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Capturing memories of Glacier National Park with a cell phone camera

June 19, 2022 by John L. Dengler

While I spent most of a recent long-weekend trip to Glacier National Park in Montana lugging my heavy Nikon camera and lenses, I found myself without them during an impromptu hike to Avalanche Lake in the park. 

The point I want to make is that it has been said that the best camera is the camera you have with you. In this case, all I had was my iPhone. Not having my super high-quality Nikon equipment forced me to approach photography differently. The best part was not being burdened by lugging the typical backpack of gear up the mountain. Being liberated from this made the hike enjoyable and allowed me to easily and quickly try different things.

It really is true. The best camera is the camera that you have with you. Would I have taken more technically better quality photos with my Nikon equipment? Probably, but without the iPhone on this hike on this day, I would have only had memories had I not had the phone.

The 4.5-mile roundtrip hike to the mountain lake was fun, relatively easy, with beautiful scenery. Included that day was a side-hike through a grove of giant western cedars on the Trail of the Cedars trail that connects with the Avalanche Lake Trail.

Western Red Cedar branch litter
Twigs and small branches litter the forest floor under a giant western red cedar tree (Thuja plicata) along the Trail of the Cedars, a wheelchair-accessible trail in Glacier National Park.
Western Red Cedar tree
One of the huge western red cedar trees along the Trail of the Cedars, a wheelchair-accessible trail, in Glacier National Park. The humidity of the Lake McDonald Valley enables the cedars to grow in size of 100 feet tall and diameters of four to seven feet, with many of the trees being more than 500 years old. The western red cedar is one of the most widespread trees in the Pacific Northwest, ranging from southern Alaska to northern California. This grove in Glacier National Park is near the eastern terminus of the western red cedar range.
Forest view of Trail of the Cedars
The Trail of the Cedars, a wheelchair-accessible Glacier National Park trail, allows visitors entry to the magical world of a 500-year-old western red cedar / black cottonwood forest.
Black cottonwood tree
In this photo, a black cottonwood tree (Populus balsamifera), foreground, is bathed in the dappled light of the forest. The fuzzy fruit of the tree floats in the air during the spring and early summer, creating the look of warm-season snow. They inhabit riparian areas, including streams. 
Avalanche Creek gorge
Both the Trail of the Cedars and the Avalanche Lake Trail afford incredible views of the gorge of Avalanche Creek. This photo was taken very near where the easy Trail of the Cedars joins the more moderate-challenging Avalanche Lake Trail.
Avalanche Creek
Avalanche Creek overflows onto the forest floor along the 4.5-mile roundtrip hike to Avalanche Lake.
Moss covered boulder
A sliver of sunlight lights a moss-covered boulder—an excellent example of how photography is all about light.
Avalanche Lake
Rain approaches Avalanche Lake as seen from the Avalanche Lake Trail. Avalanche Lake was named in 1895 by a party including Dr. Lyman Sperry, namesake of the Sperry Glacier, who witnessed many avalanches during their stay. The meltwater from Sperry Glacier feeds the lake. Monument Falls can be seen cascading down the mountain in the background along the cliff face. Avalanche Lake is the destination of the 4.5-mile roundtrip Avalanche Lake Trail. This photo was taken with the iPhone panorama shooting feature.

Glacier National Park in the Rocky Mountains of Montana encompasses more than 1 million acres. The park’s nickname is the “Crown of the Continent Ecosystem.” The park was established in May 1910. Soon after, hotels and chalets were established in the park, including the Lake McDonald Lodge. In 1932 construction began on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, allowing automobiles to traverse the park. Climate change is affecting the park. As of 2010, only 25 active glaciers remain in the park, down from the 150 that existed in the mid-19th century.


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Two for two in Alaska magazine

October 20, 2015 by John L. Dengler

Photographers on the Chilkat River at sunrise

page from Alaska magazine feature, "Where in Alaska?"

I’m on a nice streak of two for two, with consecutive months of having two of my images published in Alaska magazine. This time their editors nicely displayed my image of photographers photographing the Chilkat River at sunrise as a double page spread.

Photo Gallery

Images of bald eagles, Chilkat River, Alaska

The photo is a good example of photographing not just the subject at hand (the sunrise) but also any activity going on. In this case I stood back from the small group of photographers for a different, more storytelling image. The image is a good example of the beautiful, but very cold, early mornings I endure when I photograph bald eagles in late fall on the Chilkat River near Haines, Alaska. It also is an example of the importance of getting up early to catch the special morning light. The special light lasted five minutes or less. I remember thinking to myself while walking back to my car and passing late arriving photographers, “You folks are WAY too late. Skip your precious coffee next time.”

