Lupine Field - Turnagain Arm, Alaska

 

Spring comes quick in Alaska soon after the snow melts. Grass on the ground and new greens on the trees grow very fast under the long daylight… Then wildflowers start to bloom. Wildflowers take turns blooming during the short summer season. One of the first to bloom are lupines. The violet flowers cover the coastal hills and fields along Turnagain Arm, a part of Cook Inlet, for a few weeks. This is one of my favorite times of the summer.

It was in early June, I was searching for a perfect field for a sunset shot. The past winter was mild, and the spring had come early this year. It looked a bit of early for a full bloom…

I picked one of the lupine patches at the shoreline of Turnagain Arm, and waited for sunset behind the ocean. The weather was beautiful, no wind, not even a breeze. The flowers stayed still for long exposure shots.

The sun slowly started setting behind the mountains over the ocean.

It was a low tide, the sand patterns glimmered in golden orange lights.

 

Another day at Bird Ridge, overlooking Turnagain Arm. Lupines beautifully bloomed in the south side of the steep mountains.

Lupines are normally violet, but sometimes they come in odd colors!

Tour du Mont Blanc #6 Trient, Switzerland – Les Houches, France (European Alps)

 

Leaving the small Swiss village of Trient in the early morning sunshine, I climbed up through the woods as the trail continued to an open meadow with wildflowers. The highest point of the wildflower hill, Col de Balme, (Balme Pass, 2,195m, 7,201 ft) is on the Swiss – French border above Chamonix Valley. My journey along the Tour du Mont Blanc trail 110+ mile (170 km) was approaching the end. I could see, in the distance, the picturesque mountain hut on the pass among the flower field. As I climbed higher, the massive Mont Blanc showed up again after a long absence!

I admired the white peaks of Mont Blanc at Col de Balme for quite some time… 

Unfortunately, the clouds over Chamonix Valley got thicker and darker so I packed up and got going, crossing the border back into France once again and it was all downhill through a flowery hill. The sky was overcast as I made it to the mountain refuge at Tre-le-Champ, a tiny village north of Chamonix, France for the night.

The last part of Tour du Mont Blanc trail was supposed to have the most spectacular views of Mont Blanc.  The trail climbs up high into the mountains across Chamonix Valley, and continues parallel to the Mont Blanc Range – the front view of Mont Blanc for the next few days… 

However, it was raining during the night, and it started raining again when I hiked up the steep trail through the woods.  When the trail opened up to the rocky terrain and approached the famous metal ladder on the vertical cliff, the rain got serious.  I had to climb up the sets of slippery metal ladders in drenching rain with a heavy pack.  If I slipped and fell, I would fall several vertical feet!  I was careful climbing up one step at the time… 

 

Strangely, I felt someone’s eyes on my back! An ibex (a kind of mountain goat that lives in the Alps) was hanging on the cliff at my eye level only several feet away! He was staring at me with his big round eyes! We were looking at each other, eye to eye for a moment. It was a great opportunity to capture him up close… but I was hanging onto the ladder on the cliff, there was no way to take my camera out from the backpack… I snapped a few shots with my point-to-shoot which was in my pocket. So, this image of ibex is not as good quality of my other images, but hey that was the best I could do.

After negotiating the rock walls with some ladders, I came up to the higher rocky trail… It was raining hard all the way to the mountain refuge for the night… and the next 2 days were non-stop rain…This last section of trail was supposed to be the most scenic view of Mont Blanc, and I planned to spend an extra day in order to photograph the front view of Mont Blanc at sunset. However, clouds and fog filled Chamonix Valley, and Mont Blanc hid behind it. I just had to finish my journey in the miserable cold rain…The image above is the last view of Mont Blanc before serious weather moved in…

The Chamonix town below...

 



Here are the ruins along the trail… Due to bad visibility, I missed a turn and took a wrong trail for 2 miles… an extra 4 miles round trip in the rain wasn’t fun with a heavy pack.

