Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Prince William Sound, Whittier Alaska

A trip to Alaska is incomplete without a visit to beautiful Whittier. Lying beyond Maynard mountain, the only access road to Whittier by road is through a one way tunnel known to the locals as Whittier tunnel or the Portage tunnel.The official name is  Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. The tunnel is single lane and shares the lane with a railway track. Every 30 minutes the direction of traffic changes. The Alaska Railroad shares the tunnel too, its almost like they want the mystery of Whittier to be elusive. 
Whittier is quintessential Alaska. glaciers, bays, wildlife and extreme weather. As soon as we crossed over into Whittier, the weather changed dramatically. There was intense fog, slight drizzle, and much colder temperatures, very much in contrast to Denali NP where it was scorching hot. 
Our 4 hour 26 Glacier Cruise was to depart at 1pm.  You could also go kayaking here but I preferred the warm confines of the ships cabin. They serve very good food that is very reasonably priced. Having driven from Denali starting at 4am, we reached Whittier at 11am. I was extremely tired and I think I had one of the most memorable naps of all time in the back seat of our extremely small Versa. After my 90 minute slumber, I was all set to go and brave the cold weather on a cruise ship.

Waiting for the tunnel to switch directions
Inside the tunnel
The Alaska Railroad

Whittier has a total population of 127 people!! There are 2 big buildings in Whittier and that is where most of the residents stay. Apparently, the weather here is always foggy and mostly wet.The main draw here is the Prince William Sound area. A sound in geographical terms is a narrow and deep ocean inlet lying between two masses of land. The PWS sound are has seen its share of disaster with the Good Friday Earthquake and tsunami in 1964 and the Valdez oil spill in 1989. Yet, it seems like nature has found a way to fight back. The wildlife here is very shy unlike the wildlife in Seward. 

Sea Otters usually disappear at the first hint of the humming of the cruise ships engines. We did not see any whales. We did see many glaciers, lots of shy sea otters and some bald eagles. The main draw of the cruise is to experience Blackstone Bay and to see the massive glaciers and hopefully to see some calving of the glaciers. The 4 hour cruise is the perfect length of time, not too long and not too short!
Sea Otter
Sea Otters in Blackstone Bay are very shy. They usually disappear into the water, this one above stuck his head out just long enough.
Water fall from glacial melt, Northland Glacier PWS
The waterfall above makes a roaring sound as you approach the glacier. The Northland Glacier is pictured below.

Northland Glacier, The water color is gray because of the concentration of minerals

Panaroma of Blackstone Bay
Another massive glacier, 500 feet high
 The bald eagles are in plenty in Blackstone bay. You can spot them by looking for a white patch in an otherwise green tree line. These pictures below were shot with a 50-500mm Sigma Lens with out a tripod.
Bald American Eagle

Close up of a Bald American Eagle, 50-500 Sigma Lens shot without a tripod
Kittyhawk Colony
This colony of kitty hawks was over 1000 strong. They are really noisy and go haywire when a bald eagle attacks the colony. I was able to witness this madness as a Bald Eagle swooped down on the colony to attack a nest. The bald eagle was chased away by the mother. It was intense to watch the kitty hawk chasing the eagle, prey and predator had reversed roles. Unfortunately, I was not prepared with a tripod to capture that and all my pictures turned out blurry.

I hoped to post more photos of the sights we saw but we had a rainy day and my photos were spotty.

Next blog- Seward Wildlife Cruise


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi

Happy Ganesha Chaturthi! Festivals bring out the crowds and the colors. There are smiles all around, from children to adults. This morning I made a quick stop at the local street market to get some sundries and carried my camera to take some quick shots. 
The energy in the streets was really refreshing. 

Ganesha's fresh off the assembly line

The majestic God gets his shade in style!

