Brooks Range - Alaska

The Brooks Range is a mountain range that stretches from west to east across northern Alaska and into Canada's Yukon Territory, a total distance of about 1100 km (700 mi). The mountains are not especially high, topping out at over 2,700 m (9,000 ft). This mountain range forms the northern-most drainage divide in North America, separating streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean and the North Pacific. The range roughly delineates the summer position of the Arctic front. It represents the northern extent of tree line, with no trees (apart from some isolated Balsam poplar stands) occurring north of the continental drainage divide. Mount Chamberlin, 9020 ft (2,749 m), is the highest peak in the range. Other notable peaks include Mount Isto, 8,975 ft (2,736 m) and Mount Michelson, 8,855 ft (2,699 m).

The range is mostly uninhabited, but the Dalton Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System run through the Atigun Pass (1,415 m, 4,643 ft) on their way to the North Slope and the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay. The Alaska Native villages of Anaktuvuk and Arctic Village, as well as the very small communities of Coldfoot, Wiseman, Bettles, and Chandalar Lake are the only settlements in the 700-mile Brooks Range. In the far west, near the Wulik River in the De Long Mountains is the Red Dog Mine, Alaska, largest zinc mine in the world.

As one of the most remote and least-disturbed wildernesses of North America, the mountains are teeming with wildlife, including Dall sheep, grizzly bears, and caribou.

The range was named by the USGS in 1925 after Alfred Hulse Brooks, who was the chief USGS geologist for Alaska from 1903 to 1924.

Various historical records also referred to the range as the Arctic Mountains, Hooper Mountains, Meade Mountains and Meade River Mountains; the Canadian portion is still often referred to as the British Mountains. The British Mountains are part of Ivvavik National Park.

Documented Wilderness Traverses of the Brooks Range

• Dick Griffith -- Kaktovik to Kotzebue, Alaska (1959-1979) by foot, raft, and kayak: first documented traverse.
• Roman Dial -- Kaktovik to Kotzebue, Alaska (1986) by skis, foot, packraft and kayak: first traverse in one year.
• Keith Nyitray -- Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, Canada to Kotzebue (1989-1990) by dog sled, snowshoes, foot, raft, and canoe: first continuous traverse of the entire range. 1,500 trail miles from Canada to Kotzebue. See April '93 issue of "National Geographic."
• Thor Tingey, Phillip Weidner, Sam Newburry, Dan Dryden -- Marsh Fork Canning River to Kobuk (2000) by foot and packraft.
• Dennis Schmitt -- Point Hope, Alaska to Mackenzie River, Northwest Territories (1966-2001) by foot and dog sled: longest and first full length traverse.
• Peter Vacco -- Bonnet Lake to Cape Lisburne (2003) by snowshoe and foot: first continuous foot traverse from Canada.
• Roman Dial -- Kivalina to Dalton Highway without resupply (2006) by foot: fastest traverse (624 miles in 22 days, 7 hours, 40 minutes).
• Bruce Nelson -- Yukon border to Kotzebue Sound (2006) by foot and raft.
• The range is believed to be approximately 126 million years old.

credited to wikipedia and flickr users: travfotos, jpsloan1, johnjan99ca, richard_cooper, palojono

Rainbow Over Blue Ice

A glacier is a large, slow moving river of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity. The processes and landforms caused by glaciers and related to them are glacial (adjective); this term should not be confounded with glacial (noun), a cold period in ice ages (see glacial period). The process of glacier growth and establishment is called glaciation.

credited to wikipedia and flickr user niallcorbet

Mount Katmai - Alaska

Mount Katmai is a volcano with glacier-covered walls and a large crater, located near the head of the Alaska Peninsula, in Katmai National Park. It was once much higher, but a violent eruption in 1912 collapsed the mountain. Its crater today is eight miles in circumference and 3,700 feet deep, and holds a lake with a small island. It rises near the shore of the Shelikof Straight, across which Kodiak Island can be seen. Aniakchak and the Aleutian Islands are further south on the same peninsula.

The valley surrounding Katmai is known as the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes because of the widespread steam and smoke which have risen from the valley floor for much of this century. The volcanic activity was at its zenith just following the eruption of 1912. Only a few vents are still active.

credited to peakware.com and flickr user: nature_shots

Beautiful Panorama of Aurora and Meteor over Alaskan Lake

Auroras (North/South Polar Lights; or aurorae) are natural colored light displays, which are usually observed in the night sky, particularly in the polar zone. The aurora typically occur in the ionosphere. Some scientists call them "polar auroras" (or "aurorae polares"). In northern latitudes, it is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas. It often appears as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the sun was rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis is also called the northern polar lights, as it is only visible in the North sky from the Northern Hemisphere. The aurora borealis most often occurs from September to October and from March to April. The Cree call this phenomenon the Dance of the Spirits.

Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis/southern polar lights, has similar properties. Australis is the Latin word for "of the South".

Benjamin Franklin first brought attention to the "mystery of the Northern Lights." He theorized the shifting lights to a concentration of electrical charges in the polar regions intensified by the snow and other moisture.