Alaska Photo Graphics

Musk Ox, Arctic Coastal Plains

On a very chilly morning (minus 40 degrees F) high above the Arctic Circle, about 400 miles north of Fairbanks on Alaska's Arctic coastal plains, a colleague and I photographed these two bull muskox just after sunrise.

I try to travel with another person in this remote region, especially in the winter, as a matter of safety as well as camaraderie. The previous night, temperatures plummeted to minus 55 degrees F (our thermometer bottomed out at that limit).

We slept in my vehicle under piles of down sleeping bags, with the engine running all night. My Canon EOS 3 camera worked fine in the cold weather, but the 100-400 zoom auto focus went a little wacky. My body went a little wacky as well! Usually my gear outlasts me in these subzero temperatures.