Photography – Page 4 – Geeky Girl Engineer

Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area

Posted on June 22, 2021 by geek

We spent the say at Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, which has lots of hiking trails to see the area. Some of the trails are to provide good views of the glacier, some are for hiking in the woods, and some are few viewing the salmon and the bears when the salmon are spawning. There salmon were not here yet, but we got really lucky and saw a momma bear and her two cubs. The visitor’s center has photos and a film that shows just how much the glacier has retreated. One of the trails we hiked on also has markers showing where the ice used to be, and the retreat of the ice is incredible. The area is lovely, and one thing I liked was how basically anything that was not moving was covered in lichen and moss.

View of the Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls

Mendenhall Glacier

Nugget Falls

Steep Creek. Streams from mountain runoff are everywhere

Steep Creek flowing into glacial lake

Black bear and one of her cubs

Second black bear cub was originally sleeping in the tree before joining mom and sibling

Lichen and moss on a boulder

Lupines

Small waterfall on Trail of Time trail

Small creek

Gold Creek Flume Trail

Posted on June 22, 2021 by geek

The rain stopped for just a little bit this afternoon, so we went hiking on the Gold Creek Flume Trail, which is close to downtown Juneau. As far as I can tell, the entire trail is on top of a flume that takes water from the Gold Creek to a hydroelectric plant. With the exception of a small segment where a rock slide seems to be on top of the flume, it is a really easy trail to walk on, as you are on wooden planks. It is a nice hike through the woods with views of Gold Creek below and the mountains above. The western end is where the flume heads down the mountain. The eastern end seems to be where the flume separates from Gold Creek.

The western end of the trail has a very Alaska warning sign because Alaska. Only missing warning about bears.

Flume flows down the mountain

Trail is on top of the flume through the woods

Small waterfalls everywhere

Rock slide area

Waterfalls are visible in the mountains and streams are frequent near trail

Eastern end appears to be where flume is separated from Gold Creek

Gold Creek at western end of trail

Alaska State Capitol

Posted on June 22, 2021 by geek

With this Alaska trip, I was able to accomplish one of the more difficult tasks in my quest to see all 50 state capitols, as Juneau is not the easiest capital to travel to. I also lucked out because it only opened less than a week ago before which it was closed because of COVID. The Alaska State Capitol is one of the, or perhaps the, least fancy state capitols. The building was formerly a courthouse, and then they turned it into the capitol. There is no dome or other fancy halls. It is an office building. It is lucky for the state, in a way, that they have so few residents because the senate and house chambers are small and used to be courtrooms. There are also quite a few old photos and lots of Alaska Native art, which are quite nice to see.

Alaska State Capitol exterior

House of Representatives Chamber

Senate Chamber

Senate Finance Committee Room

Alaska Natives carved door

Map of Alaska cut from piece of 48 inch pipe used to construct Trans-Alaska pipeline. Weld represents 800-mile route of the pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.

Phone booths (phones do not work, I checked)

Elevator bay

Tracy Arm Fjord

Posted on June 21, 2021 by geek

During my first full day in Juneau, I took a day cruise to Tracy Arm to see the fjord and glaciers. We saw two glaciers, Sawyer Glacier and South Sawyer Glacier, which really used to be the same glacier. Along the way to see the glaciers, we traveled through the beautiful Tracy Arm Fjord. The fjord has numerous former glacier valleys, river valleys, and water falls. The fjord has numerous icebergs, generally rather small icebergs, that have broken off the glaciers. Many of the larger icebergs serve as resting places for harbor seals. We also were lucky enough to see a black bear eating mollusks or something on the shore. Later, while headed back to Juneau, there were Steller sea lions and more harbor seals on the Midway Islands.

Iceberg

Tracy Arm fjord

Sawyer Glacier

Up close view of Sawyer Glacier

South Sawyer Glacier

Up close view of South Sawyer Glacier

Harbor seal

Harbor seals

Black bear

Steller sea lions

Sitka, Alaska

Posted on June 20, 2021 by geek

The Alaska state ferry route between Ketchikan and Juneau stops in Sitka for a couple of hours. A very wise company in Sitka runs a shuttle (i.e. a school bus) to take ferry passengers to downtown Sitka from the ferry terminal and then back again, as it is several miles. That gave us about an hour and a half in downtown Sitka. I would have loved to have a day there. The Sitka National Historical Park has some nice trails that I only had about 15 minutes to explore. There are also a couple of historic buildings I would have loved to go in, and I discovered a couple of really cute shops. When I was planning this trip, Sitka was a place I wanted to stay overnight, but alas, there is just so much to see and so little time.

