Pictures from Alaska’s mountain ranges
On June 10th I crossed Ernie Pass (the continental divide) of the Brooks Range on foot, during a 110 mile hike/packraft trip with a friend. Yesterday, I was near Isabel Pass in the Alaska Range. Mountain travel has one common feature, and that is dramatically changing weather. It is one aspect I like about traveling…
Summer is here in Alaska! In just a few weeks, the solstice will mark the longest day of the year, and believe it or not, we start losing daylight following that. To really see the beauty of the “evening” light, it will require a late night indeed. I was traveling through the Alaska Range last…
I took a photo a few days ago in Broad Pass, which is the high point through the Alaska Range mountains along the George Parks Highway that connects Fairbanks to Anchorage. A few inches of fresh snow had fallen early that morning and decorated the tundra in a beautiful white blanket. The small spruce trees…
I spent the fourth of July weekend trekking across one of Alaska’s, and the Nation’s least visited National Parks. Gates of the Arctic is situated in Alaska’s Arctic, and is not accessible by road, making for light visitation. I accessed the park on a float plane and then hiked the region with a pretty hefty…
I just returned from an 8 day trip into Alaska’s Brooks Range with Heath Sandall, Jay Cable and Tom Moran. We spent most of the time in the Arrigetch Peaks in the Gates of the Arctic National Park. In due time, I’ll write a little more about that trip and the place. But since it is…
This time of year in the mountain regions of the Alaska Range, there are huge fields of blossoming wild sweet pea. They cover the gravel areas of river drainages, and hit their peak bloom about summer solstice. I took this photo last week while driving to Anchorage. The wild sweet pea is very fragrant, and…
Human powered adventures in Alaska’s Brooks Range are always just that…an adventure of sorts. I mean “adventure” in a wilderness context, i.e., a human powered travel mode that takes you across trail-less country, up and over mountains, while route-finding, problem solving and embracing the discovery of new sights all the way along. I shared a few photos in my…
There is a window of time in Alaska’s early summer where one can get out and explore after the snow has melted, but before the waves of mosquitoes emerge. It is a narrow time frame, and in the Southern Brooks Range mountains, it is usually before June 15. But the change in seasons is still in…
During my hike to make some photos of Mt. Igikpak (I did see that mountain and will share some photos of it soon) in the Brooks Range, I deviated from Tupik Creek after a few miles and entered Angiaak Pass. A few tundra ponds made for a beautiful and colorful scene. Setting up camp with some altitude…
The route I chose to access Mt. Igikpak during my recent trip to the Gates of the Arctic followed Tupik Creek, and then on through Angiaak Pass. After landing in the bush plane in the early afternoon along the Noatak River, I forded the river and hiked about 4 miles to a nice camp spot that…