Stream in the Alaska range mountainsCanon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f4.0L IS, 1/400 sec @ f13, ISO 200
The heat of the spring sun bears forcefully upon Alaska’s winter landscape. Daylight increases at a rate of about 7 minutes per day, and while the snow is thick in many places, it can’t resist the marching summer season. On a snow machine trek into the Alaska range a few days ago, the brilliance of a clear day not only revealed opening water in the mountain drainages, but a potent sunburn on the face as well. The grizzly bears that make their winter dens in the mountains are ending their long hibernation in accordance with natures amazing synchronicity.
Alaska range mountain ridgesWe did not see any bears however, save for one set of tracks that went on at length over the mountain slope. They will be waking soon however, slumberous and hungry. Breakup, which is the term used in Alaska for the transition from winter to summer–since the season called spring is ever so short if calculable at all–is a messy time with rapid melting and wetness everywhere. But most people, are anxious for the sun’s warmth, and the increased pace of summer.
