Landscapes, Seascapes and Coastlines
A few more tall mountains in the Alaska Range.
Autumn in Denali National Park
Mountains south of the Park Road in Denali National Park and Preserve. "Rivers" of yellow wind through the red foliage and "lakes" of green spruce dot the hillsides. I have yet to find a place that I would prefer to be in autumn, even though the season here is incredibly short. The splendid colors only hang around for about a week before the deciduous leaves fall, followed shortly by the snow.
On the Black Rapids Glacier in the Eastern Alaska Range. Eventually the slushy blue streaks in the snow from a few days before this gave way to water channels in the ice beneath the surface. Sometimes they find old channels from previous years, sometimes they don't. In the summer of 2014 we spent two weeks camped on the glacier and had to cross many of these streams. It was still early in the melt season which meant that there weren't any moulins yet to drain the water for the surface. This meant that to get across the glacier we had to jump over many of these streams, a handful of which were quite wide. My knees would often be swollen and sore at the end of the day. I was always more comfortable jumping to my dominant, right leg, but when I didn't mix it up I paid for it later. I started jumping all the small streams to my left leg, and only to my right if there were consequences for missing a jump.
Beautiful Chena River State Recreation Area landscapes along the Granite Tors trail.
Ballaine Reflection After Sunset
Silhouetted boreal forest and reflection at Ballaine Lake - Fairbanks, Alaska
Wind blown mountains in the Alaska Range.
Jupiter and Venus shining bright after sunset as twilight takes over on a cold, cold night on Murphy Dome. The "blue hour" lasts a very long time in the interior of Alaska for most of the fall, winter, and spring.
A lot of snow falls up here covering the mountains of the Trinity Basin of the Alaska Range in ice. This is part of the small remaining accumulation area of the Black Rapids Glacier. I'm amazed at how such a conglomeration of ice and snow can take the appearance of simply being draped over the mountains. Best in panorama sizes 1:2
Looking toward Wickersham Dome
White Mountains of Alaska
Gorgeous red landscapes over the Thorofare River and yellow vegetation-covered Muldrow Glacier. And of course Denali, the tallest Mountain in North America at 20,310' above sea level.
Here are more waterfalls into Prince William Sound near Valdez.
The night sky over the North Fork of the Chena River along the Angel Rocks Trail. Chena River State Recreation Area - Alaska
Snow-clad spruce trees at sunrise. Sunrises have to be one of my favorite things about Fairbanks, next to the aurora, and the mountain range to our south. Our sparse boreal forests give nice open views of the sky too. I love seeing those subtle arctic blues behind the brilliant colors. Almost every morning in the winter is wonderful!
Looking over the confluence of the Thorofare and McKinley River at Denali. Some interesting geological features in a valley on my hike down from the Thorofare Ridge back to the Park Road.
The south face of Mt. Shand (12,660 feet, 3859 meters) in the Alaska Range. That's about a mile of vertical, exposed rock.