The second group went for the glacier trip early this morning.

The rest of us packed to return to Whitehorse and fly home early tomorrow morning!

Greeta (sp?), the lodge owner, came to say goodbye. She showed us some of her photos of northern lights and bears! Wowsers! We may have to come back to capture those shots.

We had a rather uneventful drive back to Whitehorse with zero bears, waterfalls, or any wildlife sightings but lots of laughs and good fellowship in our van. Upon arriving at the hotel, we did a little souvenir shopping for my grandbabies and then a good supper at Klondike Rib and Salmon which will soon close for the season. A good hot shower felt fantastic and then to jump into a non-squeaky bed until the 215 am wake up call to start the trek home.

Another fantastic trip with old time friend Connie and 10 other new friends who range from across Western Canada but we all had the same common goal of obtaining photographs and new skills from Greg Johnson. This a select group of people who understand the craziness of a trip like this. We book the trip and then willingly rise at early hours, trek into the wilderness to stay at rustic locations, drive like mad in minivans to stop at a scenic site and learn a new skill then jump back into the vehicle to zoom off again. Not many “holidays” do you have a nap right after supper for 1-2 hours to get up at 11 pm to take pictures in the dark. Yet we all did this with goofy grins on our faces. The excitement that pulsated through the group when we stopped at river in Haines to “shoot” the bear was an awesome experience. Overall a great trip, but it will be good to get home to a hot shower, my own bed and pillow, and to hug and squeeze my family. Margo and Bennett – get ready for some grandma love!

Free day! Today was a real hodge podge, but good. We slept in after trying to catch the Aurora until 2am

We cruised around looking for bison and lynx. Did some off-roading and crossing waterways with minivans. 🥹 used some slo mo video to capture the moment. Good laughs. 🤭

Second attempt at flying to glacier at 4 pm. Connie and I went up again and this time we scooched across the glacier, but couldn’t get out as there were too many crevasses. That’s ok. It was a smooth ride at least, unlike our first attempt.

We will try the Aurora again tonight.

Update: we did try the Aurora again. Pretty good, but not as good as we were wanting. Called it quits at 145 am as it was pretty cold, and they were dying down.

The photos may not have been what we were gunning for, but the time with Connie has been fantastic. So many funny moments and good laughs.

Random:

Roasted potatoes recipe. Boil. Roast with salt and pepper. Squeeze lemon juice

Tip for Northern lights taking. Stabilizer off

Balsamic vinaigrette recipe. Order of things: one part syrupy balsamic dressing. Salt and pepper. Dollop of grainy mustard. 3 to 4 parts olive oil. Emulsify while adding the oil and add a squeeze of honey.

Glacier flight!

We spent the morning recovering from our camping experience at the Yukon Lake Cabins. Very pretty scenery; pretty rustic accommodations.

Connie and I went for a walk around the lake this morning. Very pretty and spacious.

Before lunch we drove to the airfield to go on flight to view the glacier. We may not land on it due to clouds, but we will see. Flying iso 200. Aperture 5.6 or 8 or higher in glacier. It will be crazy bright up there. Daylight white balance. If blue then put on cloudy.

Well Connie and I and 4 other photographers went up in our little plane, but returned to the landing strip within about 30 minutes from take off. The wind was picking up, the plane bounced around a bit and there was airlift from our seats a few times. The pilot said that it would just get worse so he aborted our flight. We will try again tomorrow and Friday if need be.

Now we have fingers crossed of the Aurora storm that is to be hitting tonight. Pray for clear skies!

Our roommate raises Golden retrievers on Vancouver Island and their website is swampdog.com or org. Kathy Miner.

Make sure stabilizer is off on lens for Aurora.

Another stellar meal tonight from Sarah The Chef with beef stew and homemade focaccia bread.

Our last morning in Haines, Alaska. We spent more time with bears and left Haines. It is as if the bears knew our time was up with them and they put on a show! Momma bear sat on the road, cubs were scratching their backs on a CO building, and fishing was going crazy today!

We left and drove north to leave the USA and entered BC and then Yukon. Incredibly scenic drive. The colors have popped in the last two days! Vibrant yellows and ruby reds make for a beautiful Canadian landscape.

We arrived at our last stop before Whitehorse. We will be on Kluane Lake for three nights staying at Silver City which is an old American military base. Most of it is dilapidated, but we have access to a main kitchen/bathroom cabin and most of us are camping in little heated cabins.

We had a caterer come in tonight who made us the most delicious meal we have had on the trip: salmon, lemon potatoes, cucumber salad, lettuce salad and rumalade. (Sp?) so good!

Northern lights tonight if clouds disappear. We are on the southern tip of the 60 km long Khulane Lake which faces north between two valleys. If the clouds disappear, it will be the best place on earth to watch them and photograph them due to the reflections.

Camera tips:

Time lapse technique. Good for showing moving clouds. Could take 500 pictures to make one photo.

Interval shooting for group shots. Multiple pictures as opposed to 1 shot.

