dwarf Fireweed (the magenta or pink-ish flower here) and Arctic Daisy made a nice foreground for the distant peaks. I’ve never been very good at identifying flowers, but I’m pretty sure these are right. The yellow ones are either Alpine Arnica or Mountain Arnica.

This shot was taken (more…)

Hey Folks,

There’s a lot of things I’m not good at. I can’t do math (I quit, right around the time our class began studying something they referred to as ‘long division’). I can’t play basketball. I have a black thumb when it comes to all things computer. I’m not good at remembering where I put things ….. BUT!!!! ……. (more…)

Hey Folks

Well, this one will be the last of my current winter series. This is another photo of the Wrangell Mountains, Donoho Peak, and the moraine at the toe of Kennicott Glacier and Root Glacier. You can clearly see from the snow tha this is wintertime. No disputing that!

What I really like about winter here is that I can shoot the sunset, alpenglow and be back for dinner. A few months ago (more…)

Hey Folks

Another image from my little venture into the winter wonderland of Wrangell St. Elias National Park out on the Kennicott Glacier. This is another of those spots that would’ve been ridiculously difficult to get to in the summer. The river and a large lake block the route, which would mean a long and arduous clamber over the moraine approaching from the east .. I’m not even sure it’d be possible. I walked right up to this wall and took a few photos. This one I need to reprocess, I did it on my laptop. I’m not sure the calibration is right, and will look at it on my iMac, but for now, this shall do. (more…)

Hey Folks

That peak there in the middle of the frame is called “Donoho Peak”. I kid you not! And folks ask why I love ths place? I even have my own mountain (misspelled though it is)!

This is me (of course) looking up towards the Wrangell Mountains. Mt. Blackburn is just out of the frame, a 16 500′ mountain that rocks my world. The Kennicott Glacier roars down from the mountain on the west (our left) of Donoho Peak, and joins up with the Root Glacier which comes in from the right hand side of Donoho. (more…)

Hey Folks,

Here’s another photo from my recent trip to the Wrangells. This is a photo of a couple of chunks of ice. I spent quite a bit of time right around this little area, watching the light - it’s amazing how much it changes in a very short time in the winter here. I found some great pieces of ice and chunks and walls and all kinds of cool stuff. If it had been summer, I wouldn’t have been able to cross the river and lake to get to this part of the glacier. (more…)

Hey Folks

I’ve been working on some updates on my backpacking website www.alaskanalpinetreks.com, and haven’t really had much time to keep up on the journal lately. I’m also working on something REALLY cool, but I can’t tell you what it is yet. Stay tuned! (more…)

Hey Folks,

I know I said I would stick with the Tebay Lakes Trip for now, but I’m not much of a stickler for plans - I like spontaneity. So, here’s a photo from earlier in the summer, from just near our campsite in Chittistone Pass, looking over Skolai Pass, Skolai Lake and the toe of the Russell Glacier, Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Summertime is awesome in Alaska, but wow, does sunrise come early. Not just early, but really soon after sunset. It makes shooting and keeping to any kind of regular schedule somewhat problematic. (more…)

Hey Folks

OK - we’ve officially left Denali behind. For a while. I’m going to post some images from Wrangell St. Elias National Park, because it’s been a while .. must be a few weeks at least. This photo was taken on a backpacking trip I did this August, near Tebay Lakes. We flew in to the backcountry, after waiting around McCarthy all day for the weather to clear - we’d flown in earlier in the day, only to be turned back by a dense fog, less than a mile from our landing strip — arrgghhh - so close! Then we hiked for 10 days, and had an absolute blast. The weather couldn’t have been better - you know it’s good weather in Alaska when I’m swimming in lakes and showering in waterfalls. The blueberries were out of this world. (more…)