Lisa Dearing Photography: At the Foot of Denali-Alaska's Biggest Mountain

Lisa Dearing Photography: At the Foot of Denali-Alaska's Biggest Mountain
www.lisadearingphotography.com

At the Foot of Denali-Alaska's Biggest Mountain

I spent two weeks last September camping at the foot of Mount McKinley at Wonder Lake photographing the mountain and the beautiful fall colors of the tundra in Denali National Park. The park in late August and early September is ablaze with autumn color and wildlife is gorging themselves on the abundant berries, and edible plants. Wonder Lake campground is an 8 hour journey on a park bus and lies at mile 85 which is almost the end of the dirt road that runs the length of the park. There are no cars allowed in the park besides the buses which run each hour and will drop hikers off anywhere you want, as long as there is no wildlife within ¼ mile of visibility. This is for safety as well as preserving the space for the animals. Along the way, we saw a wolf pack sunning on a hilltop, several moose in one of the many ponds, grizzly bear foraging, fox, caribou, and beaver. You can get off anywhere and hike in the park and get picked back up later by a returning bus. You can camp and backpack almost anywhere too, as long as you get a permit in advance.

For a two week camping trip, we packed in all our food, tents, camping equipment, and photo gear into a couple of large duffels and backpacks and boarded the camper bus that would drop us off 85 miles into the park at Wonder Lake campground.. Once you get to the Wonder Lake campground there are no facilities other than tent sites and a couple of flush toilets and a sink with running water. Every tent site however, has a gorgeous view of Denali (Mount McKinley). Most people who travel to the park spend all day riding a “day bus” and never even see the huge mountain of Mt. McKinley (Denali) which is frequently shrouded by clouds, fog, and bad weather. I decided to improve my chances for photography by camping at the foot of the mountain as far into the park as I could get (Wonder Lake Campground), and spending two full weeks there with hopes of getting some good shots and great views.

This strategy paid off, as we were rewarded with 11 out of 14 days of great mountain views and good weather. We frequently saw the mountain at sunset and sunrise which was spectacular with color. Anyone traveling in Alaska knows how bad the weather can be there and the summer of 2008 was one of the worst. Which is why it was even more amazing to get hot sunny days to hike and photograph in September. I recommend highly spending no less than 10 days in Denali National Park if you really want a chance to see the wildlife, beautiful landscapes, and oh yes, Denali (the great one) herself. The Wonder Lake campground is a great place to base out of as you can carry a lot of gear on the bus to do an extended trip. You can base camp there and day hike or even backpack from there to various destinations. My friends brought me in a mountain bike when they arrived several days after I did, which made it possible to reach photography destinations much faster than walking. A bike is highly recommended and can be put on the buses if not full. Early September is the best time because the weather is the best, the tundra is spectacular with autumn color, and the wildlife is very active before winter. The park closes around mid September. To see more Denali and Alaska photos go to www.lisadearingphotography.com. Alaska portfolio.


Alaska collection licensed through photoshelter at: http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/lisadearing and alamy images in the UK at: http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography-search-results.asp?adv=1&dtfr=&dtTo=&qt=lisa+dearing+alaska&creative=&lic=6&lic=1&hc=&selectdate=1&txtdtfr=&txtdtto=&size=0xFF&ot=1&ot=2&ot=4&ot=8&imgt=1&imgt=2&archive=1&chckarchive=1 This image is also offer through acclaim images USA at: http://www.acclaimimages.com.

America's Vanishing Wild Horses

Wild Horses

“He who would venture nothing, must not get on a horse”
Spanish Proverb

After a very long courtship of perhaps six thousand years, mankind finally got smart enough to realize that greater benefit would accrue from riding horses than from eating them. So, sometime between four and six thousand years ago, the horse was brought into domestication everywhere that they then occurred in the world.

