Tag: Alaska
-
Margerie Glacier
Glacier Bay: Hoonah–Angoon Census Area Census Area of the Unorganized Borough, Alaska, USA (August 1995) Margerie Glacier (map) is one of the most magnificent and dramatic ice flows into Glacier Bay National Park. It features sheer green and blue walls smudged by black debris carried down from the mountainside. The size is amazing. It is…
-
Midnight Sun
Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska, USA (July 2000) Why would I post this image of a nondescript suburban street lined with generic chain stores that could be anywhere USA? …Because this is Anchorage, Alaska and it’s nearly midnight. I was in Anchorage on business in early July 2000, just a few days after the summer solstice.…
-
Flattop Mountain
Chugach State Park, Anchorage, AK (July 2010) We didn’t plan to climb Flattop Mountain (map) that beautiful July morning. We had completely different plans, actually. The waiter during breakfast said we should go. The desk clerk at the hotel told us the same thing. The day was too perfect, too perfect!, to waste it on…
-
Russian River Falls
Chugach National Forest, Cooper Landing, Alaska (July 2010) Right at the middle of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, just off Sterling Highway west of Cooper Landing, the Russian River Falls put on a spectacular show for those who follow a gentle trail through the woods (map). It’s not amazing because of any great vertical drops. No, the…
-
Mendenhall Glacier and Environs
The City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, USA (August 1995) Mendenhall Glacier (map) forms just north of the Mendenhall Towers, a portion of the Coast Mountains that reach nearly 7,000 feet. The glacier trends south from this point until it empties into a beautiful lake about 10 miles northwest of the city of Juneau and…
-
Glacier Bay Waterfalls and Terrain
Hoonah-Angoon Census Area of the Unorganized Borough, Alaska, USA (August 1995) Tarr Inlet Not all of the snow that falls into Glacier Bay region packs into glaciers that calve into icebergs hundreds of years later when it eventually flows into the sea. Some of it simply melts as the summer progresses and rolls as liquid…
-
Perseverance Trail
City and Burough of Juneau, Alaska, USA (August 1995) Ebner Falls Juneau has multiple hiking opportunities. The Perseverance Trail (map) is perhaps one of the most accessible. The trailhead is close to downtown where Basin Road ends. It was a path once used by Native Americans for hunting, gathering and fishing. It also became one…
-
Barwell Island
Resurrection Bay; Seward, Alaska (July 2010) We rode through Resurrection Bay heading out of Seward on one of those all-day Kenai Fjords excursions. We came there to enjoy the natural beauty of the National Park, both the scenery and the animal life. The ship approached Barwell Island (map) at the opening of the bay and…
-
Russian River Ferry
Chugach National Forest, Cooper Landing, Alaska (July 2010) The Russian River Ferry is certainly one of the more unusual ferries that I’ve experienced (and I’ve taken rides on many others). It doesn’t function to link communities on opposite riverbanks or to unite a ribbon of asphalt or to provide a shortcut. No, it exists solely…
-
Out of Season
A strange sight confounded my older son as we walked through a warren of shops near the Santa Fe Plaza during our recent New Mexico trip. He spotted a year-round Christmas store. It didn’t register on my mind until he pointed it out, I guess because I’d seen plenty of them before. Although, as I…