The Great One, Denali

It took three trips, but I was finally able to see the mountain.  I visited Denali twice in winter, and both times it was completely shrouded in clouds.  I learned that 70% of people who visit Denali never get to see it, the weather being so frequently unforgiving.  But on my third attempt the following autumn, I couldn’t have asked for better conditions.  I arrived, by luck, 3 days before the only road in is bared for the winter, and only 6 other people got on the bus for backcountry access, I’d never felt more remote and alone, but not in a lonely way.  It was nice naturey feeling, knowing there was barely a soul or trace of mankind within 100 miles of me.  I had the mountains and the rivers to myself, and it was lovely.  Well, not totally to myself, lots of animal sighting including my first pack of wolves!  Unfortunately they were on the ridge opposite a massive valley so no worthwhile photos, but to hear a howl when the auroras started blazing away was an exhilarating experience.

Peaking through autumn alders at a big ol brown bear.

A really strong aurora flared up, visible even in the glow just after sunset.

Massive dry river in late autumn, really hope to get back during the summer snow melt and get this same shot except with a raging river.

A big male who still eyes a mom and cubs after being run off.

This mountain blows my mind.

The road here is probably about 4K ft elevation. Crazy to think its another 16,000′ up to the top.

Even the ‘foothills’ are impressive.  Wish I could share this full image with you, its 25k pixels wide, and you can see every detail of every amazing peak.  Maybe on a video soon…

That would have been an impressive bull for sure.

Mama comforting her cubs after chasing off a male.

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Derp!

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Mama running off a male while the cubs try to keep it. It was wonderful to see these massive creatures move like a freight train up the steep terrain.

Denali foothills showing off some impressive autumn.

A strange igloo along the Denali highway.

These aren’t even the peak.

 

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Ice Sculptures

Some awesome rewards for braving the cold of the Alaskan winter, I found all sorts of interesting ice formations in the form of frozen falls, glacial caves and lakes locked in 6′ of ice.  Granted it took about 6 months for me to regain feeling in my toes again, but at the time it seemed like a small price to pay for such wonderful and unique views.

A cave cut into a thin glacier turns the whole world blue.

Bubbles from lake bottom collect and get frozen in layers of ice at Abraham’s Lake.

A small frozen falls in Maligne Canyon, Jasper, which I illuminated with some flashlights.

A section of Wapta Falls, frozen solid.

The view from behind the frozen falls pictured below.

The falls frozen over in Johnston Canyon, Banff

Falls in Maligne Canyon make a perfect playground for ice climbers.

The Mendenhall glacier in Juneau cuts its way around the cliffside in its slow descent.

A small falls was encased in a giant bell of ice, with a hole just big enough for me to fit a lens in.

A wall of ice shows a bit of the Athabasca glacier under a winter’s worth of snowfall.

Kennecott, Alaska

A collection of shots that I’m still catching up on from last winter’s trip, this bunch from around Wrangell-St. Elias, a remote national park in Alaska, as well as the remains of a lot of mining history and abandoned structures dotted along the Alaskan and Yukon wilderness.

The remains of an old roadhouse somewhere along the Yukon highway.

The ruins of a concentration mill, 7 stories into a hill, overlooking a serene frozen lake.

It’s wonderful the gov’t stepped up to preserve this amazing slice of American history, the Kennecott copper mining town, overlooking a massive glacier.

A trestle towards an old mining town hangs on to its last legs in the remote Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska. 

Independence Mine and Hatcher’s Pass, Alaska

I’ve been bad about posting awhile, as I’d basically been living on the road for the last year or two.  But I’m back at the computer and ready to share what’s been my most prolific period yet.  The road took me from Los Angeles to northern Alaska in the dead of winter, and then right back up the following autumn with plenty of adventures in between.  There’s so much to show I’m not sure where to begin, so I’ll just start with my favorites and see where we end up.

I was wandering around SE Alaska, restocking on supplies in Anchorage, when the cashier told me about a Independence Mine, an hour north in the mountains above Hatcher’s Pass.  What a tip! I found one of the coolest and most well-preserved historic sites I’ve stumbled upon. Even with snow shoes, it was one of those miserable hikes where every few steps I’d posthole up to my waist, but after battling the snow drifts and spending 2 hours to hike only a mile, the town did not disappoint!  I ended up making three trips here over the next week, and each night the changing weather and auroras made for a wonderful array of lighting to play with.

There’s a whole other set of images from this location, that I took when I went back to Alaska the following autumn, so stay tuned and I’ll get those up here soon.

Foss for Days

I’ve posted a few segments devoted to Iceland’s legendary falls (or foss).  What was even more amazing were some of the throwaway falls pictured below, many not even bothered by a name, which were still world class in the their own right.  

Glacial Trekking

A collection of images taken from glaciers all over Iceland.  The majority are from the Vatnajökull area (including Breidamerkur, Svinafell and Skaftafell), but I also explored around Myrdals, Snæfells and Eyjafjallajökull.  

 

Icy Abstractions

Even the microscopic landscapes of Iceland were diverse and spectacular.  Here’s a bunch of macros of the of the abstract art created by strange ice formations.  

Winter Is Coming

This post is all about putting the ice in Iceland.  Never have I seen such crazy snowstorms in all my life.  While in the north near Akureyri, I got caught in a blizzard and was stuck in whiteout conditions for days.  While most of the first day was spent digging my car out of a ditch i9 careened into, I braved the cold and managed to make the most of it.  After the storms had passed, it was a whole new world, where what had been verdant hills days ago was now white stretching to the horizon.  Glad I brought my snow shoes, because a few times when I went out without them I ended up buried chest deep after falling through snow banks.  Anyway, it was brutal out there, so I hope you enjoy!  

Icelandic Heritage Sites and Other Rural Goodness

A collection of churches, farms, barns and other adorably quaint scenes from all over the Icelandic countryside.