There is another important factor too: the first moment mankind bestrode the horse marked the beginning of modern warfare. The man on horseback became a conqueror who could raid his unmounted neighbor with impunity. Understandably, he was slow to trade or gift away this animal that was to him the very embodiment of power and speed. For all these reasons, it was not herds of domesticated horses that spread over the expanse of the Old world, but the ideas and techniques that made their domestication possible. The Spanish first brought horses to the Americas helping shape the history and destiny of the New World. The horse not only enabled our westward expansion, provided transportation, freedom to roam, commerce and mobility, but shaped how we view ourselves as nation.



“The Spanish Mustang helped shape the USA as we know it. Descended of the horse of the Conquistadors, Indian buffalo hunters and war ponys, cavalry mounts and Pony Express Ponys to The wild horse of the West, The Horse has a rich and illustrious history that forms an important part of our American Heritage.”

Frank T Hopkins, endurance rider and Inspiration for the Motion Picture Hidalgo, Based on The True Story of Hopkins Life


The rest is history, as the saying goes. Without the horse, our country woud not be what is today. Wild horses roamed the western landscape for many years since the pioneer days and many wild horses are descendents of the Spanish mustangs and other horse breeds brought over by the Spanish and later generations that settled the western US. Today, many wild horses still roam in shrinking areas of rangeland in the American West. Prior to 1971, wild horses suffered roundups for slaughter, shootings, and unspeakable cruelties until a group of horse lovers got together and persuaded Congress to act. Protection through legislation followed and the horses once again freely roamed the range lands of Nevada, Utah, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Colorado.

“In 1971, an unprecedented public outcry moved Congress to unanimously pass the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, granting federal protection to America's wild horses and burros as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the west that contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people.” The American Wild Horse Preservation Society

The herds were once again thriving. Until recently, that is. Fast Forward to 2000, coincidentally the election of GW Bush and some brand new thinking on the management policies regarding the lands of the western US. Today, An aggressive wild horse removal campaign is currently under way by the U.S. government, at the cost of millions of tax-dollars. The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) removal policy is contrary to the spirit of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act which effected the will of the American people; its intent was to preserve wild horses and burros as part of our national heritage.

Over the past 30 years, under pressure from special interest groups and in blatant disregard of the public’s wishes, the BLM has systematically favored subsidized livestock grazing on public lands to the detriment of wild horse populations. The Burns Amendment, slipped into the 2005 federal budget without so much as a hearing or opportunity for public review, was the last nail in the coffin of federal wild horse protection, opening the door to the slaughter of thousands of these living symbols of our Nation’s spirit. A few months later, while in the process of rounding up another 10,000 horses supposedly due to poor range conditions, BLM eased public land grazing restrictions for private cattle.
The AWHPC (American Wild Horse Protection Coalition) is calling for a Congressional inquiry into the government’s wild horse management policies, and coordinating a grassroots campaign in support of:

• the review of scientific findings that contradict BLM's claims of wild horse overpopulation and negative impact on the range;
• a moratorium on round-ups until actual numbers of wild horses and burros on public lands have been independently assessed; and
• implementation of in-the-wild management, which would save millions of tax-dollars.

For a few politicians to continue dismissing this issue as "emotional,"
simply because the American public deeply cares, is a slap in the face of democratic principles. Special interest groups do not hold a monopoly over sound public policy. The American public has enough common sense to see that scientific data, ethics and fiscal responsibility all fall squarely on the side of America's wild horses.

Historically the priority has been livestock, and in 2006 cattle and sheep consumed 20 times as much forage on BLM land as wild horses and burros. But in the past 30 years the tone of the culture has been changing. Ranchers in many parts of the West have been losing their dominant place, and the loudest voice is now coming from oil companies. With intensifying pressure to make the United States more energy independent, the BLM has leased 44 million acres of land for oil and gas, nearly five million of that in areas set aside for wild horses. It's an indelible use of the land: Even when capped, the wells don't go away.

