The 40 that got away… and the one that didn’t
As some of you may have seen on my Instagram and in my portfolio, I recently got back from a trip to Alaska where I got to explore with my family the Anchorage, Moose Pass, and Seward areas. During this trip I saw salmon running, hiked a bunch, visited the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and Alaska SeaLife Center, and went on a cruise around Kenai Fjords National Park!
Salmon Running in a creek near Moose Pass
As far as hikes go, my favorite was the Harding Ice Field trail. This is a challenging 8.6 mile, 3100’ elevation gain, out and back that takes you from the visitor center through a forest (rainforest!!!!) up to the top of Exit Glacier and the ice field itself. This hike is PACKED with scenery (read wildflowers, waterfalls, and cliffs) so I’d encourage you to explore it for yourself one day, hopefully soon, as it’s melting rapidly. Walking and driving around, you’ll see by the signs sprinkled around the area marking where the glacier was in a given year.
As much as I’d prefer to see wildlife like brown bears, moose, and musk ox in the wild, since this was my first time in Alaska, I felt it was important to see some of the local wildlife in a guaranteed way. The best way to do this was through the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and the Alaska SeaLife Center! Between both of these awe-inspiring facilities we saw all the animals listed above as well as a great horned owl, sea lions, harbor seals, and PUFFINS! I had no clue puffins were native to Alaska so this was a fun discovery as I was incredibly jealous of my friend Nicole’s puffin photos from Iceland this summer.
The aquarium in particular was incredible preparation for my favorite part of our journey, the cruise around Kenai Fjords National Park. This park, unlike most around the United States, is almost totally inaccessible by car. In order to see the immense beauty and glaciers hidden within, you must charter a boat to take you into the hard to reach fjords and coves in the region.
Sea Lions doing their daily laps at the SeaLife Center
During the cruise, keep an eye out for all manner of wildlife. The boat’s captain and crew will let you and the entire boat know if they see anything noteworthy, but it can be hard to get good photos of wildlife in particular if you’re not already taking shots and actively observing the seascape for yourself.
This week I’ve been reading Tall Tales and Long Lenses by John Marriott. In the book he tells the story of his most noteworthy “one that got away”, a black wolf with golden eyes that he searched for for hours before packing his camera away for the day. It was only when he packed up that the wolf appeared and he got some 35mm “walk around shots” instead of more ideal 600mm, long lens, exposures. This got me thinking, what is my “one that got away”?
My answer to that is not actually just one, but 40 sea otters that were hanging out near Holgate Glacier in the shallower water where the glacier stalled in its retreat many years ago. I was determined to get epic seascape shots with the ice, cliffs and mountains of the area, so I had my preferred 24-120mm lens on. And I got some incredible shots with it. But, what I missed out on was images of the numerous sea otters flanking our boat. I thought to myself that I’d switch lenses at the glacier to the big lens and that the otters would surely be present still when we came back through. Alas, they were not. They moved on to another location in the 45 minutes it took us to reach the glacier and come back. Missed opportunity, but also an excuse to visit again!!!
Four of the 40 missed sea otters, this is one of the bad photos showcasing that a 120mm just doesn't cut it sometimes.
Feeling discouraged by the disappearance of the otters, with my 150-600mm equipped I sat on the top deck waiting for any word of other wildlife nearby, or for our arrival back in Seward. This went on for what seemed like hours with no news. Then it happened; a humpback whale we had seen at the start of our journey spouted off the port (left) side of the boat near where I was positioned! I hurriedly got my camera trained in its direction and waited for it to dive, knowing that when it did its fluke would be visible and, with luck, the crew or the internet would likely be able to identify it! I’m happy to report that while I did not get a shot of the sea otters, I nailed the shot of this whale!
I got word this week that it is a known whale on happywhale.com. And the folks there linked my photo and coordinates with a track of where that whale has been reported over the years. This humpback was first sighted in 2005 and here is the link to its page.
Despite missing a series of sea otter shots, it was immensely gratifying to contribute to something scientific with my photography! Thank you for reading and let me know in the comments if you have questions about my family’s trip to Alaska!