Friday we made the drive from Seward to Homer which is a place I have visited the past two winters to photograph Bald Eagles on the Homer Spit. The trip down began with rain but at about the midpoint the skies began to clear. Following a quick look around town – it is quite a different place sans snow and hoards of eagles (there are still a few around) – it was near dinner time and after that I took a drive to see what I could make of the sunset. From that venture comes this image of Mt. Iliamna, a volcano on the western side of the Cook Inlet.

Saturday was a complete washout but today dawned with partly cloudy skies and a trip to the Spit to see what I could come up with down on the shoreline. More on that in a minute because we need to deal with another volcano first. Augustine was pretty busy spewing ash and steam just prior to March’s visit though quiet when I was here. This morning as I was wrapping up my time shooting I looked up and noticed some very white clouds near the horizon and realized they were coming from the top of the mountain. At 75 miles from Homer there was a lot of moisture/haze between the volcano and me but here’s a shot of it, anyway. I though it kind of cool to be seeing an actual “eruption”, however minor it might be.

Back to the birds: The most common gulls around here are Glaucous-winged Gulls; I have seen a couple of Glaucous Gulls as well as a few Herring Gulls. This one is one of the toughies and, after reviewing the image for quite some time, I have decided that it must be a hybrid. Both the Glaucous-winged (GWGU) and Glaucous Gulls (GLGU) are known to hybridize with Herring Gulls and this bird appears to me to have the dark iris and correct shade of gray on the upper feathers that would be characteristic of GWGU but has darker gray – but not quite black – primary feathers that seems to me to say “Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull” hybrid (GWGU primaries would be about the same shade of gray as the upper feathers). What do you think?

The second most common gull here are the Mew Gulls and with this image I captured one in flight along the beach. Generally easy to pick out in the crowd when they are hanging out with the other larger white-headed gulls. Or so I thought until I realized there was another gull I had not seen before hanging around in the large roosts. This new bird for me will be the subject of next Friday’s quiz so I guess I can’t show you and image or tell you the name just yet. Just goes to show that flocks of gulls require careful inspection because you just never know what you may find.

Tomorrow afternoon I will be flying out of Homer for a 4-day trip to make images of Alaskan Brown Bears at Hallo Bay near Katmai National Park. There is no internet access (or cell phones) at this location so things will be quiet from this end until the end of the week. Look for Bird Quiz #10 late Friday or early Saturday.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week's bird was a Spotted Sandpiper and, since shorebirds are so much fun, let's continue with another this week. This bird was found on the shoreline of Resurrection Bay near Seward, Alaska.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another system moved in today as expected and it has rained off and on (more on than off) all day. This is the way Kenai Lake looked today - quite a contrast from yesterday.

It didn't stop us from venturing out to see what we could see and we went ahead with my plan to take a drive down Skilak Lake Road on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The road is in deplorable condition to be honest and in my opinion the refuge management ought to be doing something about it. Having said that it can probably be blamed on 2 factors: Insufficient budgets due to the current administration/Congress and the fact that there are simply far too many idiots who contibute to the demise of roads like this by driving too fast towing their boats, horse trailers, etc in wet or sloppy conditions. These are, of course, the same idiots that toss beer cans and other garbage anywhere they please on public lands and also seem to think it is cute or funny to shoot up signs along roadways on these same public lands.

(Okay, enough bitching for now, I realize I'm complaining about a small number of individuals but they are still to be found from coast to coast.)

On a more positve note it was a fun trip despite the conditions. We did see a few birds along the way and I imagine that it could be really good there on a better day. The highlight for me was, without question, finding 3 Pacific Loons feeding in one of the small lakes near the road. Looking at them through the rain they appeared to still be showing breeding plumage and are quite beautiful even in the nasty light. With some good weather between now and Sunday I may be tempted to drive back that way for a shot at them.

I also wanted to include this shot I took yesterday up near Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. I do find small stuff fascinating and in this image I was mainly attracted to the mushrooms. They were not much more than 1" tall and the caps were about 2/3rds the diameter of a dime. Even the small pine cone in the lower right corner is less than 1-1/2 imches long.

Tomorrow we will be leaving Seward for Homer, hopeful that we will find some nice weather and a bunch of migrating shorebirds.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 02:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For the first time since arriving in Alaska the weather took an unexpected turn and we actually experienced a nearly full day of sun. At sunrise there was not a cloud to be seen anywhere though, once the sun began to heat things up, fog began to form around the glaciers, snowpacks, lakes, and rivers. The Seward Highway passes by a section of Kenai Lake about 20 miles north of town and in this image we are looking west along the east-west arm of the lake.

