Eric,
Wonderful images!!
Byron
I love it, Eric! You’ve posted some gorgeous photos. And after hearing you talk about Alaska, I’ve got the photos we took on our trip up there in 1985 sitting on the table now. It was fun reminiscing with my son today; I hope I can get up there again, but I’m having trouble convincing my husband. I made the mistake of showing him the photos of the Cassier Highway – during the rain. 🙂
Beth,
Thank you for your response. That is exactly why I wanted to share my images with others. It thrills me to picture you at your table reminiscing. I’m not sure if you read the biography page or not, but a few years ago I bicycled from Seattle to Maine, down to FL, over to CA and up to Alaska. I took the Cassiar on a bicycle – 13 bears in 4 days! It was one of the most challenging and memorable experiences of my life.
Eric, your images are totally awesome! You definitely have an eye for intriguing compositions. Your images at 13 x 19 must be breathtaking! Wow, you sure are some adventure seeker; I really enjoyed your bio. Thanks for sharing your talent.
Barb
p.s I can see why you were happy you had your camera along on your hike in Arizona that day; the "Arizona Sunset Tree" is magnificent! 🙂
Eric, the photographs are wonderful. Your web site is great too. Thanks for sharing your love of nature and photography!
beth
By BICYCLE??!! 🙂
You made good time on the Cassier. I think it took us the better part of two days to drive it because of the road conditions. Have they paved any of it yet?
Another stretch that I remember as being so spectacular is the Klondike Highway, from the Alaska Highway just southwest of Whitehorse down into Skagway.
Ah, memories. Thank you, Eric. 🙂
Beth,
I think they’d paved about 60-70% of it when I was there in ’99. Speaking of the Klondike, I ran the Klondike relay this year, a 10-person team runs the route from Skagway to Whitehorse. Start at 9:30 at night, finish 1:00 the next afternoon. Unreal. That’s what I love about living up here, so many cool places and cool things to become part of.
Thank you all for the responses! You encourage me to keep working. Eric
Eric,
Beautiful pictures and a very nicely done web site. I share your love of physics and photography as a former high school physics teacher. I no longer am in the classroom as I am the registrar, but I will always love the things I used to do in physics class. I spent Christmas 1987 in Sitka. Would love to go back again. All my pictures of that visit are slides and I do not have a slide scanner. Boo.
Love your work. Keep adding more.
Karen
"Eric Matthes" wrote in message
Beth,
I think they’d paved about 60-70% of it when I was there in ’99.
Speaking of the Klondike, I ran the Klondike relay this year, a 10-person team runs the route from Skagway to Whitehorse. Start at 9:30 at night, finish 1:00 the next afternoon. Unreal. That’s what I love about living up here, so many cool places and cool things to become part of.
Thank you all for the responses! You encourage me to keep working. Eric
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Thanks for sharing. I especially liked the hikers on the mountain! My only trip to Alaska was done so vicariously through one of Jodi’s challenge images. Marty
Eric……..
Your pictures are excellent………they made me miss Sitka even more than I usually do…….I left there in May of 83 after 8 years…….my son is buried there……..I loved Sitka…….it was beautiful………..my second favorite place in Alaska……the first being Glacier Bay where I lived for 2 years prior to moving to Sitka………have about 40 boxes of slides I need to scan and enhance, etc………someday……
Have also lived in Dutch Harbor, Kodiak, Bethel and Anchorage…….so I understand your love affair with Alaska……there is no place quite like it…….I have a little plaque that says "Once you’ve gone to Alaska you never come all the way back"……I find it is very true……think I have left little pieces of my heart in all the places I have lived up there…..they all have their own unique flavor…….my daughter and her family still live in Anchorage…….
One of the things I really want to do is drive the AlCan Highway……have never had the chance to do that…….what is the Cassier that you and Beth are talking about?
So have you done the Mt Marathon thing in Seward?
Thanks for sharing your pictures and your love of the state……..
