Alaska Range, Sunrise,
Denali National Park

This photo in Denali National Park was made from outside my backpacking tent's door, and so was my first view of the new morning that day. How did I come to be here?

At the time, I worked for an Indian Tribe on the central Oregon coast. Since I was their Tribal Forester at the time, they would send me to the annual Intertribal Timber Council workshop, which was always hosted by a different tribe each year.

The year that this photograph was made, the ITC workshop was hosted by the Alaska tribes, with the actual event held in Fairbanks. Since the tribe I worked for was paying for the airplane ticket, it was natural to insert several days' vacation into the trip, so that I could see more of Alaska than an airport and a motel room.

I flew into Anchorage and met my friend Steve from Neah Bay, Washington, with whom I'd done other backcountry trips in the Olympics and Cascades. We rented a car and drove to Fairbanks.

On the way to Fairbanks, we went to Denali National Park for the first of two weekend trips. This photo was taken on the first trip. We hiked up a glacial riverbed, then climbed a nearby range of mountains. We camped on top...talk about a room with a view.

It was June, and at a latitude that far north, of course the sun doesn't go down for very long in the summer. It was amazing to watch the sun travel around in an immense circle throughout the day, as opposed to 'coming up' in the east and 'going down' in the west like we'd been used to down in the Lower 48 states.

Between the headiness of being in the Alaskan backcountry and the long, long days, it was hard to go to bed, even after a grueling backpacking trip in. I managed to stay up long enough to watch the sun 'set', or rather dip, below the Alaska Range to the north. It never got dark, since the sun was only somewhat out of sight.

After a couple of hours it kind of swung back up into view in the north-northeast. When it did, I somehow woke up and poked my head out my tent door, then hurriedly got up to photograph this scene. The clear weather and the half-full moon setting in the west is a very fortunate touch.

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