alaska, travel, photography, skiing, and what not
Been a while, but time to post some photos I’ve accumulated over the past year. We won a chance to drive our own car into Denali National Park. We scored with amazing fall weather and great views of the mountain. Hard to believe I stood on top of that big pile a rock a few short years ago…
Leaves are all turning and there is termination dust on all the peaks now. Winter is coming. Almost time to start tuning the skis.
No cars were involved this Labor Day weekend. What a nice feeling it was to take off in a small plane out of Anchorage and see everyone scrambling to get out of town for Labor Day Weekend. One stop and two hours later we touched down in Port Alsworth, AK – about 170 miles southeast of Anchorage. It is on the border of Lake Clark National Park. Our friends have a place on the lake there and we had a fantastic weekend fishing, eating, boating and enjoying to cool fall weather. What an amazing place that sees so few people. One weekend was not enough. You could spend years exploring this area and still not see everything. We’ll definitely have to go back. Some photos from the weekend:
This past weekend, my wife and I went backcountry skiing at Galena Summit, Idaho – which is located about 30 miles north of Sun Valley, Idaho. The day prior was bitterly cold down in the valleys and we expected that weather all weekend. I think the temperature was about -5° F when we woke up. However, when we got up to the pass, the sun was out and the temperature was a balmy +25° F and it almost felt like a spring day in the mountains. We had a fantastic day skiing fresh powder runs on low angle slopes in an area called “Wishbone.” We avoided any slopes above 30° given the weak layers in the snow from cold, dry spells earlier in the season and the persistent avalanche danger. We’ll definitely be back up there for more!
Some photos from the day:
My second stop in Vietnam was Halong Bay. Everyone I spoke to about about the must-see places in Vietnam mentioned that Halong Bay was not to be missed. They were right – it truly was a unique experience. First, the drive from Hanoi to Halong Bay is long and bumpy – the roads were in good condition for the most part, but there were definitely areas where I was questioning the wellbeing of our van’s suspension. We actually did not go into Halong City, and instead departed from Tuan Chau Island. It was under a lot of development and only partially finished. I am sure that within 5 years it will be a bustling tourist destination. We then spent two days on a junk (that is what they call the boats) out in the bay seeing floating fishing villages, pester farms, massive caves, sea kayaking and just taking the scenery. It was a very beautiful place and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I sure hope the amount of tourism there does not impact it any further – it was busy now and I cannot imagine it when it gets busier.
Here are some of the images I captured while in Halong Bay:
Yesterday I was driving home and stopped to snap some photos on the Camas Prairie. It had been snowing for the past week and a cold front was moving in. As I made my way across the prairie, i was able to watch the blue sky and high winds displace the storm clouds that brought our mountains 3-5 feet of snow last week. Enjoy!
Went out the Owyhee Mountains last Sunday looking for some chukar. Decided to go some areas where I had not been in a long time. Only hunted for about 2 hours and it snowed the whole time we were hunting. We drove out Reynolds Creek, across to Macks Creek (where we hunted), and then drove back to town via Wilson Creek Rd.
Moose Looking for some chukar along Wilson Creek
Bluffs along Wilson Creek
Macks Creek Road – pretty narrow for a big truck
stoltz project 