Its summer vacation

Well that is it, turned in the last project, what's done is done! Now I get to look forward to a great summer of adventures and fun! I miss the ice, it makes a great piece to photograph, but happy that the tree buds are starting to come on, some grass is poking out of some peoples lawns (not mine, it has more moss and weeds than grass, ha ha ha). So long last summer is here! Went for a hike this Sunday, Easter, to Pt. Bridget. Figured it was a good day, sunny and all, to go out work on the tan and relax.Ha ha ha!  Along the way we ran into one of Sarah's co-workers and hiked together. We all agreed it was truly a wonderful day. As we sat there we heard the whales off in the distance blowing, but too far to get photos of. Then soon they were near us and rounding the point. It is truly amazing how fast they move with so little effort. As we scrambled over the boulders to get a look at them we heard the sound. They were feeding just on the other side of the point. It was so loud, we could feel it through the rocks. I wouldn't want to be in the water when a big whale does that, it could blow your eardrums. We looked at each other with excitement and almost ran the last few hundred yards. When we climbed up to the top of the point just past Blue Muscle Cabin we heard it again and then they were gone. We waited patiently, but no sign. Its a pretty deep hole right out there so we kept expecting them to surface as a group, hopefully as a bubble net. Alas it wasn't meant to be and the next sighting was just as they passed the next point headed south, about a 1/4 mile or so away. I called it quits and decided we would never catch up with them, kicking myself the whole time for not going out to the point to begin with. Oh well, it was still amazing and the day was worth it, just to hear them is amazing.

The last siting as they rounded the point

So, of course without whales to shoot I did some landscape shots and of course, Sarah. Ha ha ha. The kids will recognize this pose, although I don't think Lewis and Clark ever made it this far.

Unfortunately there was a hazy blue hue over most everything as is usually the case here but I did get some good shots of mountains on our side and of the Chilkat range.

I waited forever for the sun to light up this face, oh well, I thought it looked good to climb, not me, someone else. ha ha ha

I liked the perspective, you can never capture this place, but this gives a sense of the enormity of it all

 Chilkat range, awesome spire, straight up vertical on this side and the ducks wanted in the shot too.

Then on the way home Sarah spotted a whale really close in and these kayakers in the distance.

 Then to end the day the whales went north again, and the sun showed us one last show and off we went. All around a great day!  Happy Easter

Howdy ya'll

Well once again life has gotten away with me and there hasn't been much time to post, or any pictures either. Things are finally warming up here in the north. It is a surprise sunny morning for Easter and its about 45 or so outside right now. Its been raining and such lately so most the higher elevation trails are in really bad shape and avalanche danger is a major concern in some areas. So with work being, well, work and school and bad weather haven't much to put up or time to do it. Sorry everyone. :) So I thought I would take just a couple moments and get up a few pics from the last months and get caught up because soon I will be done with school and the play time begins! Then I will have many more shots. So on with the pictures!

In March we took an afternoon and ran up Eagle River trail, great hike!

We ran into a lot more snow than we expected. We surveyed the head of the trail and decided that snow shoes would once again not be necessary and added weight for no reason, like the last hike we went on. So we left them in the truck and wore our micro spikes instead. As we got further back in the valley it became apparent that the shoes would have been nice, we did some post holing but not too bad.

Close up of the above peak, just to the north of Earnest Gruening Mountain

Little bunny tracks in the snow

 

 

A spire of granite sticking out of a glacially carved valley. Pretty amazing.

The cabin at the top, on the lake and looking to go back this spring!

Eagle Glacier, for my folks...man its a lot smaller now!

It was really windy but by the looks of the snow, calmer than it had been

This is one of my more favorite snow shots this trip

Sarah looking pretty bad-ass! ha ha ha

The hillside next to us for about 1/2 mile, 500ft. tall, oozing with ice all over it. pretty cool

This is about where he started post-holing, about 3-4ft deep and increased from here

We are not totally sure what animal, but the cool thing is this is frozen in relief, meaning raised foot print, wind blew all the loose snow away leaving just this behind. Pretty cool!

We recently went to the State Museum and looked at a few photo shows they had there. One of the artists was really into sand and snow in the abstract, so this last shot was inspired by him. I didn't alter it or anything yet, will play later if time, but he did some great stuff with photo shop that made his pics really unique.

On the way home we just caught the sunset over Eagle Beach towards the Chilkat Range

Well, that is it for today, Happy Easter to everyone! Hope its a good one and will try to finish catching up soon. Now its time to go and get more pics of the wonderful place we live. See ya!