Lost Lake Trail, Chugach National Forest, Seward, Alaska.

This is a recent photo of the Lost Lake Trail is cutting through a section of forest that we have always referred to as the enchanted forest thanks in part to the cool witches hair hanging from the trees.

Chugach National Forest, near Seward, Alaska.

Another recent image from our beautiful snowy winter!

Lost Lake Cabin, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

This public use cabin looks funny in the summer because it is perched so high in the air.  Now, it is easy to see why!

This cabin was renovated last summer – looks great.  We have stayed here in the past during the winter – the view from here looking down on Resurrection Bay and Seward is spectacular!

Sunrise along the Lost Lake Trail, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

I love to run in these hills and usually try to go twice a week in the summer and once a week in the winter.  I usually leave my camera behind and just enjoy the exercise and experience – but every now and then I bring along my camera and tripod like I did last Friday morning.  I headed up about an hour before sunrise – it was sure a beautiful morning!

Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

This is a new one from last night.  If it looks cold and snowy it is because it was cold and snowy.    I think the temp was around zero and the snow was many feet deep.

Happy New Year everyone!

A couple of cabins on Lower Summit Lake, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

The continuation of an on going video assignment for an visitor center film had me out in the field all day yesterday, and with all the fresh new snow, it was sure a beautiful day!  When I came across this wonderful alpenglow at sunset, I had to grab a couple of “stills” – see I can even talk like a videographer. 

Here is what is looks like in the summer:  Summit Lake.

Winter mountains, Chugach National Forest, from Seward, Alaska.

Well I thought I would give you a break from the Hawaii photos and share something from Alaska.  I captured this from my front yard yesterday afternoon looking across the bay from Seward.  Recent heavy snowfall has the mountains looking (in the words of Tony the Tiger) “just great”!  Well, he says something about great, you get the idea.

Watching northern lights, near Seward, Alaska.

We had a great northern lights show last month – and this parking lot about 12 miles from Seward was very busy despite the late hour, as locals drove out of town to watch nature’s amazing show!

This should be the last of the Alaska photos I’ll share here for awhile.   Sunday, we board a plane and head to Hawaii!  I’m really excited – haven’t been there in over 17 years.  We will spend 4 nights in Waikiki before heading to Kauai.  We will stay in Kauai for 3 to 6 nights – we will decide once we get there.  I have made arrangements for a door-less helicopter charter -  I love flying and shooting from a helicpoter with the doors off, it should be a great way to photograph the remote Na Pali coast.  Then, for the last two weeks we will be in Maui.

I hope to keep the blog updated with Hawaii photos while traveling, but it might be tougher then normal as we will only have one laptop and keeping up with business is always a priority.  And, I’ll need to spend extra time scouting as most of it will be new to me – and, a fun place to be scouting!    So, hopefully I’ll have something to share on Monday or Tuesday!

Northern lights over Kenai Lake, Alaska.

This was about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday night – what a great show!  I had been out the night before until about 2:00 a.m., and didn’t get anything, so it was nice to have some success this night.  Since this is typically a winter event – getting a reflection in unfrozen water was kind of a nice bonus.

Brown bear with a red salmon, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.

I hadn’t planned on photographing more bears this week, but a video assignment found me in the middle of bear country not too far from my home in Seward on Wednesday.   This is an image from that day.  The fishing was good and the salmon everywhere.  If this bear caught a male, it might peel some of the skin off, but as often as not, it would just toss it back.  It definitely was after the row in the females.  When it did catch a female, the salmon eggs were about all she would eat.  Times are good when you are living on just caviar!

In the morning I head north for almost two weeks.  Much of that time will be in Denali – I’m really excited to have drawn permit dates during the peak of the fall colors – I have been trying to get these dates for over 10 years!

I probably won’t worry too much about bears on this trip, but I would really like to improve on my coverage of caribou and moose – not to mention landscapes and fall colors.  Northern lights would be a real bonus.  If I have time, when I come out of the park for gas and showers, I will post an update here – but, it is possible that I won’t have the time in which case I’ll see you when I get back!

Janine on the trail to Spencer Glacier, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

How is this – I’m playing my excuse in advance for my possible lack of photo blog activity!

Tomorrow morning I head out on a boat for a few days as part of my Kenai Fjords photo tour.  It is shaping up to be an epic trip – there have been reports of a large number of whales, and the weather is even looking great!

I then have a steady series of private tours everyday right up to my week long bear and puffin tour.  The bear tour is also shaping up to be great with reports of a number of spring cubs!  You can’t beat spring cubs!

I should have a bunch of new photos to share, and when I get a chance as I come and go, I will do updates here and there – but, if you don’t hear from me for awhile, you will know why, and I’ll be back soon!