The other photo published accompanied the magazine’s feature, “Where in Alaska?” I can’t tell you much more about it because that would defeat the purpose of the feature. 😉


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Nugget Falls – a lesson of scale in Alaska

August 21, 2014 by John L. Dengler

Hikers to Nugget Falls located next to the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Alaska are dwarfed by the 377 foot waterfall. Each year, 465,000 curise ship passengers visit the Mendenhall Glacier. (John L. Dengler)

Scale is an important concept to grasp in Alaska. Things are big, really big — actually bigger than big. However, scale in Alaska is also not what it appears to be.

My introduction to this phenomenona goes back over 15 years ago when my wife Carol and I made our first backpack trip in Denali National Park. In preparation for the trip I poured over topographic maps to plan our multi-day backcountry trip into a part of the park where there are no trails. I carefully formulated a route over rivers and through the mountains. That carefully crafted route went out the window when we arrived to the area. You see, topographic maps in Alaska are at a different scale. In the lower 48, topographic contour intervals on maps are 20 feet. On Alaska maps, the contour interval is 100 feet. The small river bank that I thought was only 20 feet was actually a steep 100 foot high wall. Hills turned out to be mountains. Scale in Alaska was painfully learned on that trip. Lesson learned.

Photo Gallery

Images from Juneau, Alaska

Flash forward a dozen or more years where I’m now aware of what I call ‘Alaska scale’. I now know that in order to help viewers of my work appreciate just how big things are in Alaska, I need to give context and clues to the scale of the subject of the photograph.

My recent post about the publication of one of my Mendenhall Glacier photos reminded me of one of my favorite photos, taken at the glacier. On one of my trips to the Mendenhall Glacier I photographed the powerful Nugget Falls of Nugget Creek as it drops down into Mendenhall Lake near the face of the glacier. Including people in the image helps give a sense of scale. The falls look (and are) HUGE!

Wait I say, not so fast. Remember my first lesson about “Alaska scale”? That same general principle applies to this photo. Things are not what they seem in Alaska.

See the tiny waterfall in the image below. That’s Nugget Falls, the same falls in the image above. In the greater scheme of the landscape at Mendenhall Glacier the falls are quite small. This scale phenomenon is one of things I find so intriguing about Alaska.

An iceberg floats in Mendenhall Lake located at the terminus of the Mendenhall Glacier. Also reflected in the lake is Bullard Mountain and Nugget Falls. The glacier runs roughly 12 miles, originating in the Juneau Icefield, near Juneau, Alaska. The glacier is located 12 miles from downtown Juneau. Each year, 465,000 curise ship passengers visit the Mendenhall Glacier. (John L. Dengler)

ABOVE: An iceberg floats in Mendenhall Lake located at the terminus of the Mendenhall Glacier. Also reflected in the lake is Bullard Mountain and Nugget Falls. The glacier runs roughly 12 miles, originating in the Juneau Icefield, near Juneau, Alaska. The glacier is located 12 miles from downtown Juneau. Each year, 465,000 curise ship passengers visit the Mendenhall Glacier.


To license image, click image. To see our collection of fine art prints, click here.

Aurora borealis over Haines – spectacular, spiritual, and otherworldly

January 21, 2014 by John L. Dengler

A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis or as it is commonly called, the northern lights, occurred the evening of November 8 through the early morning of November 9, 2013 over Sinclair Mountain and other mountains in the Kakuhan Range at Haines, Alaska. The luminous glow in the upper atmosphere stretched across the skies above the Lynn Canal from Skagway to Juneau. The bottom edge of an aurora is typically 60 miles high with the top edge at an altitude of 120 to 200 miles, though sometimes high altitude aurora can be as high as 350 miles. The collision of sun storm electrons and protons with different types of gas particles in Earth’s atmosphere cause the different colors. Green, the most common color, is caused by the collision of electrons with atoms of with atomic oxygen. *** EDITORS NOTE: Boulders in foreground were lit with a flashlight during time exposure*** (© John L. Dengler/Dengler Images)

The most spiritual, other-world moment of my life, occurred last November when I witnessed an awe-inspiring display of the aurora borealis (aka northern lights) when I was in Haines, Alaska to film bald eagles.

Those who really know me, know that I’m not a particularly spiritual person. So when I say that I experienced a “spiritual moment,” they know that it had to be something really moving. When I say my jaw dropped, I really mean it.