< I began the day early with a ride out to the northeastern shore of Resurrection Bay to see what, if any, birds I could find. I arrived at just about sunrise but had to wait a little while for the sun to actually shine some light on the scene after having forgotten that the mountains along the coast would be casting a shadow for some time. While waiting I was watching several Harlequin Ducks feeding near the shore and did manage to get close enough for a few good frames (though fording a stream emptying into the bay wearing tennis shoes wasn't in the original plan).

The tide was low and dead (spawned out) salmon were lying all along the beach and gulls were, naturally, everywhere (along with the occasional Bald Eagle, too). Glaucous-winged Gulls are the most common in the area; this one pausing from its feast to let another flying by that this fish was already claimed. Mew Gulls common, too, and seemed to be out in the water feeding. In Tuesday's rain I saw some Marbled Murrelets out in the water as well as what I believe was a Pigeon Guillemot - if the weather holds (unlikely looking at the radar west of here) I plan to try and shoot some of them this afternoon.

Of the four species I shot down on the beach, three were new for me with this Wandering Tattler being the fourth - I am holding back on the third since I decided to use it for this week's quiz to be posted tomorrow. Unfamiliarity with Western birds through me for a loop with this one at first and I thought it was a Spotted Sandpiper because of the near constant tail-bobbing. But I also knew that it was a little big and the plumage wasn't quite right so had to do a little research to get it right.

Today brings a trip to visit a portion of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge with the hopes of finding some more new stuff - provided the weather cooperates at least a little.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a day for sightseeing since things hadn't changed much with the National Weather Service. Most of Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve is limited to where you can go by foot, ATV (shame on the NPS), horseback, or air taxi. At the north end there is a maintained road that can be driven about 42 miles into the park and along the way there are some pretty spectacular views. In this entry I'll share a few that I took today with cloudy skies. Unfortunately the big peaks in the Wrangell Mountains were all but totally obscured by clouds.

In a couple of locations you have to ford streams to continue down the road. Even with all the rain they are easy this late in the summer but, given their width, they must be a real nightmare during spring runoff. In the image at left you can see one of the (now dry) stream beds that eventually reaches the road just below center to the left. In the image at right I was standing on a pile of boulders that had built up on a bank.

These images (and those below) are just different views of the same peaks. One of the things I picked up at the park's visitor center was a topographic map but it doesn't show them them as having been named. But then they are just hills in the vicinity of 8000 feet when compared with some of the monsters that are a few miles south (like Mount Sanford at over 16,000 feet or Mount Wrangell - the largest active volcano in Alaska - at over 14,000).

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 01:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We left Tok yesterday (Thursday) morning bound for Glennallen, Alaska where I plan to visit a few locations that, while not exactly close, reasonable for day trips. It is better from a fuel economy standpoint to drive without the trailer - my fuel economy goes up some 90% - plus campgrounds are not always readily available near some of the places I want to visit. I could rough it some if I had to but, with mom along, commercial RV parks are a necessity.

It looked as if we were going to finally get a little break in the weather as we were pulling into the campground (it had rained most of the 180 or so miles south from Tok), so I made the decision to head over to Valdez after lunch, hopeful of actuallly getting to photograph some of the coastal mountains with sunlight and blue sky. That was not to be as you can see by the image of Worthington Glacier - by the time we got about halfway there things began to get socked in and the rain started falling again. The glacier is close to the highway and it is even possible - if you don't mind climbing over a few rocks - to hike a short distance to the foot of it. I opted out on this day since it was raining but would like to do it sometime in the future.

After crossing Thompson Pass the highway descends rather steeply toward Valdez and Prince William Sound and, once the road levels out some, you round a bend that takes you into Keystone Canyon. The canyon is about 15 miles from Valdez and steep rock walls are next to the highway on one side with Lowe River on the other. Near the exit of the canyon there are pullouts to view the highlights of the canyon: Bridalveil (left) and Horsetail (right) Falls.

Though the weather wasn't so good as we got closer to Valdez, earlier on the drive I did cast a glance toward a pond on the left side of the highway and caught sight of a couple of large white birds that demanded a u-turn at the first available opportunity. A pair of Trumpeter Swans were feeding in the pond and were kind enough to hang around while I snapped of a few frames of them. Always good to add another bird species to the catalog and I should see some more of them over the next few days.

