Creatures

Tigger in his typical position... zonked out.

Our very own inquisitive Shadow.

Small shell

 

Mountains

Castle Mountain in a cloud.

The top of Woronkofski with a 400 mm zoom lens. Pretty neat.

The top of Woronkofoski again but this time cropped and in a black and white to try to highlight rib like drifts along the top of the ridge.

 

Colors of the Rainbow

Christina thought it would be fun to try to get shots of all the colors of the rainbow at the beach. Not all of them are included but here are a few. This was my attempt at green.

Yellow.

Orange.

Another orange.

 

Evening

The setting sun over Vank or Sokolof Island.

After the sunset.

Castle Mountain taken from Petroglyph Beach.

Paul (I assume) on final into Wrangell in his aptly named Cessna 172. The N number? N172PV. The Wilks Range is in the background. That's what you get to look at on a clear day when flying between Wrangell and Petersburg.

 

Birds

We recently bought a new lens, a 100-400mm zoom which makes taking pictures of critters and mountains up close possible with less stalking involved.

Couldn't quite make out what these were.

An inquisitive gull.

Harlequin ducks. I had never seen these before we moved to Alaska and I think they are the coolest duck around here.

 

The Quest for Bessie

The following series of pictures were taken on a trip I took with four other guys and one energetic dog March 31st and April 1st. We left Shoemaker Harbor at 6:50am and made camp at about noon. Which was pretty good time. We hiked to a little over 3200' before deciding that continuing on the last couple steep slopes with our gear could be foolish. The trip was great regardless.

Through the woods.

Across the bridge. Bob steps carefully across the spot where one of us had broken through and almost fallen. Sometimes handrails are awfully nice.

Scott is breaking trail with his faithful friend following closely behind him.

Four of the hikers crossing a muskeg.

 

We were probably about 700-800' in elevation at this point, yet there must have been between ten and fifteen feet of snow at this creek. It was quite a drop down to the creek. This picture was taken as Bob was making the leap (or really big step) across the partial snow-bridge.

Between this and the previous picture we set up camp, ate lunch, took a break, and headed up the mountain. Everyone made better time than me but I had an excuse, I had skis on my back.

Looking at a whisp of the Pacific Ocean. My amazement of Southeast Alaska's endless and unique water ways and islands will probably never die. Not when I see sights like this every once in a while.

None of my pictures conveyed the strong wind except for this one. Scott's yellow lab's ears were flapping in the wind. This guy had energy that we were all envious of. He is seven years old yet had seemingly endless energy as he bounded through snow chasing sticks or fighting the few trees in the alpine for sticks to chase.

 

Good Night World

Moon above the mountains.

Our camp overlooked this large cornice and after having overcast all afternoon the sun finally broke through and for about 15 minutes highlighted this cornice but very little around it.

Evening color. Looking at the ridge that decends down toward King George Creek.

Dug a pit about 7 feet deep before burrowing in toward the hillside. I have no clue how deep the snow was but I bet I wasn't halfway down. My cave was pretty spacious. Bob helped, or perhaps I should say that I helped him make it big enough for two just in case he got too cold sleeping out under the full moon. (He was fine.)

 

Good Morning Sunshine

I woke up about 6:10am to find a hint of light in my snow cave. I hurried to get a few layers on and stuff my feet into my frozen ski boots, which is a slow, laborous, fridged, and sometimes painful process. After I got out of the cave I only had to wait a few minutes before I was greated by the first of the sun's rays peeking over the horizon.

Another view of the sunrise a little later on.

Alpenglow on Bessie. Unfortunately the pictures don't quite do justice to the way it actually looked in person. But then again, you don't have to feel the biting cold wind by simply looking at the pictures.

Vertigo.

 

Tracks

Looking down over camp in the early morning light.

A little further up the hill I took a picture looking up-slope. If you enlarge the picture you can see the snowshoe tracks in the distance and to the left of them my ski tracks from the previous evening are visible.

 

Down the Mountain

Last full view of Bessie before heading down the mountain against the deep blue sky.

Makin' tracks... The fun way. The powder in this area was very nice. Had about 1300' of skiing in this type of stuff before we entered the shallow slopes.

Kunk Lake Shelter. Not too far above sea level but still covered in snow. I was standing on Kunk Lake as I took this picture.

Scott is paddling his pack raft to the boat that will soon take us to our homes.

 

Spilling Water

We went for a short hike up the Rainbow Falls trail and our new camera just happen to be with us. *wink* I (Christina) have been craving to capture a picture like this for a long time.
I was so delighted to finally have my chance!