Ice Cave, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
It is hard to get a sense of scale, but this was a huge cave – the ceiling was a good 8 feet in height. It followed the small creek over to the right out of this frame. I found this last Friday – the bright sunny skies helped illuminate the ice inside the cave with a beautiful blue glow.
I photographed this from outside the cave looking in. These caves can be fun to explore, but this one was way to sketchy, there is no way I would enter a cave like this – it looked like huge hunks of ice could fall at any momment!
Paradise Creek, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Thanks to some challenging water crossings, this area gets few, if any visitors in the summer. I have skied up here in the winter, and thought the area was beautiful, but have never been able to get up here in the summer. Thanks to some low water levels, Janine and I along with some friends of ours were finally able to get up here yesterday for some scouting.
I think the area has some real potential. I love the clear water, something you don’t see much of around here thanks to the numerous glaciers. Glacier rivers tend to be very muddy looking thanks to the silt. This is looking up an unnamed valley where an unnamed creek flows in from the right. Paradise Creek is coming in from the left. We were able to make it another mile or two before steep cliffs and swift water blocked our progress. It was a great day! And now I know it is a place worth returning to for good light!
Cover of the Kenai Peninsula Tourism Marketing Council Travel Guide (KPTMC), Alaska.
This is actually a composite of two of our images combined by KPTMC. You see, they really liked this photo from Harriman Fiord in Prince William Sound. Problem was, even though it looked like it could have been captured in Kenai Fjords on the Kenai Peninsula, savvy viewers would certainly recognize this as part of Prince William Sound which is outside the Kenai Peninsula. So they replaced the background with an image of ours from Kenai Fjords. They did such a good job that when this arrived last week, I forgot it was a composite – it even fooled me!
A self portrait from a solo backpacking trip along the Harding Icefied, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska
Well I’m sure that title got your attention, and my friends are probably laughing and rolling their eyes – I better quickly explain.
Evidently, CBS has a daytime TV show entitled The Bold and Beautiful. It was explained to us that one of the characters on the show is this guy who does a lot of adventure travel. Well, CBS contacted us last week and purchased 7 prints of adventure activities to decorate the set that will make up this characters office. These pictures will appear to be personal photos of the character during his travels and adventures. The photo of me above is one of the seven. So star is a big exaggeration – but someday, somewhere, a photo of me just might be visible on the Bold and Beautiful. lol
by Ron on September 12, 2008
Yesterday (Thursday) at Aialik Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
There are a lot of great things about living in Seward, but number one has to be how close we are to Aialik Bay and Kenai Fjords National Park. The Travel Channel included this area when it did a two hour special on the 10 greatest wonders of the world. Not the U.S., the world! And I’m just a short boat ride away for one of them. [click to continue…]
This photo near Exit Glacier brings back fond memories, as it was about our only sunny day so far this summer. I usually avoid photographing in this bright, somewhat harsh light, but it was looking great to me!
As a buddy and I stood here it dawned on me that few people have ever stood on this spot. It isn’t because it is some remote, hard to reach location – it is probably less then a two mile hike with maybe a couple of angle deep glacier stream crossings.
So what makes me think few have ever stood here? Well up until just a few years ago, this spot was completely covered by Exit Glacier. It has probably been under thick ice for hundreds of years if not more.
The foreground looks like a completely lifeless environment, but there were a couple of places where tiny bits of plant life was already beginning to grow. It has been interesting to see the transition of this area over the years, although I would hate to lose the glacier!
Humpback whale along the Kenai Fjords National Park coastline, Alaska. This is another photo from last Thursday.
Killer whale outside of Seward, Alaska.
I liked how the only sun light to been seen anywhere around just happened to be illuminating this giant whale.
Here are more Kenai Fjords photos.
Another look at the beautiful Kenai coast outside of Seward, Alaska.
You can see why this area is a challenging, but amazing place to kayak. Not only do you often have rough seas, but getting to shore can be pretty tough in many areas. But what a place to explore up close!
There in an extensive book written on Kenai Fjords National Park titled A Stern and Rock-Bound Coast. Seems like an appropriate name!
This was also from Monday night. I liked how a little bit of sun was lighting up the green hillside – it almost made it glow.
Breaching Orca from Monday.
I would have liked to have been able to compose this a little tighter, but fortunately there was a pretty nice background!
Here are more whale photos.
Lincoln’s Sparrow on Lupine from a past summer, near Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
I want to take my photo blog in a new direction. Well maybe a better description is an additional direction. I still plan to post a photo nearly every day and share experiences from the field and our travels, but I want to do more. [click to continue…]
by Ron on February 7, 2008
Kayakers in Northwestern Fjord, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
As you head into Kenai Fjords from Seward, Aialik Bay is the first fjord you come to. But they next bay over, Northwestern Fjord, is even more spectacular in many ways. Northwestern has more glaciers, and almost no vegetation, it is a very harsh, raw environment.
This is Northwestern Glacier from a few years ago. A few years before this, there wasn’t any rock showing between the legs of the glacier, it was all solid ice. Now that the rock wall is exposed, this south facing glacier is really melting fast.
by Ron on February 6, 2008
A tour boat in front of Holegate Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Well, back to Kenai Fjords. The easiest way to experience this amazing park is on a boat tour. Which tour is one question I am frequently asked, and since I have a lot of opinions on the subject, I thought I would write about them here today. [click to continue…]
by Ron on January 31, 2008
Pedersen Lagoon, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
The last 8 photos I have posted on Kenai Fjords, along with the photo in my Graduated Neutral Density filter post were all captured in this amazing location. I tried to describe it early on, but I think this aerial view really on a feel for this place. Ailaik Bay is in the foreground.
by Ron on January 30, 2008
Pedersen Lagoon, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Continuing on my theme – this is another photo from my favorite place.
by Ron on January 28, 2008
Kayaking in Pedersen Lagoon, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
A kayak is a great way to get around Aialik Bay and Pedersen Lagoon. This was a little early in the season – the icebergs are a little thick by the entrance at this time of year making it a little tricky picking your way through the maze – tricky but fun! As the summer continues, it get easier.
There are numerous beaches for camping all around the bay, and the Park Service has food storage boxes at most of the best beaches, so you don’t need to worry about lugging bear proof food containers. The one thing you do have to worry about it the unpredictable weather. Short sleeve days like the one pictured aren’t very common.
by Ron on January 26, 2008
Ghost Forest, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Everyone calls these standing dead trees “ghost forests”. Don’t know if that is an official name, but it works for me.
These trees have been standing dead like this for over 40 years. Pretty amazing given our wet environment – my fire wood ends up rotting after just 3 or 4 years. So how did they die, and why are they still standing strong? [click to continue…]
by Ron on January 25, 2008
An unnamed mountain rises above Pedersen Lagoon and Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
by Ron on January 24, 2008
Black Bear in Pedersen Lagoon.
An annual salmon run brings lots of black bears to the shores of Pedersen Lagoon, Kenai Fjords National Park. I think I counted 13 separate bears over a two day period just within the lagoon!
by Ron on January 23, 2008
A sea otter family enjoying the relative safety of Pedersen Lagoon, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Notice the large pup asleep on the belly of one of the adults.
by Ron on January 22, 2008
Pedersen Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
This was a gloomy, cloudy morning, but and friend and I paddled up to this lake anyways, and were rewarded with a very brief burst of sunlight on the far side of the lake. [click to continue…]