We've been doing a lot of running around lately and decided to take the day off. It was just as well since the overcast continued most of the day though the predicted rain never did arrive - the 15+ mile/hour winds were another thing and were not in the last forecast I saw. To make things really interesting the power went out and it was almost 7 hours before it came back on again. At least I now now I can depend on my generator if it happens in the future (though it doesn't help accessing the 'net). Tomorrow will be a day of exploring in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park where I hope to find some more new birds and, weather permitting, finally get a look at the Wrangell Mountains . . .

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 02:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week's quiz bird a little confusing for me at first but after much deliberation decided that it could only be a Bonaparte's Gull. For this week we have a shorebird that had, up until the other day, proven to be a tough one for me to get. I made the image at the western end of Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge east of Tok, Alaska.

(It is worth noting that Tetlin NWR borders Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve on the north; this park is the largest in area of all the U.S. National Parks at over 13 million acres. These two huge areas border the Yukon Territory on their eastern edges and, in turn, adjoin Canada's Kluane National Park & Preserve. The 2 national parks combined with the refuge protect approximately 19 million acres and represent the largest protected area in the world!)

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 02:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We did it. We made the 252 mile drive north on the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Circle. It was another one of those days in and out of the rain, all but 6 kilometers (too lazy to do the conversion - sorry) on gravel road. A few miles were on a steep grade in a downpour that made it hard to keep the truck going in a straight line. No homes and but one lonely road for miles and miles at a time. The image above is looking east from near the marker for the Arctic Circle Crossing, a vast expanse of tundra interspersed with pockets of the last vestiges of boreal forest and the Arctic Ocean lying just a few hundred miles to the north. (Note: The total width of the panoramic is 4800 pixels; you can use the scrollbar pan through the entire image.)

As mentioned in the last entry, members of the Porcupine Caribou herd had been seen north of the circle and I did go lookiing. I found them not far from the Yukon border with the Northwest Territory. The bad news was that they were some distance away from the road. This image, with 25 members of the herd, is just a fraction of the 150 to 200 'bou that were there and was shot with 1300 millimeters of effective focal length or about 20x magnification. A couple of them were about 1/4 mile off of the highway and I considered walking out to them but they were adjacent to a road construction area and I had no place to park the truck (because of the permafrost the road beds are raised and there are no shoulders - you just pick a wide spot if you want to park, an option unavailable at this spot unfortunately). It was kind of neat to see these animals in the wild for the first time, though.

Driving those extra few miles north of the circle were not in vain as it would turn out. About midway between the Caribou and the circle I caught some movement out of the cornier of my eye and spotted the three bears. A sow with 2 yearling were foraging a few hundred feet to my left and, though a little too far away at first, I decided to wait them out to see if they would wander a little closer. My patience paid off when they finally came within shooting distance. This is the mother on one of the rare opportunities to shoot with here head up; with winter coming on she was grazing almost constantly.

The youngsters, on the other hand, would do a little grazing and also spend a little time romping around. One of them found something - not sure what it was but one of those fake sheepskin car seat covers somebody had tossed was my best guess - and played with it for quite some time, tearing and chewing while the "furry" parts wafted away on the breeze. Of course the sibling came to investigate and there was a little wrestling going on for a few moments. They were certainly fun to watch and my photographic activities even created a small traffic jam, this a bit of a surprise on a road where sometimes you don't even see another car for 15 or 20 minutes (the truck drivers hauling gravel for road repairs were getting a little angry too, I think).

Today was a travel day and I am now in Tok, Alaska following an interesting and - here's a surprise - wet drive on the Top of the World Highway.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 01:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I decided Saturday morning that since the long term forecast for Southeast Alaska was anything but favorable maybe a change in plans was in order. With that in mind we abandoned the route and traveled northwest on the North Klondike Highway from Whitehorse and landed in an RV park outside Dawson City, YT - yes, the very same Dawson City of Klondike Goldrush fame. Anyway, the thought process was to see what sort of wildlife we could find up this way and take a short trip up the Dempster Highway (which ultimately leads a few hundred kilometers north of the Arctic Circle). We made that trip today, a large portion of which took us through Tombstone Territorial Park. As you can see, the weather here isn't a whole heck of a lot better than what we have been experiencing in the Great "Wet" North. The park is a mix of woodlands, sub-arctic tundra, mountains, and plateaus. The valley in the image above is looking west from the highway with the Tombstone Range at left and the Cloudy Range at right, the river running from the center to the lower left is the North Klondike River, in the distance near center is Tombstone Peak.