Day 15 of my Tour du Mont Blanc journey, I made it back to Les Houches, France (South of Chamonix) where I started.  I completed an entire 110+ miles (170 km)! 

Back to Chamonix the next day and the sun came out.

A church in Chamonix.

The evening before leaving Chamonix, beautiful sunset glow on the clouds over Mont Blanc and the glacier…

I'll post some more photos from Mont Blanc area on next update.  Please check back!

Tour du Mont Blanc #4 Elena, Italy - Champex, Switzerland (European Alps)

Another beautiful day in the Alps starting with a gorgeous sunrise at Italian Val Ferret. It had been already a week since I began the 110+ mile Tour du Mont Blanc trail on the French side of Mont Blanc for a photo project. It was constant rain from the beginning with a surprising snowfall on the mountain pass. Finally, the sun came out after I entered the Italian side of the mountains. A spectacular view of the Italian side of Mont Blanc and Grandes Jorasses the day before, then Switzerland is ahead.

Leaving the mountain refuge early in the morning, I climbed up the Grand Col Ferret (Ferret Pass) where the Italian - Swiss border lies. My 30+ pounds camera gear pack is heavy for this kind of terrain... The scenery was well worth it! As I climbed up higher, the receding Prè de Bar Glacier looked much larger than it was from the valley below.
 

Entering Switzerland, I climbed down into Swiss Val Ferret with its bright green pastureland and more cattle.

 

A small church overlooks a glacier over the mountains in the village of Ferret.

Arriving at the charming Swiss village of La Fouly with chalet-styled buildings decorated with flowers.

Sunrise painted on I'A Neuve Glacier in golden red, viewed from La Fouly. Another beautiful day in Swiss Val Ferret.

Wildflowers in the meadow of Swiss Val Ferret.

Passing through the village of Praz de Fort. Old buildings and narrow alleys... felt like going back to centuries ago...

Arriving at Campex, Switzerland, a small resort town in the Alps. The alpine lake, Lac Champex, is located in the center of town, surrounded by wooded mountains. It is a resort town but quiet and peaceful. The lake was amazing with deep blue-green colors under the afternoon sun.

Sunset at Lac Champex. The last sun glows on the distant mountains with reflections on the lake... 

This story continues on the next blog update. Please check back.

 

Tour du Mont Blanc #1 Les Houches, France - Elisabetta, Italy (European Alps)

 

After a few days of photographing/exploring the Chamonix area, I started my 2 week journey on the 110 mile (177km) Tour du Mont Blanc trail with a 32 pound (14.5kg) backpack. Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) is one of the most popular mountain trails in the European Alps and features dramatic landscapes. The trail circles around the Mont Blanc Range and crosses the borders of France, Italy and Switzerland. Traditionally, most hikers start this trail at Les Houches, France, south of Chamonix, and follow the trail counter-clockwise which was the route I took.

I left Les Houches in early July in the rain. On the first day, the 12 mile hike was mostly an up hill climb in drenching rain. The trail goes through a beautiful mountain pass decorated with colorful wildflowers but the heavy rain and fog blocked the view most of the time. If the weather was nicer, I would have photographed the dynamic landscape along the trail. Instead, I kept walking fast to reach my next destination.

 

The advantage of this trail is that the hikers have good options for accommodations along the trail. The mountain refuges offer dormitory-style beds, meals (four courses!), and warm showers at most places all at reasonable prices. Hikers don't have to carry camping gear unless they choose to camp. Many hikers were carrying only a day pack for the entire trail. It was great for a photographer, so I carried my camera gear with clothing but it was still heavy!

 

To satisfy the Europeans' cheese cravings, the hillsides of this part of the trail is used as a pasture with free range milk cattle looming everywhere along the trail. The cattle mind their own business while hikers pass by. The sounds of the cow bells were background music throughout this journey. I was entering the Contamines-Montjoie Natural Preserve, it continued to rain all day...
 

