Chilkoot Trail

Skagway is next to the start of the famous Chilkoot Trail, the start of the journey for prospectors looking to strike it rich during the Klondike Gold Rush. I've always heard that it's a great trail, and pictures i've seen look pretty nice.

 I decided i wanted to go follow the stream to it's source and see Chilkoot Valley on the other side.

Somehow, though, i couldn't see this lake from the road, so after i parked and walked this far i realized i would have to walk all the way around the lake before i could continue on.

Towards the final years of the gold rush the White Pass Railway was completed. The railway traveled from Skagway to Carcross via White Pass, one valley over from Chilkoot Pass. They say the Chilkoot Trail takes up to a week to complete, and most of that time is spent walking through the forest in the bottom of the valley. Since i was more interested in the lanscape above treeline, i decided to hike over to Chilkoot Pass from White Pass, just for the view.

There were two hanging valleys to choose from, and i chose the one that was more to the south. It looked like i might attract attention from the Canadian border patrol for getting to close to their water supply if i chose the north valley. The southern one was in no man's land in between the two U.S./Canadian customs offices. Technically, i think i was right on the edge of British Columbia the whole day.

One of several lakes with unclear outlets. The sound of running water was everywhere under the snow in this area.

The walk from the road to the higher pass i had chosen was generally easy but longer than i expected, until i hit an area of frozen lakes and snowfields. It was July 3rd, and i was burning up in the snow. Down the hill in Skagway they were having a record breaking 85 degree day and up in the mountains the snow was melting so fast that ponds were forming on top of the snowfields. I had to walk around numerous lakes and make use of a lot of snow bridges over the streams before reaching a high point. I don't know if it is common to get that hot down there, but up around Anchorage i've never been in that kind of heat at that altitude.

Above all the frozen lakes right up at the pass i found this moose carcass. It was sad to think it had made it up this high and then critically injured itself. It looked like it had a broken leg. I imagine it must have died late in the fall, maybe slipping on ice. I think it had just melted out of the snow, as it still had a lot of 'organic liquids' in the carcass.

Looking over at Chilkoot Pass.

I was also looking at a storm building up over the area i had come from.

I kept thinking it was going to blow by but at this point i decided i needed to leave quickly.

The view into Chilkoot Pass and it's glacier backdrop was impressive.  I stayed up there for about 45 minutes. On one side i was listening to a glacier constantly crumble over a cliff, and on the other i was watching thunderstorms build up in the heat. Eventually i had to flee as the wind changed and blew the storms overhead. For a good 1/2 hour i had to move quickly over the snow, in pouring rain, while lightning struck the peaks around me. It was surreal to be in a lightning storm while navigating by frozen lakes. Likewise, i was baffled to be stripping off layers of clothing while trudging through snow in thick rain and wind. Again, I've never been in an alpine environment, moving through bad weather, with those kinds of warm temperatures.

 The rain started to move on, then it got downright muggy.

This area was fun to navigate.

I realized eventually that the pass area is littered with fault lines and i had to walk through one to get back to the road. Here you can see the fault coming down from higher on the ridge...

....and continuing on down valley. The whole lake i had to cross initially is only there because of the fault. Farther down valley the road crosses over the fault on a bridge over a deep chasm. The bridge looks funny because it is connected to only one side of the fault. The idea is that in a major earthquake it won't be torn apart.

White Pass may be the most impressive car-accessible pass i've ever seen, other than Logan's Pass in Montana.  It is by far the biggest. It covers many square miles of table lands dotted with sparse patches of trees scattered among an huge, intricate lake and canal system literally creating a maze. All those lakes make up the part of the headwaters of the Yukon River. From the pass it's only a 16 mile drive down to the ocean, but the Yukon River heads in the opposite direction for 1,980 miles until it hits the Bering Sea.

 This looked like another interesting hike, but that would have to wait for another day.

Tranquil, Wayanad.

I was going through some old photographs from a few years ago and was hit by a huge wave of nostalgia.

We had gone to Wayanad, Kerala for a holiday during the monsoons and stayed at a beautiful home-stay called Tranquil nestled in a private coffee plantation. The lush green surroundings with meticulously maintained garden, the hospitality of the family, homemade jams & jellies, the friendly dogs and those chilly evening conversations with amazing company left us feeling completely warm and fuzzy inside.

What I wanted to share with all of you is the fantastic variety of flora & fauna (eeks, sounds too technical;-) and how the indoor and outdoor spaces blend so beautifully into each other.

Raindrops drenching the bright red petals...

There was a gurgling stream inside the plantation!

A treehouse where we spent hours reading...

Peperomia(?) Plant lovers, help me here:-)

Flowers floating in traditional Kerala Urlis and stone mortar & pestle..

Floating cabbage varieties...

Lovely stand with natural garden accessories...

The open dining area surrounded by lush greenery.

Table set for breakfast, with home-made preserves and jams:-)

Plants curling themselves around pillars & pipes...

Magical chimes on display...

Anthoriums and other exotic plants line the outer wall...

Sigh* Hope all of you liked this Monsoon getaway!

Enjoy the rains.