Portrait. 400 iso. F4. Change shutter. Be in shade

Neutral density ideas: combine in field. One with combine not moving but crop is waving in wind. Then combine moving and crop stands still. If buying new one, 10 stop but called ND1000.

Places to buy photo gear items: Urth.com.

Add to the northern lights lesson. Set the infinity setting by spinning the second dial RIGHT on the lens.

More bears early this morning!! as we waited for the bears to arrive, I feel like the photographers who were waiting for a royal baby announcement. Hurry up. Set up all your gear. Wait for the big arrival

All the gear we brought has been used. I thought we were crazy being asked to bring so much gear, but everything has been used: gloves, toques, long underwear, hiking pants -wish I had another pair, hiking boots are a must for stability and keeping feet dry.

Bears were an experience today. Greg put out a go pro down by the bank. A bear found it and he has great footage as the bear came up and mauled it and tried to eat it. it wasn’t damaged and it could be a ad for GoPro. Pretty funny!

Short lunch in town. Off exploring the area seeing braided rivers where the channels change with the rains. Good spot for drone photos. We explored the side roads and trails looking for good picture spots. Spent some time using the neutral density filter with a small stream. Pretty neat effect.

We went back to the bears for another couple of hours. Such interesting rascals. Some are great little hunters and eat what they catch, some catch and toss, some steal from each other, some catch and run away. Sometimes momma bear comes in and gives them a cuff behind the ears.

Quick supper for fish and chips again. Off to bed as tomorrow will be another early morning as venture back to Canada at Khulane Lake to go see glaciers!

Camera tips:

Neutral density. Can use in things like waterfalls and fly fishing. Put on super slow exposure and shoot. Fishermen won’t move, but water will keep flowing. Cool effect. Same thing for a waterfall. Low iso. Slow aperture. Mid f stop.

Wildlife always max aperture (lowest f number)

Don’t forget to play optometrist on my camera. Little button under the eye piece of my camera. Adjust to make it more focused. The diopter.

We left early this morning for Alaska!

Enroute we stopped to take pics of scenery and animals: fox, moose, Kelly the Cowboy from Lake Alma. Emerald Lake was majestic looking with great practice of our polarizer lens. Lots of learning using manual, aV and my phone. The best camera is the one you have right at your hand.

Camera tips:

1. Shoot from the shade.

2. Don’t spin the polarizer too much.

3.Check your white balance.

4. Bockeh effect. Use sparkly water. Put in manual. Focus on water. Take a video of it for a transition on. A video. Put a person in front of the sparkles. The sparkle can become a blue of giant circles. Bockeh effect is the name of it.

We took the ferry from Skagway to Haines Alaska! Saw some orcas from the ferry. Once we arrived, it was bear time!!! so exciting and fast paced! Parked the cars, grabbed our gear and shot away until the five bears (1 momma bear and 4 babes) waddled away after eating their fill of salmon!

Had a good supper at the Haddock place and then checked into our charming hotel of Halsingtown Inn! Tomorrow – more bears!

Today some went looking for a moose at dawn that didn’t get the memo to show up. Hmm. Glad I slept in.

Then 4 of us went fishing with Curt who took us about an hour away to the north. We eventually went to the Yukon River and caught some Arctic Grayling which were delicious on the grill with salt as a coating. We were on Lake Lebarge of Sam McGee. Curt is quite a chef! Salt coating which pulls away the skin and scales and you dash a little soy sauce on when eating. This was a fabulously fun day and we spotted an eagle eating a salmon..

Curt took the rest out for a spin around the lake so Connie and I took a hot sauna and then a cold plunge into the mighty Lake Lebarge. There were plenty of squeals and giggles as we plunged. Connie went in way deeper than me and that’s ok!

Somewhat of what an early bed night as we are off to Alaska tomorrow via the ferry at Skagway to see the bears at Haines!

Wowsers! A very busy day! We started with getting our group together, getting our minivans, revisiting the Miles Canyon but this time Greg gave us instruction upon instruction. Polarizing lens which is what makes landscape and water pop. It takes away glare and makes everything look incredible. Spin away and good things happen!

We stopped for fishing licenses for some and then hit the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. We saw bison, elk, sheep and MOOSE!! Three main ones were very photogenic. 400 mm 1600 iso. Fast speed.

We travelled to Fox Bay Retreat which is way deep in the wild. For the Altwasser’s, it was very reminiscent of Bernard Lake and Rod and Faye’s cabin. Very picturesque and beautiful. The sleeping arrangements had the women sleeping on a second floor of the main cabin. All of us came very close to freezing during the night. Brrrrr.

But before we went to bed, we went to the beach and took some Aurora photos. Kinda crazy. Bear country. Darkness. 12 photographers. some cool pics! Lens 16 mm. ISO 3200. No polarizer. Infinity on lens. Manual setting. Kelvin white balance of 4760. F2.8. Shutter speed of 10 seconds.

A short night but good night!