More Ganesha's

Gowri, the mother of Ganesha and wife of Shiva

Ganesha's look on as the market buzzes


Clay Ganesha's have their simple charm

Pick me, pick me

As a kid, bringing home the perfect Ganesha was the most important part for me, just like in this picture



Sunday, September 9, 2012

Denali National Park, Alaska

Denali National Park is home to 6 million acres of wilderness, home to the tallest peak in the United States- Mt Denali. The park is accessible by one road which goes about 86 miles into the park and terminates at Wonder Lake. There are campgrounds along the road at various spots and can be reserved in advance. Private cars and trailers can only access upto mile 15 of the park. There is a ranger at mile 15, at the Savage River parking lot. After mile 15, the road turns to gravel and dirt. To go beyond this point you will have to take a shuttle bus or tour bus.

Shuttle bus is suited for those who are adventurous and want to get off and on to the bus anywhere. If you take the shuttle bus, keep in mind these buses are really slow, very dusty and very tiring. It takes 12 hours to go to Wonder Lake and be back at the visitor center. The views all along the drive are spectacular but after Polychrome Point/Eileson visitor center, they get old. If you are extremely lucky, you may see a reflection of Mt Denali in Wonder Lake. But, even this view needs a substantial walk in unmarked tundra, in potential bear territory. My recommendation would be to take the bus to Eileson Visitor Center if you are here for a day. If you want to go to Wonder Lake, do consider camping there as 12 hours in a bus with a potential 6am start is not a fun day. The green bus drivers are not wildlife spotters. Their main duty is to drive you out and back safely. That being said, they do stop for wildlife and are on the lookout for any wildlife.

Tour Bus: If you rather prefer to stay with your bus operator all day, then do take the Shuttle bus as the driver also narrates along the way. These are not hop off-hop on variety.

Trails: There are very few marked trails in Denali National Park. There is a trail near Savage River and one more at Eilsen Visitor Center. This is both exciting and disappointing for many. The best way to see Denali is to blaze your own trail and explore the tundra. Unfortunately this comes with its own risks as anywhere in Alaska you are in bear territory. Considering the statistics- one bear mauling in close to a century long history, it is reasonably safe to assume you will be safe by using your common sense. Make noise at all times and back away from any bear no matter how far it is.

We were walking on the dirt road just about 300 metres from a regular stop at the Polychrome Point when a green bus stopped and asked us to get in as there was a bear and two cubs just 300 yards behind us, just off the road. We didnt spot the bear and her cubs.

All in all, Denali National Park was a slight disappointment for me. Don't get me wrong, the views and the wildlife are great but the accessibility limits the awe factor of the park. 

Here are some photos from the park - some of these have been shot with the Sigma 50-500 mm telephoto lens *without* a tripod. It is very hard to setup a tripod in a jiffy while inside the bus.


Moose, shot with 50-500 mm Sigma lens, before the 15 mile mark.

Moose grazing, shot with 50-500mm Sigma lens

Savage River trail, accessible by car.
Below is a shot of Mt Denali, only 40 percent of hikers summit this beast. Worse still, only one of three visitors are able to see Mt Denali from the National Park. We were lucky for about half a day as it disappeared by noon. Here you can see a jet stream blowing at the summit.

About the photograph:
313 mm, f/18, 1/640
Mt Denali, from the Sanctuary River area.
Just a little after the first stop, we ran into our first bear sighting. This blonde grizzly was in deep slumber and looked up just in time.  He did not stay awake for too long.

About the photograph:
266mm, f/14, 1/250. I had to use the guard rails in the window of the shuttle bus to stabilize this shot.

Sleepy blond grizzly
We saw a total of three grizzlies on day 1, none too close or too active. This grizzly below was almost a mile away, in a deep blissful state, taking an afternoon nap! It seemed like he had had too much beer and had fallen off by the wayside in his drunken stupor!

