Another Denali Sunset

Sunrise 9:40am......Sunset 3:50pm.....beautiful, beautiful light throughout the day...... Is it sunrise or sunset? Hard to tell sometimes. Temps between 0F - 35F.... pretty warm.... very enjoyable temperatures..

Another Denali Sunset.

Denali Sunset

We woke up this morning to the true meaning of an arctic winter.... -35F. Today is a great day to enjoy the relaxing confines of the great indoors doing chores and reading books.

It sounds cold, and it is but beautiful also. The sun rose at 9:50am today and will set at 3:20. It's still a month away from the shortest day with each day getting shorter by about 6 minutes each day. During these shorter days the sun stays low on the horizon providing Alaska with an amazing quality of light most of the day. It's almost like the sun goes right from sunrise straight to sunset without the midday sun.
Who can name the mountain in the background of this photo? Come on now, think... think... Hint: tallest mtn. in AK. This is a photo of Denali taken from our neighborhood yesterday. We can't see it from our house exactly but we do get great glimpses of it while driving through our neighborhood on cold clear days.

Winter Settles In

Temperatures have remained low for a few weeks now. Winter feels like it's finally here to stay. With day light savings switching over recently and the rapid shortening of days we are waking up and getting to work in the dark and leaving work in the dark. Days seem really short but the mid-day sun is now beautiful low angle light if one remembers to get out of a building and enjoy it. Snow..... has fallen and is starting to accumulate a few inches at a time. Right now is the time for us to really savor the cold because soon it will be dropping down to the -40F temperatures and we will become selective about recreating outside.

Our Last Summer Walk

Winter has taunted us with it's elusive coming long enough. We've had some cold, but not much, enough to freeze some lakes but not the normal temps for this time of year. It's been really nice though. With the soil frozen but no snow on the ground it has allowed us to explore areas along our neighborhood trails that we normally wouldn't due to the boggy nature of some of the lower areas. Last weekend Beck and I went on our last snow free walk until Fairbanks thaws out 6 months from now. The walk was spectacular. We found trails we did not know existed although we had walked past them dozens of times. One trail in particular lead us to the top of a nice little wood knob, maybe 100 feet of elevation above the surrounding area, covered in moss and an old forest. The trees on the knob were primarily birch and aspen which really stood out from the surrounding scrawny black spruce forest. The soft moss forest floor made for a really nice spot to lay down and soak it all in.

Shortly after our walk interior Alaska finally got the respectable snowstorm we've been expecting, leaving behind 4-5 inches of snow and cold temperatures to prevent the snow from melting.
This weekend, Halloween weekend, our temperatures finally reached subzero. Oddly enough winter is starting to feel really good. I know you are probably thinking it's nuts to desire subzero temperatures but the air feels really clean and crisp once your body adjust to it (or you go numb from hypothermia or frost bite).