Photographs, including these, can’t possibly convey what I saw in the darkness the evening of November 8th through the early morning of November 9th, 2013. My photos could have been better, both in terms of content and technique. However, I’m confident in saying that even the best photographer in the world could not convey to others what I saw and experienced during this extended display of the northern lights.

Photo Gallery

See more photos of the aurora borealis

I have struggled with how to explain to friends why I was so moved by this experience. It wasn’t until I started to do some reading about the aurora borealis that I began to realize why it was so amazing to me. It was the size. The biggest thing in the sky  I have seen up to this experience were towering Cumulonimbus thunderhead clouds; frequently seen on the prairie. While tall, at a typical maximum height of roughly 11 miles, a massive thunderhead cloud pales in size to the glowing curtains of the aurora borealis. The BOTTOM edge of an aurora is typically 60 miles high with the TOP edge at an altitude of 120 to 200 miles, though sometimes high altitude aurora can be as high as 350 miles. Add in the fact that the aurora borealis display  I witnessed from my ocean viewpoint was visible overhead from Skagway to Juneau (a distance of 85 miles) and beyond, and you can begin to see why I felt like I was witnessing something from another world. It was incredibly massive. It made our Earth feel very small.

This other-world feeling was genuine and I can understand why our ancestors might have been frightened or thought the aurora borealis was a connection to the spirit world. Throughout the early morning, the curtains of the aurora would fluctuate in shapes and sizes as if they were ghostly spirits trying to communicate with me. At one point two auroral curtains aligned next to each other right above me, stretching from horizon to horizon. The dark area between the two curtains looked like the entire universe above me had cracked, leaving a giant undulating densely black crack that was inviting our earthly world to slip into. I wondered where would end up if it swallowed us. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis or as it is commonly called, the northern lights, occurred the evening of November 8 through the early morning of November 9, 2013 over Haines, Alaska. The luminous glow in the upper atmosphere stretched across the skies above the Lynn Canal from Skagway to Juneau. The bottom edge of an aurora is typically 60 miles high with the top edge at an altitude of 120 to 200 miles, though sometimes high altitude aurora can be as high as 350 miles. The collision of sun storm electrons and protons with different types of gas particles in Earth’s atmosphere cause the different colors. Green, the most common color, is caused by the collision of electrons with atoms of with atomic oxygen. (© John L. Dengler/Dengler Images)

The evening started out like any other during my late fall pilgrimages to Haines, Alaska to photograph and film bald eagles on the Chilkat River. Typically, I would have a quiet dinner with close friends Joanne and Phyllis, owners of the Alaska Guardhouse Bed and Breakfast. This evening however, friends, Tracy, William, John and Margaret joined us. Just as we were finishing dinner, Tracy received a text message from a friend saying that the aurora was out. Seeing the aurora borealis has been a longtime quest for me. Despite having spent extensive time in Alaska, I have never seen the northern lights. It stays too light to see them during the summer months and during the fall and winter the weather is often too cloudy (particularly in southeast Alaska). So when Tracy smiled and silently showed me the text message at the dinner table, I bolted from the table and ran out onto the back porch. There they were, faintly glowing green curtains of light dancing across the cold crystal-clear star-filled night sky.

What happened next was a scene out of an old Keystone Cops silent movie with the photographers in the group fumbling for coats and cameras, piling in the car and speeding to find a spot clear of the town’s lights. We knew we had to act fast. How long an aurora borealis display lasts is fickle. Displays are typically most active in the very early morning hours. The fact that it was only 7:30 p.m. and there was aurora activity should have been a clue to what would come later. However, I was focused on the moment and missed this important clue. After braving the cold wind blowing off the Lynn Canal for about 30 minutes the aurora died down and we left. Over dessert the group excitedly relived what for several of us in the group was a bucket-list event. The next day was going to be another up-before-sunrise morning for most folks so everyone headed to their homes early.

This was the end to an already incredible evening for the group. It would have been the same for me except I was too excited. I sat on my bed in the dark looking through the exposures I took on the glowing LCD screen of my camera. I was fretting that perhaps I might have messed up. It’s not like you get a second chance. I mentioned earlier how the challenges of summer light and how uncooperative weather lessen your chances of seeing the aurora. Equally important, the frequency of the aurora is determined by a predictable solar cycle that ebbs and flows over a 11-year period. Right now we’re at the height of the cycle that is predicted to continue for only a few more years before falling back to minimum activity. To have to wait another decade to have the same frequency of sightings is a long time.

