More of Andrews

Bob walks along a calm section of Andrews creek several miles from the cabin.

After borrowing a few cookies from a friend's cabin (he should have brought the whole box) Bob walks into the Rynda Cabin. On the way back we split up in part to try to see wildlife. It worked. About 5 minutes after we went our seperate directions Bob met up with a moose. He said that the moose seemed to sense me and kept looking over in my direction. Although I saw a lot of very fresh moose sign I didn't the moose I was looking for.

Team cribbage. Bob and I ganged up and poor Anthony and Matt. We offered to change the teams up but there were intent on getting revenge and talking trash. We didn't mind. We had fun winning, and winnining...

We were up early the next morning, got packed up and ready to go in anticipation of a long laborous journey. Little did we know...

Down the River

Anthony heads down the staircase with the last of his belongings. We were looking forward to a long trip down to the Rynda Cabin where we would spend the night.

I looked at my watch as I left and noted that it was 8:35am. The other guys were a little bit in front of me but I had skis so I figured I would catch up quickly. By the time we got out to the main river, the wind was once again blowing hard... But not quite as strong as it had on many of the other days. I didn't mind. It was pretty effortless pulling the sled with the wind at my back. Certainly much easier than the trip of river. I was a good 5-10 minutes behind Matt and Anthony when I noticed that they hit some open ice. The wind whisked Anthony away and I could tell he was having trouble controlling himself on the ice with his nordic skis. But a smile crept onto my lips as I remembered back to my high-school days and the many times when I would take my sharp alpine skis onto frozen lakes and go skate-skiing.

As soon as I made it to the wind swept ice, I took off my skins and ventured onto slick surface. As soon as my sled was completely on the ice the wind took it and tried to make it pass me. By then I was starting to realize just how much fun this was going to be and let out a joyous yelp. A few quick shoves with my ski poles and I was ahead of my sled and cruising on the ice. I quickly zipped by the other guys and they were setting up their own methods of gliding. The wind was strong enough that I zipped down the river at an estimated average speed of 7-10 mph just by standing up and letting the wind push me. Every once in a while a big gust would come along and my sled would attempt to pass, and a few times it did. A few more quick shoves with the ski poles and I would be ahead again.

I made it down to Pt Rothsay in only 2hours 13 minutes. But the bulk of that time was spent in the short distance from the Rynda cabin to the main river and then a deviation around a dusty portion of the river near Point Rothsay. Whew! Fun stuff.

The other guys made good time as well, and before long we were almost to the Garnet Cabin. Unfortunately we met up with some open water. Hey, that's what the canoe was for anyway. I volunteered to supply the power to the paddle.

Of course, I couldn't resist snapping a few photos along the way. Note the wind blown snow and dust behind me. This are was protected from the wind otherwise I would have had some difficulty controlling the canoe.

A typical load. The ferry trips were only a few hundred yards. Not bad at all. It did make me miss canoeing though.

The End

Mat unloads one the gear from one of the many gear laden shuttle trips. The trips were short and once all the gear was moved, Bob and Anthony walked over the broken ice along the beach to the cabin.

Ahhh, wood heat. We made a call to Breakaway Adventures to see if he was willing to pick us up a day early. Eric agreed and showed up a few hours later at high tide. We should have asked him to bring a bunch of chocolate.... or at least a few steaks.

We decided to pose for a group photo as the flurries fell. This is the Garnet Ledge cabin.

After arriving back in town Matt throws his last bag into his truck before heading back home. It was nice to be back in my own bed but it just didn't seem quite right without the wind howling and the sound of a sleeping bag. Oh, and the feeling of being clean was a little foreign.

All in all it was a spectacular trip. One that should be repeated monthly.

Christina

My lovely wife poses by the Wrangell Wolves baseball media booth.

High Country

Took a quick evening trip up to the High Country Shelter in early February to capture some nice light.

A tree stands out in front of a sunlit snow squall.

I made some ski tracks and then quickly came back so I could capture this composition. The light was spectacular.

Used my flash to illuminate the interior of the shelter while I let the camera click away. The clouds were moving fast, occasionally obscuring the hills and nearby ridges periodically.

Hometown

I skied up to "Ptarmagin Point" (as it is known by some of my friends) to capture some shots of the town of Wrangell. This was soon after I had arrived at the top and set up my tent. (early January - I'm way behind on my blogging.) This was a long exposure and I utilized my flash to illuminate the interior of the tent. After a few tries I got one I liked.

It didn't take long for the horizon to darken. So composed this shot and set up my headlamp next to the tent in an effort to focus. The "live view" feature came in handy but I still fired a shot just to make sure everything looked the way I wanted it to.

Next I programed my remote timer and let it fire a number of exposures and then "staked" them in photoshop to get the long star trails. The light zig-zags are from my headlamp as I was cooking my supper.

The next morning I woke up in time to capture a few more shots of town with my tent.

Taking in the scenery.

I had just finished breakfast and was enjoying the view outside my tent door. That's Reliance Harbor in the center.

The clouds opposite the sunrise turned a vibrant pink just before the sun touched them. No, I don't have tele skis, I'm just free heeling with my AT bindings. The tent's wind break stands out. It was breezy through the night, enough to keep the tent snapping in the wind almost all night long.

The sun finally brushed the top of my tent and soon after I started to pack up and headed back. The snow conditions were poor (very hard) but plenty fast.

Harbor Views

A friend was loading their ship with shrimp boxes before a long trip.

An eagle takes off from the top of a tree on the island in the harbor.

A tidal dipstick of sorts.

Boats wait out the winter and look forward to spring.

A few from January

These are from near Pats log transfer facility.

I crawled up on an excavator to get a better vantage point of the unique clouds.

An eagle soars over me at Petroglyph Beach.

Petroglyph I

It turned out that this was one of my last shoots with my trusty old 100-400mm L lens. I "traded" it in for a 70-200mm f4 L which is significantly smaller and lighter - something I needed for a certain Stikine River trip.

A endangered Steller sea lion shakes a fish it just caught. From a couple other photos I think it was flounder.

Beware of fish breath.

The iconic "nose" of Woronkofski Island.

Sun, Sky, and Water

Ice from the Stikine River floats on liquid gold.

Just another Petroglyph Beach Sunset (same as the next couple).

Yeah, it's been a while since I last posted. Should have a cluser of posts to make up for it. A few friends and I spent 16 days in the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness. Yeah, it was fun. And yes, that is an understatement. Pictures will come... eventually.