"The BLM oversees some 30,000 wild horses, which are confined to 29 million acres of disconnected BLM herd management areas (HMAs). Under the 1971 act the BLM must keep the herds at what it decides are appropriate management levels (AMLs). Some horse advocates believe the AMLs are arbitrarily low, threatening the genetic viability of the herds; ranchers say they're unrealistically high, threatening vital grazing. Jay Kirkpatrick of Zoo Montana agreed that wild horses "can exceed carrying capacity in places and cause problems not only for livestock and wildlife but for themselves. But," he said, "the key to understanding why wild horses are the scapegoat for poor land management and worse politics is that, unlike huntable wildlife and livestock, they have no economic value." National Geographic Magazine, February, 2009


Limited by the carrying capacity of the land and tugged between the demands of ranchers, miners, and hunters on the one hand and the indignation of wild horse advocacy groups on the other, the BLM has settled on keeping 30,000 horses in permanent captivity (about as many as exist in the wild) at an average daily cost of more than two dollars each. This arrangement soaks up funds and provides, at best, a stopgap solution to the animals' tendencies toward prolific breeding. Every year thousands more horses are rounded up, and every year thousands more end up in long-term holding. Last year the agency said it might have to euthanize horses to reduce costs (which prompted Madeleine Pickens, T. Boone Pickens's wife, to offer to adopt many, if not all, of the BLM's captive mustangs). "Everyone could see this coming," said Chris Heyde of the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C. "Every year they pull more and more horses off the range to keep the ranchers happy. Meantime the scenario for the horses is just awful."

Kirkpatrick said contraception offers a humane alternative to rounding up the animals, but that the BLM is resistant. He said the agency is spending too little studying fertility control and too much on helicopter roundups. When he suggested to a BLM official that the agency inject the mares with the wildlife contraceptive vaccine porcine zona pellucida (PZP), he recalled being told, "That's not how we do it out here. We do it with horses and ropes." According to Tom Gorey, the BLM spokesman, PZP has been administered on an experimental basis to about 1,800 mares since 2004. "The effects on population growth are being monitored," he said. Horses will likely be around as long as there are humans to attach themselves to a saddle. What is less sure is whether there will always be enough wild to allow mustangs to run in secure, functional, genetically viable herds. National Geographic Magazine February, 2009,

In 2008, I visited one of the several large BLM holding pens for Wild Horses. The herd families are separated with stallions in one huge holding pen and mares and foals in other pens. The stallions were kicked and bloodied as being taken out of their natural families, their instincts are to fight. Mares and foals stood in blazing hot sun with little or no shade looking miserable. Most of these horses will not be adopted. The question remains, how long can the American public stand for public agencies using politics and poor land management to continue keeping wild horses in inhumane holding pens and continuing to run up the bill to taxpayers with helicopter roundups and forced captivity? Many wild horse groups advocate for better birth control methods and land use policies which would keep the wild horse populations from over reaching in certain range areas. There are several major animal welfare groups with enough funding to take many wild horses off the BLM’ hands but government bureaucracy is still the biggest obstacle. The answer is not for the American taxpayer to be saddled with the expense and poor treatment of the wild horses, whatever the politics of the day may be. Politics and opinion aside, my personal belief is whether there is economic value or not, wild horses should be running and roaming on open range where they were meant to be, not used as a scapegoat for poor land management practices. Let em’ run free.

Big Sur in Winter

The mild weather in California has disappointed many skiers, including myself but the weather on the coast has been amazing with colorful sunsets and mild spring like temperatures. Julia Pfeiffer beach is a favorite place of mine and I traveled there recently to try to capture one of the stunning sunsets that frequently happen along the big sur coast with the right weather patterns. The first day was a wash out with almost no color in the sky, but the second evening was amazing with a very beautiful sunset that hung on the horizon with alpenglow for quite sometime. Here is one of the newer Big Sur photos from my last trip.

