Traveling with Andrew and Jennifer

Denali's Southern Face

Andrew and I recently revisited this great little spot to photograph Denali's southern side. A few clouds but overall great weather.

If you are not in the right attire you would end up with very wet feet or just not being able to get the shot.

We camped out near this spot and Andrew stayed up late enough to get a few shots of Denali with the moonlight and a few stars.

Looking south.

As the Alaskans say, "Alaska has four seasons---June, July, August, and Winter!" And winter is approaching soon. The fall colors are coming fast and furious. In fact, they might have peaked in Denali NP this past weekend. Andrew and I were down there last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and the colors seemed to be progressing by the hour.

We saw two magnificent rainbows!

WOW!!!

Andrew tells me I'm the pot of gold! :)

Plus...it's rutting time again! The bulls are gathering in the front country.

This guy is losing his velvet.

Off in the distance was the biggest bull we saw. He has shed his velvet nicely and has very shiny antlers now.

Havin' a good time...

Just outside the park on our way back towards Healy, we saw the biggest rainbow ever. It wouldn't even fit in our wide angle lens. Great alpen glow on the mountain in the background.

Then, the the sunset began to flame in amazing colors. The low angle light in the fall and spring here is incredible. The most beautiful sunsets that last forever.

Colorful Nights

The sunset from our last trip to Denali.

BOW

Leslie and I volunteered at a program called BOW, Becoming an Outdoors Woman, last weekend. The whole weekend was a blast! There were about 80 women there and probably 30 or more staff volunteers. It's a three day program held at a Boyscout Camp that offers a variety of courses (everyone chooses four to attend) like rifle shooting, bow shooting, hand guns, chain saws, dutch oven, field dressing, game processing, sewing with fur, what's in the woods, wild edibles (which Leslie taught), camping 101, backpacking, fishing, fly fishing, canoeing, kayaking, rappelling, survival, no 911/first aid, map and compass, backpacking chef, and the list goes on.... It was a great experience which I hope to do more of in the future. I recommend it to any women who want to experience ( with hands on) any of those things.

This is a view of the Tanana River from a hike we did over the weekend.

Bon Voyage

Good Luck Arnaud!

Arnaud (from Belgium) is a new friend we made during our mountaineering course. He is taking three years off from work, and with help from sponsors is going to try and climb the highest peaks in every American country (North and South). Plus, ride his bike to each of them. When we met him during the course he had just climbed Mt. Logan, Canada's highest peak, and was going to climb Denali a couple of weeks later. Unfortunately he did not make it to the summit of Denali due to weather. However, if all works out he plans on on being apart of our team next year! Now, he is on is way to Mexico. We met him in Denali one night before he began his trip south. You can check out his progress and some pictures on his website The Highest World. You have to click on the "translate" button at the top of the page for English. His pictures from his Denali climb are spectacular!

The Red Green Regatta

We attended the famous Red Green Regatta in Fairbanks recently. My, my...what a show! The Red Green Regatta is a contest of the creative and innovative use of duct tape and watercrafts. The contestants are judged while floating through town on the Chena River. And, I thought there were a lot of rednecks down south! This was so much fun! I'm glad we attended!

Here they come!