( Images by Arch)

Carcross, Yukon Territory

Down in the southern Yukon is a tiny town called Carcross. The name is an abbreviation for Carribou Crossing, and the town is situated on a short river connecting two large lakes, where a herd of around 2,000 Caribou would cross while migrating. Tagish and Tlingit tribes and their predecessors used the area for 4,500 years before the modern town was established in 1896 as a major stop along the route to the Klondike Gold Rush. As was the fashion for the times, the new settlers of the town wasted no time killing all the caribou. Today there are non left, but in a weird twist of fate, the name Carcross is still relevant in the modern age. Today it is where you drive your car to cross over the mountains to the ocean.

Carcross also claims to be home to the world's smallest desert, an area of sand dunes covering one square mile. The sand dunes were originally the bottom of a lake at the end of the ice age. Today the sand is replenished by wind coming off nearby Bennet Lake, which offers a long sandy beach right at the edge of town.

 The Great Carcross Desert

 The only automobile bridge across the river.

 A local resident.

The neighborhood reminded more of some small oceanside town, what with the sand all over the place. These houses are right across the street from a large beach.

I had never heard of Carcross, but i stopped in the town for almost 3 hours on my way from Whitehorse to Skagway. It's an incredibly pretty location, and i would have stayed the night, but there are no hotels or anything else. I grabbed a meal at a spartan diner in the gas station, which seemed to be the hub for social gathering and getting caught up on the latest news for the native population.

Above Carcross is a large mountain called Mt. Montana. An old mining road goes almost to the top, and i kinda wanted to go up there for a day of hiking. Several of the locals had no idea what i was talking about, but the ones who did described the road in a way that i thought might be difficult for a van, so i decided to give up on that idea. Things were far too remote in case something went wrong.

Most people visit Alaska either by cruise ship along the Inside Passage around Juneau, or by flying to Anchorage. But in between there's a really cool loop drive connecting the towns of Haines, Skagway and Whitehorse. The best starting point would be from Whitehorse, as it's the largest city and most likely to have rental car facilities, but i entered the loop by driving over from Anchorage.

The White Pass Railroad bridge. Carcross is the end of the line for tourists coming from Skagway. That's one reason i was so surprised not to find any restaurants or hotels. Mt. Montana is in the distance.

It had been 7 years since i'd been on the Alaska Highway in the Yukon, and i couldn't believe how many things had changed. Many roadside inns and restaurants had closed down in the time since, yet the road has seen vast improvements over the years. None of it, from the Alaskan border to Whitehorse, is dirt any longer, except sections that are currently undergoing improvements. Some of the improvements, like the new, modern era bridges, (especially the one by Lake Kluane), left me with the feeling that now the road will have a hard time living up to the legend.

 The area around Carcross is extremely scenic and the mountain slopes above the highway are dotted with old mines.

The leg from Whitehorse to Skagway would take less than 4 hours with no stops, but it's an incredible drive with lots of interesting things to see. Since there was nowhere to stay in Carcross i camped in my van by a beautiful lake without a soul around. That evening i explored a collapsing mining mill similar in design to the famous Kennecott mine in McCarthy. I took a dozen HDRI's and was probably in the building for over an hour. One side of the seven story building had collapsed into a lake, and it was eerie looking down at waves flowing into the building as i climbed up into higher floors.

Unfortunately, due to a software error, i lost all the photos i took that day with that camera. So what you see here are the ones i had taken with my old camera. It's really too bad because that mill was very cool, and although i went to a lot of effort to take those pictures, i was more disappointed about losing some very nice shots at Lake Kluane that morning.

This is where i parked for the night. The nicest place i've ever slept in a van.

Macro Photography

And now for something completely different. After i got back from Blackstone Bay Maree said i was grounded. So i hung out in the yard and took  pictures of stuff on the ground. It turned out to be a good way to learn how to use my macro lens.

I bought the Canon 180mm macro/telephoto but i'd only really used it as a telephoto lens. It has autofocus but no image stabilization. I quickly found that it was nearly impossible to take a sharp, handheld image, unless i could stop my heart.

  This may look good as a small image but the slightest breeze outside will ruin the sharpness of the full size image.

This one looks much better. Taken indoors on a tripod.

 A full size crop of one of the flower images shows the kind of closeup detail you can get. The serrated top edge of the yellow portion of the petal was not visible to the naked eye.

 It works great for product images too.

 Here's a close up of the tweeter in the previous image.

The micro circuitry of a printer head reveals just enough detail to make you want more. I don't know what the blue stuff is, it was inside the packaging.

I took the dog for a walk and found out it was mushroom season. I hate mushroom season because that's a sure sign that summer is over, and there's nothing you can do about it. But it also means that mosquito season is over, so going out in the woods and sitting in one place isn't a problem.

These mushrooms were growing on a log and a spider was hiding under them.

I've always wanted to see slime mold but i never did until i set out to look for it. Surprisingly i only had to look around for a few minutes before i found some! This is inside a fallen tree. The slime was everywhere in there but in the bottom these spores were growing.

I was already taking a picture of this mushroom when a tiny fly of some sort landed on it.

Macro photography is a whole new world to discover, and involves learning a whole new set of procedures and patience. It also helps to develop some extra joints in your spine and neck. I look forward to getting better at it.

I couldn't resist putting this one up. This was the first picture i took with the lense, right after i took it out of the box. Fisher was the closest subject of interest, so i snapped a photo of his toe. His fur looks kinda cool, like it could be hollow polar bear fur.