Long and Narrow

Another visit out to Lake Burrumbeet on Wednesday evening to a spot I visit often, Pelican Point. No sign of any pelicans at the moment, though there were a number of swans around that I haven't seen out here for a while. I was also pleased to see some canola crops on the way out and they look like they are not too far off reaching peak.

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Mt Blackburn, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park

From day 2 on the trip we spent some time at a number of lookouts looking across to the Wrangell Mountains in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park. On this particular morning there was a great, clear view of Mt Blackburn, 16,390 feet, the highest peak in the Wrangell Mountains and fifth highest in the US. Later this day we did a flight tour that took us right up to the peak and all around with some stunning glacier views. This one seemed well suited to back and white and is really worth clicking on for a closer view. I shot this as a 4 image panorama so I can print it almost as big as the mountain itself!

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Back to Burrumbeet

On my first full day back home I made a quick trip out to Lake Burrumbeet just to see how things were looking. Nothing too spectacular here, but always a location where you can find something to work with. Water level is still very good considering the below average rainfall whilst we were away. Hopefully some good spring rains are on the way and the canola fields shouldn't be too far off as well.

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Getting Home

Arrived back in to Ballarat early on Monday afternoon.....and on the flight down from Sydney we had some great scenery along the way including this view of the Alps in southern NSW, no doubt fast disappearing as the weather starts to warm up. It was a nice reminder of some of the scenery we experienced in Alaska, on a smaller scale of course. And then a very windy day in Ballarat ended with a bit of colour at Lake Wendouree. 
I've had a quick look through some of the Alaska trip files and now that I can view them on my home screen I'm thrilled with what I have......stay tuned for some spectacular images over the coming days and weeks...whilst I plan the next trip!

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Hiking in Zion National Park

Its the morning of our last day...I'm sitting in a room at the Riviera in Las Vegas putting this last post together showing a couple of fantastic hikes we did in Zion. On Thursday we did one of our all time best hikes....the Narrows along the Virgin River. We spent close to 9 hours walking into the canyon before returning back the same way and I think this first image will give you some idea of what we encountered. Numerous river crossings up and down the canyon always kept you on your toes and the photographic opportunities were endless. 
The next day we travelled to the Kolob Canyons section of the park. Our first time here in this far-less visited part of Zion where we did the 10km return hike along the Taylor Creek Trail, ending in these massive red rock arches. It was a pretty hot day again. in fact on the way down to Vegas the car thermometer peaked at 40 degrees!
We wandered around Vegas last night in some serious heat, once again realising why we choose to spend little time here!

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Extremes

Since the last post we have travelled across Nevada to Great Basin National Park and then into Utah to visit Zion National Park, Debbie's all time favourite national park. And we've had a few extremes along the way. Firstly in Great Basin where we did a hike that took us up over 10,000 feet and finished that day with a night spent in the car in the campground that was at 7,800 feet...rarified air up there, I can tell you! The next day on the way to Zion we made a visit to Cedar Breaks National Monument where all the viewpoints were once again well over 10,000 feet.....we were way higher than Australia for a lot of this day! And then on reaching Zion, our 4th visit here, we were hit with temperatures of 37 degrees! (thats 97 degrees in the old language!). An evening viewing the Watchman always pays off...wait to you see what I got here the next night!!!
Only 2 days, one night to go (in Las Vegas, would you believe!......what a great trip!

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3 Day Catchup

First chance to get a post up after a couple of nights sleeping in the car. We've continued the great trip down here in the lower 48 US states. First here is a visit to Tamanawas Falls in northern Oregon, a hike we got totally drenched on, though it was well worth the effort. After that we moved on down to Crater Lake National Park, a park we had visited way back in May 2008 and on that visit the park as totally covered in snow so it was a great opportunity to see it in a different season. Then it was on to northern California and to Lassen Volcanic National Park....another park we had only seen previously in the snow. We did this awesome hike to the top of the Cinder Cone - I hope this gives some idea of how tough the hike was!
Heading into Nevada today and a drive across the Loneliest Highway in the World on the way to Great Basin National Park. Wow!

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