Trip Reports

ject width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LrJbX146pFE"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LrJbX146pFE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>

Fall colors are changing on the Denali.

Finally got a good night up in the bird with my friends Lauren, Joe and Ashley, and Ashley’s parents. Spent about 90 minutes flying over Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Might be the best part of Alaska…

I know these posts are months old by now, but I figure better late than never. This is from my first trip into the park this year, in early June. Road was only open to Fish Creek, but the wildlife was out in huge numbers. Saw 14 grizzlies, dall sheep, a wolf, red fox, caribou and moose. Productive first day.

Hit the jump for the slideshow.
(more…)

Made another run out to the park in early July, this time with my friends Joe and Ashley, and Jodi. Weather was spectacular, wildlife was all over the place, and the mountain was out for a few hours. I lugged my 600 through there, got some nice images of a few grizzlies.

The grizzlies in the Toklat and Stony Creek areas are very active this year. We saw 8 or so today. 14 last time. No real big males yet though.

Slideshow after the jump.
(more…)

Due to some less than ideal situations at work the past four days, I’ve found myself stranded in Fairbanks with nothing to do. I spent a night down in Denali, and the weather was horrible. So, I retreated back to the ‘banks, and went searching for moose. Chena River State Park is rumored to be the moose hot spot around these parts, so I figured I’d better confirm or deny said rumors…

Turns out, the rumors are true. Saw at least a dozen moose last night, and 6 more this morning on the way back. Mainly cows and calves, with one juvenile bull. The stretch on Chena Hot Springs Road from mile 28 to 36 might be the moosiest road in all the world. They were coming out of everywhere.

With the ridiculous amounts of rain coming down, the river and sloughs were tip-top full, and perhaps a bit warmer than usual. Lots of fog and mist everywhere. Made for some neat images. Enjoy.

Slideshow after the jump. (more…)

Spent another night in Denali National Park. This summer is really starting to wear me down. It is the last day of July, and it was 48 degrees. Rained some more. I slept at Wonder Lake, and wondered what in the hell I was doing… Colorado Plateau, sometimes I miss you.

Slideshow after the jump.
(more…)

I spent most of my free time over the long weekend following the elk in Provo canyon. Unfortunately, the winter has been really hard on the animals. That’s good and bad for viewing them. It means that most of the elk are much lower than typical winters, so they are easy to find. The bad is that they are very stressed right now, and the temptation to get close to them is overwhelming for some people. There were a couple of really good days where some big bulls would’ve photographed nicely, but they never did come closer than about 150 yards. So this is my best efforts from the few days. If you are curious and go up to view these animals, please be respectful and view them from the road. The last thing they need is to be pushed all around exerting energy they don’t have. Most images are with a 600 f4 and 2x teleconverter on a 40D, and heavily cropped.

Enjoy.
(more…)

I’ve never had a chance to see owls in flight, let alone photograph them. So when I heard a few other photographers talking about the great owl images they made at Farmington Bay, I jumped off the eagle bandwagon and headed down to the barn owl lot. These buggers are fast! All images 40D, 600 f4, 1.4x extender.

Slideshow after the jump.
(more…)

Decided to make one more run up to Farmington Bay to see if the eagles wanted to play with me one more time before heading north. Met a couple of the old Farmington standbys who had been there on Saturday, and said the eagles were plentiful. With blue skies on Sunday morning, it was nearly perfect conditions.

The ice is thawing out more quickly, and the eagles are more spread out. Not as many chances to get close to them as I had last time. Either way, it was another fun day, and the eagles again made it interesting. All images 40D, 600 f4, 1.4x extender.

Slideshow after the jump
(more…)