Mount Marathon, Seward, Alaska.
Here is another photo from Sunday night on Mount Marathon.
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Mt Marathon Bowl
The Bowl, Mt Marathon, Seward, Alaska.
The trail locally know as the “Mt Marathon trail to the bowl” has really become popular in recent years and for good reason – it rocks!
The trail begins in Seward at 1st avenue and Monroe, just keep following Monroe up the mountain. After leaving town, the first section winds through a stretch of beautiful tall tress that help make up the temperate rain forest. Once you climb up out of the rain forest, you are rewarded with some wonderful views of the City of Seward and Resurrection Bay. After a bit more climbing, you eventually reach a cool little alpine valley where a clear stream twists, turns and waterfalls through fields of wildflowers and colorful boulders – some of which you can see in yesterday’s Mt Marathon post. Then, after climbing the final stretch which is made up mostly of a long snow field, you reach the Mt. Marathon bowl you see pictured here. This was captured at sunrise Monday morning.
Fireweed amazes me! That stuff can grow where few, if any other plants can survive.
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Mount Marathon
Below the bowl on the backside of the race portion of Mt. Marathon, Seward, Alaska.
The plan was to continue posting photos on the blog from our recent trip to British Columbia, as I worked hard in the office. Well, the weather turned so nice, we couldn’t stay inside! So yesterday afternoon we grabbed the backpacks, tent and camera gear and headed for the hills! This was captured just before sunset last night – unfortunately the sky didn’t light up, but it was a great place to hang out!
After photographing sunrise, we were still back home by 9:30, so we had a nice night in the field, and can still get some office work done!
Here are more Alaska photos.
Whale Tails and Travel Plans
Humpback Whale Tail, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This was one of two whales who put on an amazing show for us last week. When they weren’t breaching, they were swinging their tails back and forth throwing lots of water around! It was awesome!
We have been watching for an opportunity to head back down to the Vancouver area to add summer coverage to the Vancouver photos we captured last winter. Well the forecast shows most of Alaska receiving rain for the next week, while the Vancouver area looks like a week of sun. We started looking for bargains and thanks to Priceline, buses and frequent flier miles, we were able to put together an inexpensive, very last minute trip. We threw this together on Sunday!
I scheduled this post in advance so that it would be posting while we are on the plane flying south. It is going to be a busy, whirlwind week in which we will spend time in Vancouver, Whistler and Victoria! Probably won’t get much sleep, but hoping for lots of photography! I usually post updates from the road, and will do my best on this trip as well.
Breaching Humpback Whale
Breaching Humpback Whale photo, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
I know it is late to be posting to the blog tonight, but I just got in from a wonderful overnight trip to Northwestern Fjord in Kenai Fjords National Park, and was excited to share this photo.
What a sight to see! A photo just doesn’t do this experience justice, as it is unable to communicate the powerful sounds and energy created when an animal the size of a school bus, rises out of the ocean and then splashes back down in a huge wave of water. This is really cool to see up close!
This is full frame with my 100-400 at 400. I was shooting with an ISO of 640 because I needed all the shutter speed I could get on this cloudy day. This gave me a shutter speed of 1/2000 at f/5.6. The hard part is locating the whale, framing and focusing while it is still out of the water.
Here are more whale photos.
More Harding Icefield
Janine stopping to admire the scenery at the half-way point of the Harding Icefield Trail, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Replace the name Janine with hiker, and that is the caption that may accompany this photo one day if it is ever published. A more accurate caption would be; Janine stopping, then moving a bit to the left, then coming a little towards me so that I can see her shoes, then turning slightly towards the mountain…well you get the idea. She is always a great sport when it comes to posing.
Here is a better description of the Harding Icefield Trail
Janine crossing a snow field near the end of the trail. It is hard to see in this photo, but there is actually a big drop off 30 feet past Janine. Notice the dirty snow – that is thanks to this winter’s volcanic activity.
Exit Glacier Fog
Looking down Exit Glacier from the Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This is sunset from my recent overnight trip to the Harding Icefield.
Over the last few months I have been photographing and posting images from the Seward area, most of which were captured within the 10 mile or so section you see in this image. The largest mountain on the right is Mt. Alice, probably my single most photographed subject. Below Mt Alice, covered in fog, is the seaside town of Seward, the town we are proud to call home. The valley between Exit Glacier and Mt. Alice is the Resurrection River Valley – a beautiful valley I love to drive or ski through, and the source of endless photographic inspiration. And finally there is Exit Glacier and the Kenai Fjords National Park.
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