Hey folks,

Here’s a short video from our Canning River Trip, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We spend anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks in the refuge, depending on the year, and a little video like this doesn’t even touch the surface of the trip. But hopefully it catches at least a little of the feel of the trip.

Because of the nature of the logistics here, typically, the maximum number of people on this trip is 3, plus your guide. If you have more than 3 people, please call or email to discuss trip options.

Enjoy the video. I just recorded the music for it this afternoon; hope you like it.

Cheers

Carl

Coastal plain, near the Canning River, Section 1002, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, Alaska. Please click on the thumbnail above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

December is, of course, the month of the 50th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, so it’s probably fitting that the Image of the Month for Dec, 2010, is from the Refuge. A small kettle pond on the coastal plain east of the Canning River. What an amazing evening this was!

A nice hike across the tundra around midnight, enjoying that magical summer evening of the arctic. I spent some time photographing this small pond, then stayed around and played my flute for an hour or so. Memorable evening.

If you didn’t check out the video tribute here already, take a look. It’s a collection of 50 photos from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge put to some music I recorded (including my flute) to honor the 50 years since the establishment of the refuge.

I’ll be back there next summer, 2011.

Cheers

Carl

If you have a nice, large computer screen and broadband connection, what I REALLY recommend you do is go to my page on Exposure Room.com and click the ‘HD’ button underneath the thumbnail. You can watch and listen to this video in full HD resolution, at 720 x 1280. It’ll take a moment to load, but is (hopefully) well worth the time.

Hey Folks,

50 photos for 50 years!

Dec 6, 2010, marks the 50th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR. Over 19 million acres of wild lands, the refuge is a treasure, home to thousands of creatures and features; the caribou herds, the Brooks Mountains, the broad coastal plain, migratory birds and countless other gifts to this world. A beautiful landscape that warrants our respect, not our exploitation.

I hope you like this. These photos and this music is my simple tribute to this special place.  Happy Birthday ANWR – and cheers to many, many more.

Turn up your sound!

Cheers

Carl

A waterfall in a small stream near the Upper Marsh Fork River, Brooks Range mountains, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Alaska. Please click the thumbnail to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey folks,

Here’s another image from our recent trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. this trip was simply awesome. A great group of folks, from Florida, Colorado and Washington, who all carried the most ingredient for a great trip – great attitude. Everyone really clicked, and we had a ton of fun; lots of laughs and good times.

This photo was taken on our 1st night out; we camped on a big alluvial fan that comes out of the mountains, on the west side of the Marsh Fork River. After dinner we hiked up the stream and climbed a small ridgeline for some amazing views back south, to the heart of the mountain range and the contintental divide. The light was really happening, and I was pretty happy with a few of the images I made.

Afterward, the light began to fade and we hiked back toward camp. The sun began to poke through again, for one great show, and I saw this little miniature waterfall that I knew would make a great foreground. The light show only lasted a couple of minutes before high clouds to the north dulled the glow. By the time I’d rearranged this for a horizontal composition, the light was noticeably dimmer on the distant peak. Minutes later, the glow was gone.

This image was taken around 2:00am. Photography in the arctic summer is a challenge, shifting ones mental and body clock to the wee hours of the “night“, to capture the nicest light. Oftentimes I’ll shoot til later and go to bed around 4:00am, or later. They don’t call this the land of the midnight sun for nothing.

Here’s a photo below of Steve, from Colorado, shooting the following morning, around 4:00am. We’d gone to bed, got some rest, and then the sun came around the corner of the range to the north, and lit up the valley. I was up immediately, woke Steve, and we shot for a couple of hours before going back to bed. It’s an absolutely incredible experience to watch the mountains here, in the quiet hours of the “dawn“, and feel the arctic air start to warm. Magical doesn’t describe the experience.

Steve shooting the Marsh Fork River, Brooks Range, ANWR.

What a blast we had! To view some of Steve’s fantasic work from this trip, visit his gallery here. He made some amazing images.

It’s really nice to have another serious photographer along on a trip like this, even the trip is not promoted as a ‘photography tour’ at all. Steve inspired and motivated me to work harder and longer, and to look more closely than I otherwise might. I learnt a lot from watching him shoot.

Cheers

Carl

A pacific loon swimming on a pond on the coastal plain, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, Alaska. Waterfowl migrate thousands of miles to nest and breed and feed on the rich coastal plain of the Refuge in summer. (Gavia pacifica) Please click on the thumbnail to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

A Pacific Loon, photographed on a pond on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Taken at the end of our recent trip to ANWR, floating down the Canning River to the Arctic Ocean.

