Alaska – Focus on Denali National Park
Posted 4.14.08 at 8:19 pm
Glimpse of HeavenPhoto by Bruce BohlenDenali National Park is approximately the size of the state of Massachusetts. This pristine wilderness provides for great opportunities for photographing landscapes as vast valleys merge with majestic mountains.
Mt. McKinleyPhoto by Bruce BohlenMy first view of Mt. McKinley, otherwise known as Mt. Denali, was breathtaking. At 20,320 feet, it is the tallest mountain in North America and is visible at great distances on a clear day. Also known as the "coldest" mountain, Mt. McKinley is as beautiful as it is dangerous.
Denali MoosePhoto by Bruce BohlenDenali National Park in Alaska is a very beautiful place in the fall. The blanket of color across the tundra allowed for a picturesque backdrop for this moose. I hiked for a mile or so to get close enough to photograph him walking along a ridge.
Denali's GrandeurPhoto by Bruce BohlenWith six million acres of awe-inspiring beauty, Denali visitors enjoy sight-seeing, backpacking, hiking, and research opportunities. This vast wilderness supports a diversity of wildlife, including grizzly bears, caribou, wolves, Dall sheep, and moose.
Abstract WaterPhoto by Bruce BohlenA gray, dismal day on the water near Tenakee Springs, Alaska, did not provide for many photo opportunities until I noticed how the light was reflecting off the water. The use of a telephoto lens focused on the water’s surface provided surprising results, which led to this abstract image.
Lone AspenPhoto by Bruce BohlenA short walk from North Face Lodge in Denali National Park will put you at the shore of Wonder Lake with Mt. McKinley as a backdrop. As I gazed upon the majestic scene of the tallest mountain in North America, I turned around and this single yellow tree caught my eye. The composition of this "Lone Aspen" marked a significant moment for me.
The Island QueenPhoto by Bruce BohlenAs I was on a whale-watching expedition, the sunlight broke through the clouds long enough to highlight this fishing boat on the ocean water near Juneau, Alaska. As you head north from the states to Denali National Park, Juneau can be a stopping point.
The PromisePhoto by Bruce BohlenAlaska’s weather is ever changing. The squalls of weather that frequent themselves across the landscape can lead to opportunities to capture rainbows. This image was taken after a hike up to Exit Glacier near Seward, Alaska. A beam of light in the midst of a heavy sleet and rain storm provided for a humbling view of the beauty of nature.
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, is known as one of the best places in the world to observe polar bears. Churchill is a small community located on the southwest shores of Hudson Bay. It is at this point on the bay that the pack ice first forms in the fall. Thus, polar bears migrate to this area to begin their journey on the pack ice to feed on seals during the long, cold winters of the Arctic.
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Irena Sendler was an elderly, relatively unknown Polish social worker until four teenagers from Kansas in search of a National History Day project discovered what she had done. Sendler had helped to rescue 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, before being captured and sentenced to die. But she escaped and lived quietly until the students found her and wrote a play about her. Sendler died on May 12, 2008, aged 98 years. Photos here are courtesy of the Web site http://www.irenasendler.org, where more than 250 images can be viewed. See Quiet Heroine Irena Sendler, 1910–2008 for Silver Planet's tribute to this remarkable woman.
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Eugene Curnow, 83, was a Navy corpsman serving with a contingent of Marines that landed on Iwo Jima. He was one of only six who left the island alive 10 days later. He stayed silent about his war experience and went on to have a happy, active life, including 51 years as a veterinarian in Oregon, where he pioneered the use of mobile veterinary clinics. But late in life, unresolved posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) forced him to confront the war again. Now he’s written a riveting, story-filled memoir titled Life, the Hard Way: Up from Poverty Flat, which recounts not only that time but also growing up poor during the Depression. Read more about his extraordinary life in the article Silver Star Eugene Curnow.
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Silver Sage Gael Stuart shares gorgeous photos taken during her recent vacation along the back roads of New Hampshire and Massachusetts and the mountain trails of Colorado. Gold and rust and shades of red . . . enjoy!
Alaska – Focus on Denali National Park
The photos are awesome. They bring back memories and make me want to travel and take more pictures where I have been and where I am going.
Great photos.
Do you have any on the African continent?
The pictures are great. When will we have new ones?
The photo's are fantastic and remind me of my own trip to Denali five years ago. I wrote the following prose poem afterwards and thought I'd share it with Silver Planet fans. If anyone enjoys it, please let me know.
Bob Tell, Author, Dementia Diary, A Caregiver's Journal
http://www.dementia-diary.com
DENALI IN AUGUST
by Robert Tell (copyright 2003)
A lone, short road penetrates the Park, which is haunted by McKinley’s gloomy ghost. It winds to the center, rises, drops, and pierces knife-like to the regal foot of Denali, Alaska’s cloud veiled frosty crown.
Here, in the glacial rivers, on the tundra, or among the stunted trees of the taiga, six million acres of remote and unspoiled wilderness await the coming darkness and the moon-like cold. But that’s still weeks away. For now, the sun is up and warms the blooming fireweed.
“Bear at 3 O’clock” brings the old bus to a screeching halt. It skids a bit, stopping at road’s edge. I gasp and clutch the seat, look down and my knees buckle. Midway back, the spotter is already leaning out his window.
The bus perches dangerously on the edge of a steep drop off, sheer and deep, but I’m the only one who seems to notice. Forty others crowd the port side windows instantly. They buzz and shout, and point with lenses long and short at a mother and her cub engorging salmon.
I’d love to join the throng, but my self-appointed job requires my weight stay on the starboard side. It works. The bus fails to fall into the valley.
Let them gather and emote about some grouchy grizzly. I have an unobstructed view of other distant wildlife. Caribou ants, micro-moose, and squeamish squirrels frolic in the distance, happy to leave the grizzlies to the tourists. High above the timberline, like dandruff flakes on a hairless scalp, congregations of Dall sheep calmly graze, far from any predatory threat.
Below them, throaty coyotes, lurking lynx and wishful wolves look skyward, lick their chops, shrug, and scamper off to seek more handy game. Bald and golden eagles note the competition and soar to beat the canines and the felines to the voles and snowshoe hare which, reproducing in their multitudes, generously offer themselves as tasty snacks to hungry hunters.
Death is everywhere, yet so is life. Murder and terror do not contaminate this place of measured violence, where creatures kill to live and not to prove some esoteric point. I watch the dance of ultimate survival and, somehow, the heights along this rough-hewn highway scare no more. I feel at peace.