Credit to the lens- this picture was shot at 500mm zoom without a tripod or shutter remote.
500mm, f/8.0, 1/160
Drunk grizzly, shot with Sigma 50-500mm
Here is a digitally zoomed in version of the same photo- notice his claws!! If you get on the wrong side of one of these bad boys, you are sure to be on the express checkout lane!
Digitally zoomed in, notice his claws!
Mt Denali, before we take on Polychrome Pass. Polychrome Pass gets its name from the color or the rocks/scree at this point. There are steep cliffs on one side and makes for a fun drive. Look out for bald eagles at this location as the eagles like to nest in the rock cliffs.

Mt Denali late in the morning,  lenticular clouds forming at the summit.
Toklat River is an uneventful stop. Do checkout the USGS hut at this stop. Also your last chance to buy bug spray in case you forgot to pack bug spray.

Further down the road, Eilsen Visitor Center makes for a good lunch break. Take in the view of the vast tundras and possibly Mt Denali if you are lucky are. There are pedestal binocular that you can use to look at the slopes of Denali and the neighboring peaks.
Tundras, from the Eilsen Visitor Center
One last look at Mt Denali from Eilsen Visitor Center. The cloud cover was covering almost half the mountain now.
Mt Denali from Eilsen.
You may or may not see wolves, bears, caribou, moose etc etc but you will definitely run into a lot of ground squirrels. These little guys are playful. I tried hard and long to get a shot of the ground squirrel standing up in grassland but they are just too quick. If you do set up your tripod and wait, you will be rewarded. Unfortunately, my shuttle bus was leaving and this is the best I could do. These little guys run every few feet and then stand up to look ahead, almost as if they need directions .

Artic Ground Squirrel

Moose, with reflection
And... finally!! After departing the visitor center at 6:15 am, we were at Wonder Lake at 12:30pm. A long and dusty journey to this place. By the time we arrived here, Mt Denali was almost completely covered. I would have camped a night or two just to get a chance at that reflection picture but that shot is probably better taken from the far end of this lake. You need to be on the Kantishna Experience tour bus to get there.
Wonder Lake, looking away from Mt Denali
I have no idea what species these little ones belong to, probably the geese, swan or duck family.
Little birdies, shot from a moving bus
A visit to Denali is incomplete without spotting the Dall Sheep. Look at all the peaks for small cluster of white specs and you would have spotted Dall Sheep. They seldom come down for fear of being attacked by wolves. They are good climbers as visible in the photo below.
Dall Sheep
Caribou Crossing
 We were lucky to have a Caribou cross the dirt road and walk right by the bus.

Day 2- We had tickets to the Eilsen Visitor Center but did not make it past Polychrome Pass. We were debating if it made sense to make this arduous journey into the park again and delayed our start. Just a few minutes past the Savage River area, I was able to spot a large blonde bear foraging for grass. This grizzly was quite the showman. We observed it for almost 25 minutes and he was active all along. This was one place where, if I or someone else on the bus hadnt spotted the animal, we would have driven right past it. They really need spotters on all buses.


Blonde Grizzly
The blonde grizzly in Denali NP is smaller in size to the brown grizzly. The blonde variety mainly forage on berries. They eat almost no salmon as the rivers here are fed by melting glaciers and have no fish in them. Hence they are smaller in size, but I assume they pack the same punch in them. All of these pictures below were shot at 500mm.
Blonde Grizzly foraging for food

Finally, as the bus started, he looked right at us

He didnt seem to be bothered by the big green bus and quickly went back to looking for edible roots.
Denali NP, Blonde Grizzly
We did not spot too many caribou close to the road. Apparently, these animals like to stay in the snow patches because the flies do not bother them there. This caribou was startled by the noise some passengers made in the bus. As a courtesy to your fellow passengers, please use your judgement while choosing to speak loudly. This could have been a beautiful viewing experience, cut short by senseless human noise. 

Caribou running away from the roadside.

Thus ended my two day Denali NP visit. I may visit again but I will definitely choose to stay over in Kantishna or camp at Wonder Lake.

I would love to hear from you, leave your comments below.