FYI—During this trip sunrise is approximately 7:30 am with sunset approximately 8:15 pm
Day 1 (Monday September 14) Arrival day. For those traveling from a far time zone, we suggest perhaps arriving a day or two earlier to acclimatize to the time change. We are happy to provide hotel options and potential activities
Arrive on your own to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) Anchorage, AK. Please arrive no later than 3 pm. Transfer on a free shuttle to our hotel as you arrive. At 4:30 pm we meet at our hotel for a meet and greet, orientation for the trip and a pre-workshop classroom instruction on wildlife and landscape photography followed by dinner.
Day 2 (Tuesday September 15)
Breakfast at hotel… Our first stop is a short drive up to the Chugach Mountains above Anchorage where we will find fall color landscapes and perhaps moose during the fall rut. After lunch we drive North towards our evening destination along the Glenn Highway stopping often for fall landscapes, potential wildlife and whatever interests us, including views of the Matanuska Glacier surrounded by fall color. We will arrive early evening at our lodge nestled between the Talkeetna and Chugach Mountain ranges in private, well appointed cabins. The evening is spent with a second classroom workshop on Northern Lights and Night-Sky photography and slide show. Evening photography in the area. There is a potential of seeing the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) —weather & solar activity permitting.
Day 3 (Wednesday September 16)
Day 3 begins with an early-risers (6:00 am for those who want to) sunrise fall colors landscape photo shoot a short drive from the lodge, followed by breakfast. Noon we are off to photograph more fall landscapes along the Glenn Highway and the Hatcher Pass area for stream and mountain landscape photos. A picnic lunch will be had along the way at a convenient time. We stay in a well-appointed bed and breakfast home in the Palmer area this night and we will dine at a local restaurant. In the evening, we will drive to new landscape areas. More potential of seeing and photographing the Northern Lights and night sky.
Day 4 (Thursday September 17)
After an early breakfast at our B&B we drive 20 minutes and take off in helicopters for a 15-minute flight directly over a 16-mile (25 km) glacier and on to the ice-berg choked shores of a glacier formed lake with the snow-capped Chugach mountains as a background. If conditions permit, the doors of the helicopter will be off for the flight in for better aerial images. After landing, the helicopters will depart and we have the area to ourselves for 5 hours of Glacier, lake and iceberg landscape and fall color photography. We have a picnic lunch here and are picked up in the early afternoon. From here we drive back to our hotel in Anchorage and dinner with a photo viewing session of participant’s images.
Day 5 (Friday September 18)
Breakfast at the hotel. Pickup at 7:30 am and transport to air taxi at Lake Hood Seaplane Base. Fly in a floatplane for a one-hour flight to our home for the next 3 nights, an exclusive, private lodge in Lake Clark National Park. Weather permitting, there is much opportunity on the flight for aerial photography. Arrive at the lodge in the late morning. After introductions to the staff and an orientation to the lodge grounds and cabin, head out to find and photograph bears. There will be two participants in one motor boat with a guide. The bears here are found in various locations around the 9-mile, glacier-fed lake and at both the inlet and outlet rivers. Our guides will find the bears for us. The real uniqueness of this location is the SPECTACULAR scenery the bears are in AND the ideal way in which we can both travel in the safety of the small boats with the bears as they move around the area and that we can relocate quickly to find more bears in different locations. We are not stuck photographing just one bear or set of bears. And these bears are CLOSE to us.
The lodge is known for its delicious meals. We’ll have lunch back at the lodge and then head back out to find more bears and landscapes. Evening dinner at the lodge includes beer and wine. Perhaps a time to edit images. Again, Northern Lights and/or night sky photography is a possibility.
Day 6 & 7 (Saturday and Sunday September 19 & 20)
Each of the next two days, after a hearty breakfast, we will take to either the small boats with 2 photographers and guide per boat, or take a pontoon boat with our whole group to photograph bears in various locations. At any time during the trip, you are welcome to choose another activity, other than photographing bears, of your choice. You can take a guide and go kayaking, hiking or salmon and trout fishing. As a group we may do a landscape photography outing or hike at some point. Lunch and dinner at the lodge. The last two nights we will have a critique session as well as a teaching session on post-processing in Lightroom and workflow.
Day 8 (Monday, September 21)
Breakfast at the lodge. Leave on floatplane for Anchorage in morning. Arrive back at Lake Hood Seaplane base approximately 12 noon. Transfer available to the airport or your hotel.
DUE TO THE UNPREDICTABLY OF ALASKA’S WEATHER, WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT MAKE FLIGHT RESERVATIONS TO LEAVE ALASKA ON THIS AFTERNOON OR NIGHT JUST IN CASE WE GET WEATHERED IN AT THE LODGE. WE CAN MAKE HOTEL RESERVATIONS FOR YOU THIS NIGHT IF YOU SO DESIRE.
