When I tell people I live in Alaska, they usually follow up with one of two responses: 1) "But isn't it dark and wintery all the time?" or 2) "Oh, that's so cool. I [insert random connection they have to state, whether it be they lived here, visited, or know someone who lived/visited here]." And there's nothing wrong with that. It's usually a great way to start a conversation and it certainly beats the joke about the polar bear breaking the ice under his own weight.
When we have the time to converse though and they get to asking questions about the state and its seasons, I usually discuss how we have really only have two seasons here. Winter and winter... No, I'm just kidding. It's winter and summer. Our 'spring' and 'autumn' are more like a week of transition from one to the other.
Since I've been here, I've seen snow as early as August and as late as May. When I visited the Arctic Ocean and Prudhoe Bay in July, they still had ice floating around in the lakes and rivers nearby. So yes, winter lasts quite a while and with the shortened hours of daylight, it can get very dark. And then there's summer, which is usually a solid three months of long, sunny days and more green than you can imagine. It's absolutely beautiful. I always inform people that they must visit here at least twice. Once in the winter and again in the summer. They are two polar opposites and each is incredible in its own right.
But there is still some beauty in between, it's just pretty rare. Luckily enough for me though, I've been here a few years and I've gotten to witness some of it on our adventures. So today, I would like to share with you some images from the fall season.
24 mm | f/9.0 | 1/250s | ISO 640
24 mm | f/4.0 | 1/200s | ISO 200
38 mm | f/4.0 | 1/400s | ISO 320
24 mm | f/8.0 | 1/320s | ISO 320
70 mm | f/7.1 | 1/400s | ISO 400
3.61 mm | f/2.8 | 1/115s | ISO 100
44 mm | f/8.0 | 1/250s | ISO 160
155 mm | f/4.0 | 1/250s | ISO 640
3.61 mm | f/2.8 | 1/25s | ISO 463
200 mm | f/4.5 | 1/640s | ISO 400
Now, if you were to ask me when to visit so that you could see Alaska like this I would have to tell you to visit for September-October. It seems to be different each year and almost unpredictable as to when it first happens. Usually one day the summer weather decides to just get really cold one evening, it dumps a light dusting of snow on the mountains and then it just goes from there. And as I said before, it really only seems to last a week or so. So get it while the getting's good and go get after it.
Thanks for seeing what I had to share!
Dimitri