Near Sitka National Historical Park

Near Sitka National Historical Park, a view of Mt Edgecumbe and downtown Sitka

Totem pole in Sitka National Historical Park

St. Michael’s Orthodox Cathedral

St Peter’s By the Sea Episcopal Church

Sitka Hotel in downtown Sitka

Alaska State Ferry: Ketchikan to Juneau

Posted on June 20, 2021 by geek

I had a lovely stay in Ketchikan, but it was time for the next leg of my trip, which was taking the Alaska state ferry to Juneau. This trip stopped at several cities before we arrived in Juneau. There was barely time to step off the ship if desired in the cities, except for Sitka, which allowed us about an hour and half in downtown Sitka. [More on that in next blog post.] The ferry route to Juneau was gorgeous, and it went through the amazingly gorgeous and awesome Wrangell Narrows. The ferry is about the biggest ship that can go through the narrows, so that is a bit of a bonus compared to the huge cruise ships.

Inside passage near Ketchikan

Wrangell

Wrangell Narrows

Wrangell Narrows (with an out of focus bald eagle flying across the shot on the left)

Petersburg

Near Petersburg

Mt Edgecumbe, near Sitka

Juneau

Ketchikan hiking

Posted on June 17, 2021 by geek

Ketchikan has lots of hiking trails, and many of them are close to the town. We went hiking on the Rainbird trail this afternoon. Ketchikan is located in a temperate rainforest, and the Rainbird trail goes through that temperate rainforest ecosystem right to the side of the town. The trail is located in an area that was last logged over 50 years ago, so it does not have the old growth trees, but it is pretty none the less. The northern trailhead warns that the trail is not maintained, and they are not kidding. We lost the trail a couple of times. The southern half of the trail is maintained and is much easier to hike.

Ferns and moss growing on a fallen tree stump

Moss and ferns growing near a stream

New tree growng on top of a fallen tree

Cedar trees and ferns everywhere

Trail through the forest

At the south end of the trail, there are spectacular lookouts

Moss growing on a fallen tree

Berries

Wild flowers

Alaska State Ferry: Bellingham to Ketchikan

Posted on June 14, 2021 by geek

I have started a three week vacation in Alaska, which will involve planes, trains, ships, buses, cars, and perhaps a helicopter and raft. Thirty years ago or so, I cruised the inside passage with my family, but this time I wanted a little more time to see the southeast area and interior. Thus, the cruising will take place on the Alaska State Ferry. I took the ferry from Bellingham, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska, which is about 38 hours or so of travel. The ferry cruises the inside passage. There was a map in the cafe that shows the route, and in two different places, the route can go either in the open ocean or the inside passage. It is not clear why one is chosen over the other, and the crew (that interacted with the passengers) didn’t even seem to know, but presumably the navigation crew knew. In any event, our route was entirely the inside passage, and a lovely route it was. It was a nice way to travel. I spent the entire time reading and taking photos along the way. Below are some photos I took along the route. Note that basically all of these photos are of British Columbia, Canada and those of the water we passed through.

Comet NEOWISE

Posted on July 20, 2020 by geek

Last Thursday after seeing so many fantastic photos of Comet NEOWISE, I made the last minute decision to head to the mountains to try to get some photos for myself. I went to Shenandoah National Park to take photos along Skyline Drive where I could get away from most light pollution and also get a clear horizon view. I also spent two night playing with all the different settings on my extremely high-tech and complicated camera. Even with the owner’s manual, I still was playing around with it. I did finally get a few photos with which I am happy. However, there are still some things I am trying to figure out in terms of how to get photos like others get. Without further ado, here are my photos.

Comet NEOWISE at 10 p.m. as it was finally becoming visible.

Comet NEOWISE above the Shenandoah Mountains

Comet NEOWISE above the Shenandoah Mountains. The Big Dipper is visible and somewhat identifiable above the comet.

Bonus photo of the Milky Way while I was waiting for clouds to pass to get another photo of Comet NEOWISE. A car passed while the shutter was open (30 sec), and the car headlights lit the trees to make an interesting contrast.

Bellagio, Italy

Posted on February 24, 2020 by geek

My final full day in Italy, and Bellagio was the final city to visit. Lake Como is essentially the shape of an upside-down “Y”, and Bellagio sits where the three arms come together. The name came from Latin meaning “two lakes” because it sits between two arms, but really since it sits where all three come together, I think it would have been better named “three lakes” but whatever. Anyway, it is a tiny little village on a steep hillside right on the water. It is a favorite tourist destination, and it is a cute little village to spend a day. Besides being cute, it has amazing views of Lake Como and the surrounding hills. You can even see snow-capped mountains in the distance. Like many towns in the area, the streets are made of river rock, which is not real fun to walk on, but it certainly lends to the charm.