This image is a few kilometers farther north on the highway and is of a peak that is not named on the maps I have of the area, though I do know that it is in the Prospector Range on the east side of the highway just south of Angelcomb Mountain. I shot this one with a little bit of (rare) sunshine and blue sky - just before driving into another rain shower.

At this point we were at about the midpoint of the park and a short distance farther down the road we entered the Blackstone Uplands which is a virtually treeless area and an example of the Arctic tundra farther to the north. In my conversations with an employee at the park's interpretive center I learned that this portion of the park is a breeding site for a number of bird species that normally nest above the Arctic Circle, a list that includes American Golden Plover and Arctic Tern. Two herds of Caribou also winter in the Blackstone Uplands: the first is a herd of Woodland Caribou whose summer range is in the mountains surrounding the uplands, the other herd is the famous Porcupine herd of barren-ground Caribou (I'm sure you know them - they're the Caribou that ExxonMobil is trying to wipe out with their wish to drill for oil on the herd's calving grounds in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - you are still boycotting ExxonMobil, aren't you?).

Speaking of the Porcupine herd, they happen to be one of the reasons for my next adventure which will take place tomorrow (Monday). Having seen that "The Dempster", while mostly gravel, is a pretty decent road, I have decided that no trip up here would be complete without going all the way to the Arctic Circle. It is about 250 miles one way from where I am right now and we will have to make a same-day round trip. It works out to be about a 12-14 hour day which is a lot of driving. Besides the fact that it will be kind of cool to cross the circle, I have been told by two sources the Porcupine herd has migrated as far south as just a few miles north of the circle and a few thousand are said to be wandering near the highway. Of course this is news that is a couple of days old so I am trying not to get my hopes up too much. With a little cooperation from the Caribou (and the weather) we will have images tomorrow . . .

We'll remain in the area a couple of more days after the big run to the north to seek out some of the birds in the area plus some mammals found up this direction (including Arctic Ground-squirrel and Collared Pika). The weather forecasts are actually pretty good for the next few days, too (okay, tomorrow is iffy but after that some sun is finally supposed to come our way).

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Alaska town of Skagway is a little more than 100 miles south of WHitehorse, YT and was a major entry point for the Klondike Goldrush. Prospectors had two routes to take to get there and one was over White Pass from Skagway. We chose to travel that route yesterday, the scenery is said to be beautiful. The clouds were beginning to build before we left but it got just kept getting worse. This fall is adjacent to the highway on the US side of the pass as the road climbs from sea level to about 3300 feet at the summit. The water pools near the edge of the roadbed before passing under the highway and tumbling down to the Skagway River in the canyon below.

Just for fun I shot this a couple of miles from the summit just as we were about to enter the clouds. It made for an interesting drive to say the least but had an adverse affect on being able to fully appreciate the scenery. Which, from what little I could see when the clouds would thin a little, was pretty spectacular. It must have been a real dissappointment for the people swarming the town from a cruise ship - waves of tour buses went up the mountain and were coming back down as we were returning to Whitehorse. I'm sure they still spent plenty of there money on jewelry and other trinkets back in town (Skagway must have the highest concentration of jewelry stores per capita in the world).

This photo was taken near the summit and looks may be deceiving. At first glance you may think that you are looking across at a mountain with large trees but, in fact, the "peak" barely visible in the mist in the upper corner is no more than 100 feet above the roadway. The trees are perfect little Xmas trees - most only 4 to 5 feet high. Much of the top of the mountain seems to be lava bed and the trees and plants grab whatever foothold the can in this rugged terrain. As the altitude drops there is more erosion and better soil so the trees - which seem to be the same species but evergreens to me are far more confusing than birds - grow progressively taller. Ponds form in depressions, algae and mosses grow everywhere. Oh how I would love to visit on a cloudless day . . .

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So we're a little late after all but settled in up here in the Yukon where it is about 45 degrees here this morning. Last week's bird was a female Blue Grouse who was still tending to a group of just barely flying young.

This week's mystery bird is from one of the most confusing families - the Larids. Gulls, terns, and the Black Skimmer make up this group and gulls come in all sizes and plumages. This particular specimen was lurking around the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area though, unlike the other gulls around, did not seem to be scavenging on the salmon carcasses left behing by the bears. It appeared to be feeding in the water - possibly the salmon roe (eggs)?