As I was calling it quits for the evening, I peered out the window one last time, as I always do whether sleeping in a tent, or in a B&B bed. It is an a old ritual that has been part of my quest to see the northern lights. While I shouldn’t have been surprised, sure enough, the luminous glow was again appearing in the sky. Not as intense as earlier in the evening, but definitely there. I thought to myself, perhaps I shouldn’t let this opportunity pass. Everyone in the house was sound asleep so I quietly layered-up with clothes, gathered up camera gear and headed out into the cold.

This time I went to a different viewpoint on the ocean, looking in the opposite direction, towards Juneau. While the aurora borealis was faint when I left the house, the sky now has EXPLODED in a massive display of rolling curtains of green light. Oh my goodness, it made the earlier evening display look like nothing. I doubt I will ever see anything this spectacular again. I frantically started out taking photos from the beach high-tide line, but moved quickly into the water of the tide pools to capture the aurora reflection in the intertidal zone and compose boulders in the image foreground to give depth to the image. With the creative juices flowing I then dug out my LED flashlight to supplement my red-filtered headlamp and began painting the rocks with light from the flashlight and headlamp. There I was scurrying about like a crazy madman in the darkness counting out loud the exposure while working my way through the obstacles in the tide pools to paint the boulders. In this case there were the additional challenges of having to keep exposures under 20 seconds to keep the stars sharp (with the lens I was using, the earth’s rotation causes star-trails with longer exposures) and the aurora borealis curtains sharp (if they are moving fast, slow shutter speeds will photograph them with less definition). This meant that I really had to move quickly. I’m really lucky I didn’t break my neck on the slick slimy rocks and boulders in the water. Oh, and did I mention the grizzly bear that has been frequently prowling this beach? I sure didn’t want to meet up with him in the dark.

A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis or as it is commonly called, the northern lights, occurred the evening of November 8 through the early morning of November 9, 2013 over Haines, Alaska. The luminous glow in the upper atmosphere towers above Mt. Emmerich and other peaks in the Chilkat Range and is reflected in the Chilkat Inlet for the Chilkat River. The bottom edge of an aurora is typically 60 miles high with the top edge at an altitude of 120 to 200 miles, though sometimes high altitude aurora can be as high as 350 miles. The collision of sun storm electrons and protons with different types of gas particles in Earth’s atmosphere cause the different colors. Green, the most common color, is caused by the collision of electrons with atoms of with atomic oxygen. (© John L. Dengler/Dengler Images)

The display continued for several hours. As the aurora borealis curtains became less defined, I decided to head over to the Chilkat Inlet where the Chilkat River flows into the ocean. I’m not as familiar with the road pullouts in that area so it was difficult for me to determine a safe place to pull off on the unlit road but I finally found a spot that seemed safe. Once again, the aurora fired itself up putting on a display above Mount Emmerich and the other peaks in the Chilkat Range, and reaching far up the Chilkat River and Klehini River Valleys, past the border with Canada. While I would have liked to have worked this situation further, the powerful gusty winds that this area is famous for were barreling down the Chilkat River making time exposure photography almost impossible. What looks like fog in the photos is actually flying dust. I finally called it a day at 3:30 a.m.

Physically exhausted and mentally overwhelmed, morning came much too soon. I received some well-deserved good-natured grief from my friend William for not waking him up. In retrospect had I known that what would await me, I would have awakened him and the entire town of Haines!


TOP: A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis or as it is commonly called, the northern lights, occurred the evening of November 8 through the early morning hours of November 9, 2013 over Sinclair Mountain and other mountains in the Kakuhan Range in Haines. The curtains of light in the upper atmosphere stretched across the skies above the Lynn Canal from Skagway to Juneau. Boulders in the foreground were lit with a flashlight during the four-second exposure.

MIDDLE: The colors of the aurora borealis (aka northern lights) are created by the collision of sun storm electrons and protons with different types of gas particles in Earth’s atmosphere. Green, the most common color, is caused by the collision of electrons with atoms of atomic oxygen.

BOTTOM: The luminous glow of the aurora borealis dances in the upper atmosphere above Mt. Emmerich and other peaks in the Chilkat Range at the Chilkat Inlet for the Chilkat River just outside Haines.

To license image, click image. To see our collection of fine art prints, click here.


AURORA FORECASTS: For aurora predictions check these links Alaska Geophysical Institute and the NOAA Ovation forecast model

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