The 49er
 

Just like everything else in the 49th state, the scale is outsized, beggars the imagination....  The Knik River valley is a mere 25 miles long, but incredibly broad in it's U-shaped space.   The braided river, chalky green from the glacial silt, moves back-and-forth across the outsized valley, below the outsized peaks, under the outsized sky...

in the knik of time

This actually is Reflection Lake.
It's in the lower Knik River valley, not far from where the Knik and the Matanuska  flow into the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet (followed a little downstream by the Eklutna and Eagle rivers).   The clarity of the water and the ability to see the bottom provide a n interesting contrast to the sky.

reflection lake

In the Eagle Country.
Although early in September, Fall has made it's presence known here in the North Country.  This view is one of the best introductions to the Chugach I know.  The trail we were headed for was just closed for the winter.  There had also been several sightings of The Grizz (am I disappointed or relieved?)

eagle country

The  western end of the Chugach.  Stretching from here for 250 miles to the Copper River country to the east, sitting on the north side of the Gulf of Alaska, it is the snowiest place in the world (averaging 800 inches/1500 cm per year).  In a few weeks this will be a landscape suitable for travel by snowshoe and ski.

Fall in the chugach

Standing by this stream in the Chugach, I'm reminded of the quote from bear biologist Doug Peacock (aka George Washington Hayduke for you Edward Abbey fans):  "It ain't wilderness unless there is a critter out there that can kill and eat you".    I find that all your senses are a bit more alive in the land of The Moose and The Grizz.

wilderness thoughts

The Exxon Valdez seems a lifetime ago and in a land far, far away.  It has been many years now, and the accident was at the other end of the Sound.  However, standing here at the far western end of PWS, looking at the cold, calm waters,  I'm struck by the regenerative power of nature and the aching beauty of this place...

prince william

Captain Cook first named it Turnagain River out of (I"m sure) a deep frustration.  It was again a dead end in his quest for a northwest passage through the continent.  Captain George Vancouver later renamed it as Turnagain Arm.

on the turnagain

The northern entrance to the Kenai Peninsula  starts at the end of the Turnagain Arm and rises through Turnagain Pass.  On the Kenai side the pass are a couple of summit lakes.  Here's one of them.   In the Pacific Northwest, this is considered a bright, cheerful, sunny day.  And so it is...

crossing the divide

This is the heart of one of the most famous fishing grounds in the world.  Land's End, the southern tip of the Homer Spit, boats of the Homer halibut fishing fleet on the water.  The great glacier-carved and glacier-covered peaks of the southern Kenai on the other side of Kachemak Bay.

land's end

In the headwaters of the Kenai River, the view southeast toward Seward and Resurrection Bay.  To the right is the long run down the Kenai River to the west coast of the Peninsula.  The scale of U-shaped valley, the peaks on either side once again overwhelm, the moment calm, but anticipatory...

heart of the kenai

Perhaps my favorite photo in the collection.  It's taken not far from the previous photo, but the mood of the moment has changed.  A southeast wind has developed, bringing a closing sky  with it, a light mist blowing in my face...

the south wind

Back in the majestic landscape of the 49th, it seems appropriate to return one more time to Service:
"The sunshine never was so sweet, so vast the joy to be alive; the laughing leaves, the glowing grass proclaim how good it is to be; the pines are lyric as I pass, the hills hosannas sing to me."

the 49er dreams