Have fun!

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The sh*t weather continues.

The one bit of blue sky we have seen in days was the image of Salmon Glacier in the last (delayed) entry. It rained the entire trip north from Stewart to Dease Lake (a journey which included some 50k of gravel "highway") and, though it looked like it might clear up, today has been rainy all day.

I still drove out to the "town" of Telegraph Creek - 112 kilometers of which 107 are gravel - for a look at the lower portion of the Grand Canyon of the Stikine. If by some slim chance I were to wake up tomorrow to sunshine I would travel that cattle trail again just for the chance to make some images. But, alas, it don't look good so it will be back on the highway in the direction of the Yukon Territory. Maybe the weather will finally turn (he says as the raindrops begin to fall in earnest again . . . )

One positive is I finally saw a Canadian moose today. They really do have them here . . .

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Save your money and put a trip to Stewart-Hyder at the top of the list of places you want to visit. While my travels are far from complete, this is simply one of the most spectacular areas I have ever seen. If I thought for a second that there was a chance of the weather turning I would stay here a while longer but, unfortunately, the clouds and rain will prevent making anything more than snapshots of this landscape on this trip. The two towns – Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK – are former mining towns and have year-round populations of 500 and 100 respectively. Hyder has no services of its own, per se, and relies upon its neighbor in British Columbia for fire/police protection and utilities. There are no paved roads in Hyder and many abandoned buildings. The main attraction in Hyder is the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing Area where Grizzly and Black Bears- along with Bald Eagles, gulls, and, it is said, an occasional wolf – come to feed on spawning salmon.

BC Highway 37a is known as the Glacier Highway and, from its junction with BC Highway 37 (Cassiar Highway), travels some 38 miles through gorges, canyons, and past glaciers (over 20 of them). The most spectacular of these is Bear Glacier, clearly visible just a short distance from the highway and which melts into a lake adjacent to the road. The lake at the toe of Bear Glacier forms the headwaters of the water course that the highway follows for most of the remainder of the trip into Stewart, the Bear River. Snow is seen on many peaks and, at one point, near the highway in an avalanche area. Streams from glaciers and snow packs cascade and fall thousands of feet down sheer rock faces at numerous points along this highway which is often surrounded by trees of the Pacific rainforest.

Though most famous for the “Fish Creek bears”, another spectacular (though rough) attraction in the area is Granduc Road to Salmon Glacier. The gravel road is at its worst as it climbs from Hyder, full of potholes and washboard, though it improves somewhat after crossing into British Columbia. The glacier itself is the largest in the world accessible by road and several other glaciers can also be seen along the 23 mile route. The road travels through rainforest as well as past wildflowers, cascading streams and rivers, and, at the summit, gives close up looks at rocky alpine meadows

Beginning in late July the salmon return to Fish Creek to spawn and with them come the bears. Both Grizzly and Black bears frequent the stream to fish. This early in the season, at least, the visits are sporadic and the highlight of my 3 visits was this sow that came along with her 3 cubs. While mom caught the salmon the three cubs romped and chased each other and the salmon up and down the creek. It was way too much fun to watch and a real chore to photograph (there is very little light down in the canyon – especially when it is overcast - and use of flash is strictly forbidden). When the bears have finished the eagles and gulls come in for the leftovers.

On my second visit to Fish Creek Sunday morning the Griz’ apparently were not planning any visits but a Black Bear did pop in for a few minutes. As you can see it was indeed a black one though it is said that the Kermode or Spirit Bear (a white morph of the Black Bear) is known to live in the mountains surrounding Stewart-Hyder. Rather than catch a salmon this bear ate for a while on one that was already dead near the creek’s edge. From its actions I would guess that these guys are little shyer than the grizzlies and even slight noises make them wary. Part of that may be related to the size and power of their larger cousins who hang out here.

An unexpected sighting on my second visit to the creek was a bird I am quite familiar with from Florida. Though aware that they range far and wide in North America I still did not expect to find a Great Blue Heron perched quietly in this moss-covered fir in a northern rainforest. I understand that it also feeds on salmon scraps left by the bears. Another bird I have seen active down by the creek is an American Dipper that is hanging out underneath the bridge near the boardwalk (much too far out of camera range and the rangers will not let me go down there – not that I would anyway with hungry grizzlies lurking about).

