Category Archive

Ken Burns with producer Dayton Duncan filming in Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

The famous filmmaker Ken Burns will be in Anchorage, Alaska this Thursday evening talking about and previewing clips from his newest film:  The National Parks:   America’s Best Idea.  For more details, visit Alaska Geographic.

I was fortunate enough to spend 3 days with Ken and his crew in Kenai Fjords a few years ago while he was working on this film.  I gotta say Ken was a fascinating individual.  His creativity goes without saying, but he is a wonderful story teller with a hilarious sense of humor – we had lots of laughs on that trip.  If you find yourself anywhere near Anchorage on Thursday, hearing Ken speak, and seeing some of his film clips should be highly worthwhile!

Northwestern Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Yesterday I took a boat tour into Kenai Fjords National Park and visited the amazing Northwestern Fjord.  It had been a few years since I had visited this part of the Park, and I was glad to see the ice hadn’t receded too much, nothing like what we have seen at Exit Glacier.  For comparison, the above photo is the right hand portion of the glacier that you see in this 6 year old photo of Northwestern Glacier (by the way, Alaska Magazine did a really nice double page spreed with this photo in this months issue!).

I am so lucky to live next to such amazing country!  The Travel Channel calls the coast of  Kenai Fjords National Park one of the top 10 natural wonders of the world – for good reason!

Special thanks to Cathy Gonzalez with Log Dreamin’ Bed and Breakfast for helping with my arrangements!

Silt embedded into the wall of a glacier cave, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

This probably isn’t for everyone, but I liked the abstract patterns created by the layers of silt in this icy wall.  I used a 400 mm telephoto to zero in on the detail while safely standing outside the cave.

Ice Cave, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

It is hard to get a sense of scale, but this was a huge cave – the ceiling was a good 8 feet in height.  It followed the small creek over to the right out of this frame.  I found this last Friday – the bright sunny skies helped illuminate the ice inside the cave with a beautiful blue glow.

I photographed this from outside the cave looking in.  These caves can be fun to explore, but this one was way to sketchy, there is no way I would enter a cave like this – it looked like huge hunks of ice could fall at any momment!

Paradise Creek, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Thanks to some challenging water crossings, this area gets few, if any visitors in the summer.  I have skied up here in the winter, and thought the area was beautiful, but have never been able to get up here in the summer.  Thanks to some low water levels, Janine and I along with some friends of ours were finally able to get up here yesterday  for some scouting.

I think the area has some real potential.  I love the clear water, something you don’t see much of around here thanks to the numerous glaciers.  Glacier rivers tend to be very muddy looking thanks to the silt.  This is looking up an unnamed valley where an unnamed creek flows in from the right.  Paradise Creek is coming in from the left.  We were able to make it another mile or two before steep cliffs and swift water blocked our progress.  It was a great day!  And now I know it is a place worth returning to for good light!