Birds

The evening light did a nice job of enhancing this photo (taken 6-8-07).

This eagle flew directly over me after I had been taking pictures of the mountains in black and white. I was disappointed at first but it seemed to turn out quite well.

Bob Lippert's kite flies in the mostly clear skies above the North Wrangell High Country Shelter.

Ketchikan

Christina and I look into each others eyes as we sit in one of the log shelters on the shore of Ward Lake.

Just before this picture was taken a black bear crossed Ward Creek about a hundred yards away. We only got one picture of him and he was swimming so only his back and head were visible. Wasn't worth putting it on the blog.

Ketchikan and cruise ships.

A float plane coming in for a landing near downtown Ketchikan.

Ward Lake

Here are a few more picture from Ketchikan. This picture of the reflection was taken at about 5am. After I had already gone fishing. Yawn! It is kind of neat how the relfection seemed to turn out better than the actual scene.

Here is another nice reflection.

Here is a nice big Sitka Spruce with blueberry brush in the foreground.

Trees and more Trees

This root wad along the shore of Ward Lake in Ketchikan caught Christina's eye.

These Western Hemlock branches fan out like tailfeathers on a peacock.

There are many trees around Ward Lake like this Sitka Spruce that started growing on top of a large stump. As the old stump decomposed and the new tree grew, a void was formed where the old stump once sat. This results in some interesting features, such as this kick stand supporting a large spruce, a hemlock and part of another spruce.

There was no shortage of large spruce around our campground. Directly across from our campsite these two large spruce were close enough together to give Quent a chance to pose for this shot.

More of the Tree

Christina's Pictures

Here are some pictures that I took while we were in Ketchikan, Alaska.


Leaves are one of my favorite things to take pictures of, especially if they are fall-colored leaves.

In this picture I have captured part of a dead tree trunk along the Ward Lake trail. I'll post another picture of the whole thing. I really like the design in the wood.

This is me trying to relax my naturally serious face. Haha!

Memorial Day

This Dark Eyed Junko is singing an evening song

An eagle cruising near the Mount Dewey overlook.

Etolin Island as seen from Mount Dewey. This picture was intentially underexposed, the sky wasn't really that dark.

More of Spur

Christina's attempt at another waterfall.

Skunk Cabbage: Why is it called skunk cabbage? One is that it actually smells like skunk. Wrangell doesn't have skunks. (Yeah, I know...) Last year I was walking with a friend and all of a sudden I smelled skunk. I looked over to this little stream of water and there was a cluster of skunk cabbage. Also, in the beginning stages of growth, the plant looks like cabbage. When we first moved here, I thought there was a banana growing out of the ground because it has that banana-yellow color. During the Wrangell High School graduation ceremony this summer, one parent's letter to their graduate told a little story about how the graduate (as a child) had spent some time in the hospital because of eating skunk cabbage like it was corn-on-the-cob. Not a great idea!

A little added tidbit: Wrangell doesn't have crickets or snakes either.

Walk

Last week we walked along Spur Road and we hiked up a "spur" on the road that we had never been on before. It reminded me (Christina) of a trail in Rib Lake, Wisconsin. Of course the elevation change is quite different here. Ha! This is one of the pictures Quent took of me while walking up.

Proud that I made it to the top (notice my embellishment of Quent's baseball cap).

I really like this picture of Quent! He really loves the outdoors. I do too, but he far surpasses me with outdoor adventure. And that's ok with me! Ha!

We will leave it to your imagination of just how big this bug really is.

Ski Trip

May 21 before work I went up to the North Wrangell High Country Shelter to ski down. Had to get up pretty early so I could be at work at a reasonable time. This is a picture of the bridge at about 1000'. Looks like there is still about 5 feet of snow above the handrail. The stream above the bridge is completely covered and this is a stream that is big enough to go tubing in.

Notice the orange plastic on my feet. Yup, Garmont Adrenalines. Pretty nice boots. (Thank's for the recommendation Nate!) The nicest thing about them is that they are fully compatible with my snowshoes. That means I don't have to carry ski boots in my backpack. What a relief! Skiing down was trickly. Constantly changing from corn snow to crust on top of corn snow to hard icy snow, depending on where the shadows were. Should have waited a few hours but I didn't have that luxury on a Monday.

View of my snowcave... wait, what snowcave??? Yeah, even that is buried under about 10-15 feet of snow. About 18" of the outhouse door is now accessible.

THIS is Alaska!

Yeah, I'm a nerd! But I thought the sweatshirt was so appropriate for the setting!

Quent and I being normal.

Quent and I being normal again. *cough*

Misc.

Who thought that a pile of logs would be something worth capturing on camera?

Quent took this picture of a raindrop on a leaf. I think it's beautiful!