Lynn
Lynn,
Thanks for your comments. That’s why we take pictures, to share our memories. The Cassiar runs parallel to the AlCan, between the AlCan and the coast. It has much less traffic than the AlCan, so it’s just a wilder area. I think it is still unpaved in large parts. I know someone who’s bicycling from Haines to Argentina right now, and probably just finished with the Cassiar, so I’ll let you know what he says. If you were to head north from Seattle, you follow the Fraser River north from the border, starting in Hope, turn left at Prince George, and north at Kitwanga, near Smithers. It joins the AlCan just south of Whitehorse.
I have not been to Seward. Is that a run up a mountain? I did the Alpine run here, where you run up Gavan around the ridge to Harbor Mt Road. Where are you now? (Where does one go after Alaska?!)
I have done both the Cassiar and the ALCan (The Alaskan Highway) back in the late 80’s and if my memory hasn’t failed me the Cassiar is paved while the ALCan is not totally paved. I loved the AlCan from an historical point of view and the Cassiar for shear beauty. That is not to say that the AlCan is a shabby view it is just that the Cassiar is condensed beauty. If anyone is planning a trip to Alaska go one way and return the other and you will not be sorry.
Grant
Eric…….
There was no Alpine run when we were there……
Yes, Mt Marathon is up the mountain and back again…..run on the 4th of July if I remember right…….supposed to be a quite brutal race………shale slope coming down………medics standing by to treat the injuries……
I now live in Silverdale, WA………about 65 miles from where I grew up………It is very beautiful in this area as well…….when I first got to Southeast it reminded me of the Olympic Peninsula where I grew up, only more so……it was not hard to leave AK when I did as I was starting a new life and Anchorage was just a big city…..although the access from there to other beautiful parts was great………but I did hate to leave Glacier Bay…..stood on the deck of the boat we were on (a 65 foot boat with my whole family and all our worldly goods, except the car) and cried as we pulled away from the dock…….we arrived in Sitka about July 1……went to the parade on the 4th of July…..we were five minutes late and missed it……was the year Porky Bikar had the strippers on top of his car……is he still around? I doubt it because it has been 20 years now and he was no kid….but he sure was a legend…….he lead the group that set the tires on fire in the bowl of Mt Edgecumbe………..now I am really tripping down memory lane…..will have to go listen to Dave Estrem’s CD again………Sitka Sound is the name of the one I have…….wonder if there are more……
Have been to Hope, BC and along the Frazer…….where the Frazer & Thompson come together……..was truly beautiful from what I remember……but was many, many years ago….
Think Grant’s idea of one hiway up and the other back is great……now all I need is someone who wants to go with me and has the time, etc…and I need to find the time…….
Well, thanks again for the pictures……will bookmark your site and revisit from time to time……
Lynn
When I did the Alaska trip back in 1985, the Alaska Highway itself was paved almost the whole way. There were a few short stretches that weren’t, but not too much. Cassier back then was largely unpaved. If I have time tomorrow I’ll dig out the slides. In the rain it was a particularly ugly stretch of road!
been following this Alaskan thread with much satisfaction. Went hiking up in Denali NP for 2 weeks back in ’94, or was it ’95..hmmm, anyways, i did leave a piece of myself there. It’s one of those places that makes you realize you really aren’t so important in the grand scheme of things. The strenght of the land empowers your every waking moment. You can sit for hours without a thought. Your ears hear every little thing. No need to speak, it doesn’t seem necessary. it’s called ‘respect’. If I was a winter person which i am not i would be there now.
Eric, your landscape images are great! They show your love to nature. It is in the wonderful American landscape photography tradition of majestic landscapes, started by Ansel Adams. Love it!
Once, within 10 years I will follow your trail as I plan to cycle -after retirement- from Boston to Los Angeles, mainly along the remainders of the Route 66.
I suppose I won’t need a map, just sing the song to know the next stop will do. 😉
Leen
Lynn,
Porky Bickar passed away just a few weeks ago. I have a picture of the Edgecumbe tire eruption on my refrigerator.
A guy I worked with last year is bicycling from Haines to Argentina. He left 2 weeks ago, and just finished the Cassiar. "By the way, riding the cassiar hwy gravel/construction sections in pouring rain plays havoc on a bicycle drivetrain…mud, slop, yesssss."
Leen,
Have fun getting your kicks!