The final evening provided some great light, and some gorgeous Pacific loons (Gavia pacifica) to photograph. Loons are one of my favorite birds, really a beautiful bird, and it’s always a treat to photograph them.

This year we were fortunate to see Common loons, Red-throated loon and Pacific loons, but not the less common Yellow-billed loon. Maybe next summer we’ll be treated to the awesome foursome!

I’ll try to post something soon from our Skolai – Wolverine hike . Until then, I hope you enjoy this Pacific loon photo.

Cheers

Carl

Hikers enjoying horseplay of aufeis, Canning River, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Alaska. Please click on the thumbnail to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a shot from our recent trip down the Canning River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. You can see we had a lot of fun, great spirits, great weather, spectacular scenery and a great, great group of folks. What more could we ask for?

Aufeis is a German word to refer to overflow ice, that typically melts out during the summer, and re-accumulates in the winter. It’s pretty common along most waterways in the Arctic. Here it provided a platform for some tom-foolery. Good fun all the way around.

Minutes earlier we’d been watching a mature bull caribou wander along the ridges of Aufeis; caribou often hang out on the ice to keep cool and stay away from the oft-present mosquitoes during summer’s brief madness. Fortunately this year the bugs were largely gone by the time of our trip, and we all had a great time with no insanity from the mosquitoes.

Cheers

Carl

Coastal Plain and Brooks Range, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, Alaska. Please click on the thumbnail to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

I thought’d post a quick promo here for a radio show I’ve been invited to join on lensflare-live. I’ll be talking with Greg Downing and EJ Peiker of naturescapes.net, a fantastic nature photography community and radio show host Dave Warner. The topics for discussion include wilderness and backpacking photography, art, conservation and environmental topics, as well as a discussion of a few images we’ll be presenting on the show.

I’m really talking forward to this conversation. Greg and EJ are photographers I’ve been a fan of for quite some time, and I really am looking forward to talking with them. Dave is a great photographer as well, so the discussion should be a lot of fun. If you have any questions regarding any of these subjects, feel free to join in the conversation online or by calling in. The show is scheduled to be broadcast at 9pm EST, Tuesday, May 4, 2010. You can listen to it here.

After we’ve finished, naturescapes.net will edit the broadcast down, remove all the “ahhh’s” and “uhhmmms” and long periods of silence, and present the discussion as a podcast. I’ll provide a link to there here as it becomes available.

The image above is from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). That seems particularly relevant in light of the horrific Gulf Cust Oil disaster. Hopefully we can learn something of the importance of ecosystems and fragility via this mess.

Please check out the radio show. It should be fun.

Cheers

Carl

2 red fox (Vulpes vulpes) kits playing and fighting outside a den on the coastal plain, at sunset, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Alaska. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Here is a photo from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge I took one evening, around 1am. These red fox kits were playing just outside their den, and I spent quite a bit of time, patiently trying to get close enough to photograph them. These foxes were pretty wary, and if I approached too quickly they’d duck down into their den. The interconnected network of burrows meant they could, and would, popup anywhere, often 50-60 yards away a few minutes later.

Red foxes appear to be moving further and further north with the warming climate; longer summers and less harsh weather in the winters means they’re able to survive where previously they didn’t. The red fox is larger than their arctic cousins, the Arctic fox, and are (apparently) starting to cause quite a dent in the population of arctic fox, in some areas. Each year I’ve been to the coastal plain I have seen fewer arctic foxes than the year before, and seen more red foxes than previously.

Of course, both the species are cute, but it’s a shame to see the arctic fox, which is such an amazing survivor, threatened by this larger species. Arctic foxes can stand in temperatures down as low as minus 40degrees F, and exhibit no changes in their metabolism at all. That’s insane (the muskox does the same down to minus 70, but they’re MUCH larger body sized, and have incredibly long thick coats – they LOOK like they might be able to do something like that).

I’m hoping I can find this fox den again this summer when I visit the Refuge;  I have a rough idea where it is, and maybe we’ll get lucky and find some new fox kits to photograph. If you’re interested in the ANWR trip, please contact me asap, as we have one space left at the moment. It’s always a treat to visit the Refuge, and I’m keen as mustard to get back there again. We travel by raft all the way from the Continental Divide in the Brooks Mountain range to the coast at the Beaufort Sea, and it’s simply a fantastic trip.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the red fox kits photo above.

Cheers

Carl

Camped by the Beaufort Sea, Arctic Ocean, at the mouth of the Canning and Steen River.