Now I need to go mow the lawn so that I can find the house when I return!

Wildflowers at Spencer Glacier, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Here is another new photo from our overnight trip to Spencer Glacier last week.

Spencer Glacier, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Just got home from an overnight trip to the Spencer Glacier.  I have past by Spencer Glacier on the Alaska Railroad many times, I have rafted passed it, even flown over and photographed it from a helicopter a couple of times – but despite my best intentions, have never spent the night out there.  It has been on our “to do” list for a couple of years, and with wonderful weather moving in this past week, we decided it was the perfect time to go!

By spending the night, I was there for the best light around sunrise and sunset – although the skies completely cleared and I didn’t get the dramatic sky I was hoping for, I still found plenty of dramatic scenery!  This also gave us extra time to explore the area – even put on crampons and was able to check out the glacier which is an easy three mile hike away.

Spencer Glacier has to be one of the best day trips around.  You get there by catching the Alaska Railroad in Anchorage or Portage.  The railroad drops you off at a small station in this beautiful remote country.  The train passes back through the area a couple of hours later giving you time to hike around, or to go on a rafting trip with Chugach Adventure Guides.  I photographed the rafting trip for the railroad a few years back – it is fun!

Or, if you prefer, you can do like we did and bring your camping gear in backpacks and spend the night or multiple nights.  A new trail that takes you way up into the nearby mountains is almost compete – next time we will be doing it.  Eventually, there will be a series of trails and huts connecting railroad stops through this entire remote country.  They are working another trail this summer that will eventually connect to 5 different whistle stops.  When done, It will offer easy access to some amazing country!

Fireweed, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Let me say thanks for all the nice comments on my last post.  Even though most of the comments and my responses are now gone, I was able to read them and really appreciate it.  I had a problem with an update to my blog and had to revert to a backup that was a day or two old so unfortunately I lost a lot of the comments.

By the way, this is another photo from this past week out in the amazing Chugach National Forest.  Unfortunately I didn’t get the light I did in the last photo, but I still thought it was a pretty scene.

So, as if it wasn’t hard enough keeping up with the blog, Facebook and Twitter, there now is another contender in the online social world, Google +.  I started playing around with Google + earlier this week, if you are already there let me know so that I can add you to my circle.  If you aren’t there, but are interested, let me know and I can send you an invite.  Here is my Google + page.

Looks like I may be on the road for a few days – hopefully I will have some new stuff once I return.

Chugach National Forest near Seward, Alaska.

I looked out the window at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning and conditions were looking pretty good for a colorful sunrise as there was a gap near the horizon to the North.  At 4:30 a.m., my lack of sleep paid off as I was rewarded with this beautiful morning!

Because the mountains extend so far to the Northwest and Northeast, we rarely see colorful sunrises or sunsets around here in the summer – the rising / setting sun just doesn’t have the needed gap to illuminate the underside of the clouds.  Our best skies usually happen in the winter when the sun is rising and setting to the South over the ocean.  What a treat!

Black bear sow in a tree, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

So why was this black bear sow up in a tree last week?  Because she had three cute little spring cubs further up the tree above her – below is one of the three, they were sure cute!

Black bear cub, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Cynthia and Susan in the Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Here is a quick snap from my phone of a couple of members from the film crew I worked with last week, and will be working with some more over the summer – we had a really great time!  We spent time in Seward, Cooper Landing, Portage and Girdwood, hiking trails and photographing landscapes and wildlife.

Field of lupine, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Well I’m off for the next week to work with a video crew for a production on a place a know well – the Chugach National Forest.  This morning at 4:00 a.m. I am beginning by taking them at this field for sunrise – could be beautiful!  So, if you don’t hear from me in a week or so, you will know why.

Lupine, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

I found a beautiful field of lupine yesterday  I have said it before, but lupine is an amazing wildflower.  I have seen it in some of the warmest places on earth – Death Valley, and in some of the coldest – Denali National Park.

To get the soft purple glow, I framed this between two other lupine which were very close to the camera and thus completely out of focus.

Helicopters taking on fuel over Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska.

I heard a fair amount of noise outside last week at about 10:00 in the evening – looked outside and was surprised to see a helicopter being refueled in mid flight over Resurrection Bay!  I knew they did this with jets, but I’ll be honest, I had no idea they could do this with helicopters.

Since I have 3 Facebook friends who are former military helicopter pilots, I’m not about to try to identify these birds, but maybe one of them will know a bit more.  The next morning I read in the paper about the beginning of the Northern Edge 2011 training exercises – I assume this was part of this training.

Update:  These are HH 60 Pavehawks being areofueled by a KC-130.

Helicopter re-fueling as it flies over Seward, Alaska.