Alaska Photo tours

Photography tours and workshops that offer a great opportunity for folks to bring home some unique images. Carl Donohue, Alaskan Alpine Treks owner, photographer and guide, runs these exciting photo tours and they're a great way to experience some of the best nature has to offer.

 

Coming in 2012 I'll be running the following Alaska photo tour.

 

The Aurora borealis photo tour, in March and April. A coastal brown bear tour to Hallo Bay. A backpacking trip to Skolai Pass, in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and also Katmai National Park and Preserve, home to the great Alaskan brown bear in all their majesty in striking fall colors. Read on for these trips and stay tuned as I add more photo tours to be announced soon.

 

Alaska Aurora borealis photo tour:

This is a brand new offering for 2012, and promises to be an epic photo tour indeed. Few phenomena ever surpass the aurora borealis for it's splendor. The opportunity to photograph the aurora borealis promises to be excellent in 2012, with predictions of a peak, or very near peak, in the solar cycle. With a perfect central location in Fairbanks, Alaska, we'll be situated to get out and about as freely as possible to find clear skies and dramatic northern lights. Couple that with the potential for some gorgeous Alaska winter scenics, and this photo tour should be a treat for any serious photographer.

 

Skolai Pass:

This one's a backpacking trip, though not a strenuous tour at all. We've been running this photo tour for a number of years now, and it's always great fun. Skolai Pass, in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, is simply one of the most scenic landscapes anywhere, bar none. There are few, if any, backcountry places that offer the array of incredible landscape scenes within a day's walk that Skolai Pass offers. The massive Russell Glacier, sweeping south towards the University Range, home to Mts Churchill and Bona, 15 and 16 000' peaks respectively is simply jaw dropping. Face east from Chitistone Pass, and stare forever toward the headwaters of the White River, running into nearby Canada, and Castle Mountain, a majestic view.

 

Walk north and stare at the entrance to the Nizina River, Frederick Mountain, Mt Regal and the Wrangell mountain range. Or venture westward into the well-known Chitistone Valley, home of the famous 'Goat Trail', a popular backpacking destination. Lastly, spend a few days exploring Hole in the Wall, a classic glacial formation dwarfed by towering peaks that must be seen to be believed. If big landscapes, I mean REALLY big landscapes, are your thing, Skolai Pass is the place for you to visit.

 

Wildlife? Though we don't run this as a wildlife tour, we've photographed Dall sheep, Woodland caribou (the only herd of Woodland Caribou in Alaska), marmot, arctic ground squirrel, red fox, grizzly bear, and an array of birds, from summertime shorebirds such as Semipalmated Plovers and Wandering Tattlers to songbirds of the tundra and the ever present ptarmigan; both white-tailed and Willow ptarmigan are fairly common here. We've also seen golden eagles and merlins, and with luck will maybe get some images of those species soon enough. Vist the Skolai Pass Photo tour page for details. Skolai is simply a great place to head, spend a week with your camera, and surprise yourself with some great photos.

 

 

Coastal Brown Bears

This trip will be a wonderful expedition to the famous Katmai National Park coastal region of Hallo Bay, Geographic Harbor, Kukak Bay and the Alaska peninsula. Timed to catch the end of breeding season and the beginning of what we call 'Spring Cub Season' this photo tour puts in exactly the right places to photograph those gorgeously cute tiny brown bear cubs

against the magnificent Alaska Mountain Range backdrops. Late June should also catch nesting bald eagles. Primarily we'll be shooting bears against lush green grass backgrounds and splendid mountain backgrounds.

 

Grizzly Bears in the Fall:

Katmai National Park and Preserve is the greatest place in the world to view and photograph these magnificent animals, and there's no better time than the fall to photograph them. The grizzly bears (known commonly as brown bears, or coastal brown bears) are in their prime during the great fall color; their bodies flush and fat with rich salmon from the summer, their coasts filling out for the long cold winter ahead, these bears fairly glow in the waning fall light.

 

You'll find all all the details here, or you can contact Carl for more information or to answer specific questions you might have.

 

 

More Photo Tours coming soon.

I'll be adding more photo tours soon, so stay tuned. Including one I'm excited to offer will be a whitetail deer phototour to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, for the late fall whitetail deer rut. That'll be a blast for anyone looking for some great whitetail deer photos. Other photo tours will be added soon, and if you have any interest in a prviate customized tour, please don't hesitate to contact me to inquire about it. Thank you.