Photos from Colonial Mexico

Guanajauto Mexico is a wonderful and truly amazing old Spanish colonial city in central Mexico with twisty alley ways, old missions and churches, and street vendors. For a photographer, its a treasure trove of color, light, and design at every turn of the narrow streets. Forget San Miguel de Allende with the high end tourist attitude. If you want authentic colonial Mexico, with almost no American tourists or rich ex pats sipping coffee at the new Starbucks (yikes!) as in San Miguel, go to Guanajuato. Its slightly hard to get to being just about two hours north of Mexico in the sierra nevada mountains. Bus or taxi from Leon is the best way to travel there and once you there, all you have to do is just wander in any direction for a sensory treat. The trip was fantastic in every way. I've included some new photos.

Above the Blue

Looking down at the deep blue water with clouds gathering ominously on the horizon, I watch my dog sink up to her belly in fresh powder. Cutting a new trail through the two feet of fresh snow that fell overnight up to the summit is hard work but the payoff is definitely going to be worth it. Gliding effortlessly through untracked, fresh show is every backcountry skiers dream and the descent should be a good one. I see no one else on the mountain other than my companions which is pretty unusual. The backcountry seems to be getting more crowded these days with skiers looking for more fresh and untracked snow and a younger more aggressive snowboard crowd seeking new adrenaline thrills.

I have learned to appreciate the quiet pleasure in backcountry skiing of the “rhythmic shuffle”. Although my skis feel heavy as I climb the last 100 yards to the summit of Tallac, the sweeping 360 degree panoramic view provides the motivation for the final push to the top. Most people first try backcountry skiing because of the lure of fresh untracked powder. But since every hour of climbing usually results in approximately 10 minutes of downhill, one soon learns that if you don’t enjoy the climb, you will never be an avid backcountry skier.

Learning to like the climb requires more of an appreciation of the “zen” of climbing, than being particularly fit. Although the fitness, if not present before, will of course soon build as a by-product of the activity. The zen comes from the repetitious movement of body and breath required to transport one up the hill. The most efficient technique for climbing involves mastering the rhythmic shuffle, using a slight tilting falling forward motion of the body to slide the foot forward with no lifting, while at the same time swinging the arm forward to plant the pole, then repeat, repeat, repeat, gently swinging arms, legs and body, over and over again. The effect soon become hypnotic and time often seems to pass quickly and unnoticeably in a kind of warp. As one climbs higher and higher, pausing occasionally to take in the landscape that unfolds beneath you, it is hard to tell whether the sense of euphoria is from the ever expanding view, or the endorphins, and of course it does not matter, it is only important to be in that moment.

Backcountry skiing at Lake Tahoe has the added bonus of just that, Lake Tahoe. Most of the tours at Tahoe, Tallac, Jakes, Trimmer, Waterhouse, Flagpole, Rubicon, Ellis and more offer spectacular views of the Lake. Whether it’s a clear still day with the blue of the sky mirrored in the water, or a stormy day with squalls and whitecaps, the sight of that magnificent body of water surrounded by snow covered peaks is always breathtaking. After reaching the top, usually with a stunning view of alpine landscape with Tahoe framed in a portion of the panorama, one gets a chance to savor the effects of the past hours of exercise, the current moment of being at the summit, and the soon to be pure joy of being the star of your own picture show, as you pick out your line.

Because of course the untracked powder is not a trivial part of the joy of the backcountry experience. On a good powder day there is very little lingering at the top, and a good backcountry skier prides themselves on how fast they can layer up, skin off, and buckle down in preparation for the descent. The good powder days in Tahoe are often sporadic and fleeting, but when they are here the tours of Tahoe offer some of the best descents in the west. With 1,500 to 3,000 continuous vertical feet of climb and descent on steep slopes which can end within minutes of the car it’s easy to become spoiled. As you lay down that fresh track in pristine powder far from the ski resort crowds, you are once again reminded that it really is quality that matters not quantity.

You know you are a true backcountry skier, when you find yourself often out on the not so perfect snow days. A little breakable crust, heavy mashed potatoes, or powder, the many and variable snow conditions of the Sierras are all still just fine. Reaching the final summit is always a joy. I begin my descent from the top of Tallac’s corkscrew and feel the euphoria of gliding effortlessly through the light, deep snow. It hits my face and freezes my lips. I can’t stop. It’s too much fun. I stop finally to rest and wait for my dog to catch up. She seems to be floating too and it almost looks like she’s laughing. She stops when she catches up to me panting and covered in white frost. Descending towards the trailhead, the big blue lake disappears as we enter the trees. A good day for dogs as well as humans.