Sunday night’s visit was completely quiet with nothing on the creek but gulls and the aforementioned Dipper though there were a couple of flybys by Bald Eagles. There was a pretty big crowd with the 3-day weekend (British Columbia Day is today) and we decided to leave ahead of the crowd. As luck would have it that was a good move because less than a mile from the parking area we came upon a car that was stopped with a camera lens pointed out the window: at a Grizzly Bear eating foliage just off the roadside. He was pretty deep in the brush and there were not many chances to shoot without his face being partially obscured but I still managed a couple of “face shots” before he ran off due to the ever increasing amount of traffic.

Today has been another wet one and it doesn’t look good going into the evening, either. Maybe I’ll drag out the rain gear for a try at Fish Creek again; maybe I will just get ready to move further north toward the Yukon tomorrow morning. Unless there is a surprise on the road ahead (this location was supposed to be modem only but WiFi had just been installed) I think that I am heading into an Internet vacuum for the next 3 days so we will not be able to post or reply to emails until Saturday. That means, of course, that short of a miracle the Friday (Pacific Time) Bird Quiz will be a day late (I know some of you will be disappointed).

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 07:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last time I posted an entry we had just spent an interesting Monday in the mountains around Hope, BC. Since then we have traveled north with a 2-day stop in Prince George. The biggest challenge to date (aside from the absurd fuel prices thanks, in part, to King George) has been the weather - overcast and/or rainy nearly every day. The ride north on the Trans-Canada Highway 1 from Hope is arguably one of the most spectactular in North America. The highway (and railroad tracks) make their way along the canyon created over the last several million years by the Fraser River. At times the bottom of the gorge is a few thousand feet below; the highway and railway pass though tunnels, over bridges, and sections of elevated roadway. The views are tremendous and if it had been a clear day I would never have made my destination for wanting to stop and make images.

At the town of Lytton the highway leaves the Fraser and begins to follow along the canyon created by the Thompson River (which joins the Fraser at this point). The beginning of this portion of the trip is pretty dramatic, too. Not knowing until after the fact, I could have taken an alternate route that continued to follow the Fraser. Eventually the road gives way to gently rolling prairies with ranch and farmlands before returning to the forests near Prince George.

From Prince George we turned on to the Yellowhead Highway (Trans-Canada #16), heading west toward the Cassiar Highway which will take us (in a few more days) to the Yukon. The night before had spent some time looking at the route when I discovered a place called Glacier View RV Park and, after looking at a few photos of the place, decided it was worth making a stop. The highway turns rather steeply northwest just past the town of Houston and Smithers is the next large town along the route. Just west of town is Hudson Bay Mountain and its glacier which is, appropriately, named Hudson Bay Glacier. The RV park is true to its name and, when there are no clouds, I can step out the door of my trailer then look to the left and see the mountain and glacier towering over me. It was a great view though impossible to photograph in afternoon light and, as it was, the rain arrived shortly after I finished unhooking the trailer (an improvement of Prince George where I had the pleasure of doing all that in a downpour). The forecast for Friday looked promising and I had hoped to be able to get some nice shots of them with early morning sun. The bad news was that the rain had left an uninvited guest for this morning: San Francisco-style fog. By the time that burned off (nearly noon), any hopes of a nice wide-angle shot of the mountain had faded with the morning mist.

The melting ice of Hudson Bay Glacier (yes, based upon the info I've seen it is shrinking just like all the others) makes its way down the mountain primarily via two routes. These two streams cascade down the face of the mountain and are easily viewed with binoculars. A road from the main highway leads to a trail where it is possible to view both streams as they plunge over 100 feet into a canyon. The first image (above) is of fall on the right (north) as you face the mountain while the image at left is of the left (south) fall. They must be tremendous in the spring as it looks in August like the streambeds at the base of the falls can hold considerably more water. Add this spot to the (growing) list of places to which I would like to return someday.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yikes! Another late post with the Friday Quiz. Things haven't been great for image making this week and with the sun shining today I tried to make the most of it. I'm currently in the mountains of west central British Columbia and that is where this week's quiz bird can be found.

The answer to Quiz #5 was Steller's Jay - who are aka "Camp Robber" for their habit of flying right to your picnic table and stealing food (Gray Jays have also earned this monikor). Actually this very bird landed on the mirror of my truck as I was preparing to leave the area. Not bashful at all.

Good luck with this week's (confusing) bird!

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)