Pats Mountain Sunrise

On Friday I decided to take a trip to Pats mountain and spend the night. I was hoping that the clouds would break in the evening but they never did until morning. This was one of my first shots (actually three shots blended). I borrowed a shovel (Thanks Bob!) and hollowed out a spot beneath a couple trees to rest for the night. It was a cozy little camp. The snow fell pretty hard and the wind blew but I had a good shelter after I patched all the little holes that the wind tried to seep through.

The evidence of wind is obvious in this photo.

Snow Forms

The last time I was here (November) there was water on top of the ice in the pond below. Can't see much of the pond now.

This entire ridge was lined with cornices that made me feel about as tall as an ant.

The results of the howling wind and blowing snow the night before.

I have come to enjoy wind swept snow for the depth it adds to images.

On Top of Pats (Not Leow) Mountain

I'm usually not one for extreme effects but I thought that this high contrast HDR image was interesting.

On top of Pats Mountain... not that anyone could tell with the cloud hanging around until almost 11am.

The cloud finally began to dissipate and I decided to take a run down the mountain. These natural moguls made the first part of my trip down a little more challenging in a fun kind of way.

After skiing through the little mogul field. I pointed my skis down the mountain and sailed through the velvety powder. Then I hit this steeper section where it was deeper but just as enjoyable. It would have been nice to make a few more runs on this slope. Excellent skiing!

Kickin' Back

Looking toward Earl West as I ski back to the top.

A lovely view of Pat's valley below. If I had repositioned myself a little, Pat's lake would be visible behind this tree. It was still frozen when I drove past it later in the day.

I put the camera in the back of my tree fort/snow cave and took this after I ate my late morning brunch.

Ahhh, what a satisfying day. Time for a noon time nap. It didn't take long to get down, even though I ran into some difficult snow conditions. I went slow for a while but I could have zipped through it if my pack was lighter.

Dec(k)adent View

On Wednesday the 12th a cloud had been haning over us all day. It finally started to lift in the evening but it still clug to the mountains. This is the view from our upper deck. The definition in the snow line was remarkable.

Petroglyphs at the Beach

I always end up coming here to look for birds and other interesting things but seldom take pictures of the real reason most folks come here in the first place. The petroglyphs!

Wildlife

The pine siskins are back in force. We always enjoy these chatty, social little birds that come to our feeders in large groups during the spring. It happened to be raining today (Mar. 9) but they didn't mind.

This particular bird seems lost in thought.

A seal near Petroglyph beach.

I noticed a backlit dense squall coming our way while it was near the nose and told Christina that a double rainbow was coming. I didn't see the double rainbow but I did see this one.

Avalanche!

I noticed that this area looked a lot different as I was hiking a nearby trail in late February. A few weeks later (March 8) I happened to be in the area again and decided to check it out. Initially I thought that a powerful wind may have knocked the trees down because I could imagine an avalanche taking out old growth forest in this manner. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a massive avalanche after all. I couldn't believe the power it unleashed on the forest below. Note that what appears to be the top of the mountain in this photo is not close to the top. The avalanche appeared to originate where a 200-300 foot section of cornice at the top of the mountain fell and swept the snow off steep face before running down the hillside found in this photo. Impressive.

Debris buried in snow. Whole trees, even those up to three feet in diameter were snapped or uprooted and swept down the slope. There was not one single tree that survived the avalanche's fury intact.

Near the trees on the other side of this slide there was a small 30 foot or so slide path from previous avalanche activity. Needless to say, it is much wider now.

Sleeping Kitty

Quent's new sleeping bag is getting a lot of use around here lately. The first day he got the sleeping bag, he opened it and tried it out. It wasn't very long after he was inside of it that Shadow came along and found a cozy spot on top of the sleeping bag. She certainly was taking advantage of the warmth.


Tigger was enjoying it this day.

Awww! How sweet!!

Shadow found a comfy spot next to the sleeping bag. I was surprised she let me take this picture of her since she's camera shy these days.

Shoemaker Park and Rainbow Falls

Christina and I went to Shoemaker Park to enjoy the lovely afternoon on Saturday. The camera came along.

A soft focus.

My favorite subject, Christina.

Nice Afternoon

I was snapping some pictures of Tigger in his favorite pose (sleeping) when I looked outside and saw the neat clouds surrounding the mountain (below).

A fishing boat makes its way toward Wrangell.

Jet Boat Fun

I watched the Breakaway Adventures "Stikine Dream" zip by Petroglyph Beach.

Before excuting a hairpin turn. With all my practice taking pictures I thought I could have got a couple decent shots of a nicely excuted turn with the spray flying all over but no, this was the best I got. This just means I need more practice.

At the time the sun started getting low on the horizon a large squall approached. The squall (rain and hail) hit at the same time I was taking this photo and a double rainbow appeared a few moments later.

The light also got a very unique quality that reminded me of the light that would be present after a late afternoon midwestern spring thunderstorm.