Grand Canyon Reflections

We rigged our rafts and floated down ¼ mile to our first nights camp on a warm and crisp November afternoon. Our trip would officially launch the next morning and everyone was excited and relieved to have finally finished rigging the hundreds of pounds of gear and food for an 18 day trip. A November rafting trip down the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River has both benefits and challenges compared to river trips earlier in the year. The challenges are cooler temperatures, low water, and short days. But the up side is cooler temperatures, greater solitude, and a unique serene quality to the ever-present beauty and grandeur of the Grand Canyon.

River trips are one of best ways to photograph in remote areas. Rafts allow you to take far more gear than you could ever hope to carry on your back, and the upside is that you also get to invite your friends to join you. Getting a private permit on some rivers, such as the Colorado can be challenging with lottery systems to regulate the number of boaters. Launching in the shoulder seasons of late fall and winter can be a great alternative as permits are somewhat easier to obtain and offer a completely different experience than running the river in prime season.

Although it did occasionally get warm enough for an hour or so of bikinis in the middle of the day, most of the time our attire consisted of capilene, fleece, and water proof paddling gear during the day, and down jackets and fuzzy hats in the mornings and evenings. But the cool fall weather also meant unlike the summer when escaping the hot temperatures and sun would be a primary preoccupation, the few hours of direct sunlight we would encounter each day were always a sensory delight, and hiking the side canyons was always comfortable.

Low water did not mean we weren’t getting wet, the 100+ rapids we navigated still provided plenty of splash, and some very technical lines in the major rapids that got our heart rates up. It also meant lots and lots of flat water. With the short days, constant pulling or pushing on the oars was necessary to keep moving downstream to complete the 270 river miles we were traveling during our 18 day trip. Every evening when we got to camp began with a flurry of activity, unpacking boats, setting up camp, and getting dinner at least started during the hour we had before complete darkness. Our time after dinner was spent talking story and making music around the campfire. We soon found out that most of us know a lot of songs, but usually no more then one stanza. But that did not deter us from creating many musically diverse medleys. Average bed time was around 7:30, and of course that meant up it was easy to get up at the crack of dawn. Most of us would be awake before daylight, waiting for just enough light to get up and start “coffee time”.

The National Park service allows only one private launch per day and no commercial trips during this time of year, which meant many days of complete solitude on our 18 day trip. No contact with the outside world, and interacting only with our temporary “family” of 13 good friends. Supporting each other through numerous camp chores, challenging whitewater, long days of rowing, as well as sharing our stories, talents, and good humor; our group developed a camaraderie that only comes from such an intense shared experience.

A fall trip also provides very soft light. The reflected indirect sunlight on the water created delightful mirrored images of the light and color spotlighting on the canyon walls. These reflections created a unique serenity that is harder to experience during the “on” season. In between the relatively short adrenaline pumping excitement of the rapids, many more hours were spent on our rafts listening to the rhythmic splash of the oars, quietly mesmerized by the ever-changing beauty of the Colorado River flowing through a palette of the constantly changing colors. The mornings and evenings were often particularly spectacular as dull brown walls would fade or explode into collages of yellow, orange, red, and violet. When the take out day finally arrived, I had burned up all my memory cards for my Nikon D2x, having shot hundreds of frames of water on rock, heart pounding rapids, and the soft fall light reflected on canyon walls.

Spending 18 days with a group of 13 good friends in such a magical and beautiful place is a profound and often life changing, or at least life affirming experience. You cannot help but go back to your regular life with a changed perspective and a little sadness. But thankfully the photographs and memories can stay with you and bring you a little bit back to the camaraderie, beauty, and the serenity of the canyon.