THE SKY, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS

 

Willow Lake, Alaska

Behind those clouds are the Wrangell Mountains with peaks over 14K feet. We only seen a few sunny days so far, most days starting off like the above image.  Not complaining because it make for very dramatic skies. Thankfully the sensor on my Pentax 645D has a great dynamic range.  Weather and skies change rapidly in these parts. Willow  Lake is on the Richardson Highway -- Alaska Highway 4 -- and not twenty minutes later driving down the road to Chitina -- Alaska Highway 10........

Mt Blackburn, Alaska

.....looking back across the Copper River valley, Mt Blackburn shows its peaks above the clouds.  At 16,391-feet, this is the tallest peak in the Wrangells. Clear from this angle, but obscured from another angle as in the first image.

The Copper River joins the Chitina River, Alaska

Past Chitina, the gravel road rides the ridge line overlooking the confluence of the Copper River and Chitina River.  This is big country and the river systems are equally big.  Most all the rivers in Alaska are braided rivers. Because of rock and frozen ground, they tend to spread out rather than dig deep channels.