On day three of the trek, an unexpected snow fell on the mountain pass. The rain turned to snow during the night and covered the mountain pass ahead in the middle of July! Climbing up the steep snowy Bonhomme Pass (Col du Bonhomme) was challenging with a heavy pack. The misty rain causes bad visibility especially with snow on the ground. This section was supposed to be spectacular mountain scenery and I looked forward capturing the dramatic mountains. Instead, I was hiking on snow with a white out view. I didn't even pull my camera out during the day.

On the 4th day of the trail, I crossed the French - Italian border, which is located on Seigne Pass (Col de la Seigne), in stormy weather. When the weather is nice, Mont Blanc can be seen from the pass but unfortunately it was white out conditions.

Descending the Italian side of the pass, finally sunshine for a spell on the trail. It was magic, the wildflowers and the green meadows were vibrant under the sun! Time to set up my camera.
 

I found some familiar Alaskan wildflowers in the Alps; Forget-me-Not and Cotton Grass, in the another country on another continent miles away!

 

I love this blue flower; Blue Gentians.

 

Old ruins along the trail.

 

While the sun was out, I was hikied up close to glaciers (Lex Blanche Glacier and Estellette Glacier). I could see the climate change has been affecting European Alps at a high rate; the glaciers here are rapidly receding. Honestly, most of glaciers there were a rather disappointing sight...

This story will be continued in the next update. Please check back!

Backpacking in Olympic National Park, Washington

In early August, about a month after Alaska, I had another photography trip to Olympic National Park, Washington. I always wanted to photograph the mossy forests in the Pacific Northwest, and my good friend Kimberly lives there, so why don't I visit there?

I jumped on a train from San Diego to Tacoma, took about 40 hours one way. That was a pre-adventure! I was excited about having adventures with Kimberly; she is a very active outdoor girl, who used to be my co-worker in Alaska.

Olympic NP is a large diverse park located on the Olympic Peninsula right below the Canadian border. In the large park, there are 3 distinct regions; the Pacific Coastline, the glacial-capped peaks, and moss covered rain forest. In early August, wildflowers carpeted all the alpine meadows.

Our adventures began with the mountain part: 18 miles loop of backpacking in Seven Lakes Basin. The trail started from the beautiful mossy rain forest. The mosses draped down from tall trees, ferns carpeted the floor, and streams ran among mossy rocks... very green! I instantly loved the scenery. The trail slowly climbed up through the woods, and contained through sub-alpine area with small lakes. When I climbed up to the ridge, there were wildflower gardens! Yellow, orange, pink, violet, white.., I especially loved the patches of white lilies. (Avalanche lily) The rugged peaks rose om my right. There are so many places I loved to photograph!

We hiked up for a while, maybe 7 or 8 miles all up hill; it was time to find a camp site. The trail kept going on the ridge; it was hard to find an ideal flat area. Anyhow, we found a site and set up our camp. One thing I didn't like was that there was a pile of bear poop at the area. There wasn't any other options at the ridge, so we stayed there anyway. We tried to cook dinner, but the cooking stove fuel that Kimberly brought was broken... the liquid fuel kept leaking out... so, we could only eat dry food. Clouds moved over the ridge before sunset; the ridge was surrounded in thick fog. This meant there wasn't any sunset photo opportunities.

Luckily, the next morning was beautiful, the sky was clear! The first sunlight lit the peak of Mt. Olympus and turned its glacier to pink. Even the steam from the snow was pink. Before we left camp, we tried to pump water from snow melt. After we filled one bottle, Kimberly's water filter broke! what was happening!? It wasn't a hot day, so we weren't going to need as much water.

We had a wonderful view for the all-morning walk along the ridge; Mt. Olympus was on the right, Seven Lakes Basin was on the left, and colorful flowers were everywhere. I was happily walking the trail. On top of these views, 2 marmots were on the rock near trail!! What a bonus! One of them were posed for me.