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image from our campsite on the Arctic Ocean, at the end of the Canning River float trip. This trip is such a great float, we can’t wait to get back on it in 2010. What makes this trip so special is that we go from the Brooks Mountain Range, starting almost on the Continental Divide, and run all the way out of the mountains, across the coastal plain to the coast, ending at the Arctic Ocean. It’s a potpourri of terrain and ecosystems, and really gives a sense of how enormous the place is. We probably cover close to 150 miles or so.

The bird life on the trip is quite incredible, waterfowl such as tundra swans and longtail ducks, loons, eiders and more. Golden eagles and Rough-legged hawks are commonly spotted, and snowy owls as well, from time to time. It’s definitely a bird lover’s treat.

One of the things that is indescribable about the refuge is the sense of vastness the place imparts. I try to get out off the river a good bit and hike up on to some of the ridges and peaks in the Brooks Mountains and the view can really open up once you gain some altitude. The mountains appear almost to go on forever; we then get back on the river and, with a bit of paddling, eventually drift out of the mountains on to the coastal plain. Just when we started thinking the mountain range was expansive, the coastal plain gives us another view entirely – it’s almost endless, and we drift, float and paddle on, towards the coast.

Reaching the Arctic Ocean is a fantastic feeling; just as we really start to wonder if it’s ever going to appear, we sense it before we see, hear or smell it. Then the scent of salt water hits, the sound of the ocean, and the sight of great hulking lurking walls of ice on the horizon say ‘here it is’.

I like to make the trip a little longer than most, because that allows us the flexibility to explore along the way, and it’s always great to have some time to spare at the end of the trip for skulking along the coast, looking for arctic foxes, King eiders and caribou.

It’s pretty sweet having a tentsite by the ocean, knowing that across the water there is the North Pole. Just a quick dip away.

Cheers,

Carl

Caribou herd migrate across the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I hope this finds you all well and gearing up for a great summer. It seems like winter solstice has only just been and gone, and its already march. Spring’s right around the corner, and then summer will be underway! I’m enjoying the winter, but am ready for summer – warmer weather, sunshine, longer days, and flowers and green vegetation is always welcome! And, best of all, more backpacking!

One of the questions I receive most, especially this time of year, is how best to prepare for the coming backpacking season. The short answer is, it doesn’t matter – just do something – the fitter you are, the safer your trip is! However, I think a few specific things can help:

a) make it regular. Whatever your exercise regime, try hard to make it happen every day – not every second day, or 3 days a week – try to get something in each day – I suggest 30 minutes minimum, but whatever you can do – 10 minutes is better than nothing.

b) there’s no better exercise for backpacking than backpacking. Get a night out, if you can. Throw a pack on, and spend the night in the woods. It’ll help your fitness, and it’s good for the soul. Definitely do some good walking, with a backpack on .. start with, say, 20 pounds in it, and slowly add more over the months.

c) stretch, stretch, and stretch. Before and after exercise. Don’t stretch hard and hurt yourself, but stretch regularly.

d) weights are a great help, but you need to do a complete weight routine .. strengthening one set of muscles without working their complimentary muscles isn’t such a great idea. Get with a trainer if you’re not experienced in a gym, and have them help you get started. Explain what your goals and purpose are (eg, backpacking) and have them outline a routine that will work best for you.

e) hydrate. Drink plenty of water – getting into an exercise routine without hydrating adequately isn’t healthy, it’s dangerous. There’s no one set rule for ‘how much is enough’, but 2-3 litres/quarts a day is a good rough estimate.

Weights-wise, your quads will appreciate some work, but that means working your hamstrings too. And definitely work the abs – they’re the root of good health, in my opinion. Upper body strength is important, though you’ll be walking, you’ll be carrying upwards of 40 pounds on your back, so make your exercise well-rounded.

As the summer approaches, gradually increase the routine, and try to do some longer hikes, even day hikes, and carry some weight. Even if you run every day, 45 minutes or so, that’s vastly different to carrying a pack for 6 hours. And it helps a LOT to get used to having a pack on your back; dealing with off-trail terrain is hard enough, so the more comfortable you are with the pack on your back, the easier you’ll adjust.

Make certain your gear fits – blisters from ill-fitting boots will ruin a trip .. so take the time, during your exercise routines, to wear some of the gear you’ll be hiking in, and break it in. Trust me. More on this issue later.

See ya in the summer!

Cheers

Carl

PS – Oh, the image above is of the Porcupine Caribou Herd, migrating across the coastal plain, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, Alaska.