The trail went down slowly but it was long... we began seeing several hikers coming up. We hiked down through the sub-alpine area and into deep mossy woods again. It was nice and shady. I began feeling tired a bit. we hiked through the woods for a while and crossed a "scary" foot bridge; at that point my body began aching. I was shocked finding out there was still a 5 mile long stretch left. There wasn't any short cut, I had to hike back. Kimberly seemed to still be energetic, but I was being a walking machine without thinking. My backpack got heavier than ever. She helped carry my tripod, which was nice. I needed to take breaks every mile or so... After the long 5 miles, we finally reached the trail head.

It was challenging, but the dramatic scenery was worth traveling 18 miles with pack.

More Olympic NP photos are coming soon!

Camping in Denali National Park, Alaska

Early July.

After photographing bears along the Katmai Coast, my next destination was Denali National Park, located in the interior of Alaska. Denali NP is famous for the highest peak in North America - Mount McKinley ("Denali" in the native language), and its abundance of wildlife: grizzly, caribou, moose, Dall's sheep, lynx and many small animals.

After 6 years, I was back in Denali again. During the summer of 2001, I worked at a hotel at the entrance area of the park. Since then, I have been in love with Alaskan wilderness. My main purpose for going back to Denali was photographing Mt. McKinley and its reflection on Wonder Lake during sunset and sunrise time with "magic purple light." So we stayed at the deep end of the Parkroad at Wonder Lake Campground.

A huge cow moose greeted us before getting on the camper shuttle bus by the Visitor Center. Everyone grabbed cameras! She likes to hang out in the area because the predators will most likely stay away from busy tourist areas. Since she came too close to people, the park management put a collar on her in order to track her.

It was lightly raining when we got on the shuttle. I was hoping it would clear up later. The mountain was hiding behind the clouds most of the time; only 1/3 of visitor ever get to see part of the mountain during their trip! Only lucky visitors ever seen a whole mountain. The French photographers in Katmai told us that they couldn't see the mountain at all for 3 days.

Unlike my expectations, I didn't see so much wildlife from the bus on the way. I only saw several white dots (supposed to be Dall's sheep) and a few gray dots supposed to be caribou. and one more, a moose far behind of bushes. Where were the bears? At that point, my closest wildlife sighting was the collared moose at the Visitor Center. After a quiet 6 hours, the shuttle arrived to Mile 85, Wonder Lake Campground.

The rain stopped, but the mountain was far behind heavy clouds. The campground was luxurious for that remote wilderness area. We picked a nice site where there is supposed to be a Mt. McKinley view. There was a food cache house with covered cooking/ eating area nearby, and flush toilets and running water. The whole area was an open view with alpine tundra - vivid green! It was also peak season for the wildflowers blooming! Only problem was mosquitoes... a lot! There were crowds of them following whenever I go. We had to wear head nets!

Although it was overcast, the sun didn't set until 2 a.m or so, and without getting real dark, the sun rose again a few hours later. Denali NP is located in the far north.

Next morning, the mountain only showed its middle part - a long strip line between the clouds - then, it hid behind of the clouds again, all day.

The clouds got lighter at night, I was hoping it would clear up in the middle of the night, so I set the alarm clock every one hour and checked if the mountain was showing up. It would be my last opportunity to photograph the mountain with purple light. I periodically checked outside every one hour until 5 a.m when finally the bottom part of the mountain was visible.

Around 6 a.m, most of the mountain was shown up! It had already passed the magic hour time, but I was very excited to see the entire mountain. The sky cleared up while we were having breakfast. I photographed the mountain and reflection on the pond. However, when I was rush walking to the point where I can look down Wonder Lake, small clouds forming around the mountain. The clouds grew so fast! when I finally got to the hill, most of the mountain was hidden behind clouds even though other parts of the sky were still clear! I was glad to see the entire mountain for a while. We packed our camp down, and rode an afternoon shuttle out the park.