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September 17, 2023

I Discovered a Klingon Prison Planet Hidden in Alaska

While flying over this glacier in the Chugach Mountain Range, fact and fiction merged into one reality, as I was suddenly transported to the Star Trek universe. Here’s what happened.

In “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991), you may recall that Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy are banished to a Klingon ice planet, and it’s home to a not-so-cozy penal colony. Spoiler alert – They don’t stay there forever. When they break out, Kirk and McCoy have to hoof it on the frozen landscape beyond the Klingon force field to send their distress signal to the Enterprise.

Today’s topic is about that fictional Klingon icy terrain. Turns out it’s not that fictional.

The Elusive Denali
On the last full day of our Alaska trip, my family and I were hoping to take a plane ride up to see the famous Denali (the tallest mountain in North America). Any other transportation route starting from Anchorage would have taken too long for our 10-day itinerary.

The big unknown was if that day would offer decent enough weather conditions to fly around Denali. And apparently, those days are few and far between. We had originally scheduled our Denali plane ride during our very first day in Anchorage. But knowing the atmospheric odds were against us, we had this back-up day planned as well. As it turned out, both days failed the weather test. Fortunately, we were also prepared for that likelihood.

Glacier Flightseeing Tour
So, the backup plan was to take a Knik and Colony Glacier flightseeing tour (by Regal Air) in a tiny Cessna plane through the Chugach Mountain Range.

Whoa! What a ride. It was simply spectacular flying right over these glaciers. Sure, we had already seen a few glaciers while hiking in the Kenai Fjords National Park and during our glacier cruise on Prince William Sound. But doing a flyover was an entirely different adventure.

It’s hard to describe exactly what it’s like to experience a glacier this way. So, let me show you. Here’s some of my GoPro footage from our remarkable flight.

The Undiscovered Country
But as the title of this post suggests, there’s a bit more to my story.

While we were passing over Knik Glacier, our pilot informed us (as a throwaway comment) that below us was where they filmed scenes from one of the Star Trek movies with Captain Kirk.

I quickly turned my attention away from the outside view.

Star Trek? Star Trek? What?! (My Trekkie mind kicked into overdrive.)

“Which one?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I think the one with a Klingon planet.”

Klingon? Klingon planet? Klingon glacier? Klingon ice planet?

Holy Pike! It was Rura Penthe! Of course… the Klingon penal planetoid from “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country!”

I blurted it out for everyone to hear above the roar of the Cessna engine. (I felt like I had just won a round of “Jeopardy.”)

The pilot smiled at me. She said with a bit of amusement, “Yes, that sounds right.”

I could tell she wasn’t a Trekkie. But she was clearly a really great pilot. That was good enough for me.

Knik Glacier is my Star Trek Nexus
When we got home, I scrubbed through “Star Trek VI” on my iPhone, and yep, there it was. Knik Glacier.

So yes, my family and I visited Rura Penthe during our Alaska vacation.

It’s a nice place to visit. But I wouldn’t want to stick around for too long.

And don’t forget, the terrain is best viewed either from a Cessna… or a Federation starship.

September 10, 2023

How to Find your Perfect Camera Moment on Vacation

When you think you’ve just snapped your perfect vacation shot like I did while sea kayaking in Alaska, don’t put your camera away just yet. The best may be yet to come.

You can plan all you want, but finding the best moment to visually capture the awesomeness of your vacation will usually be an unexpected opportunity.

During our Backroads’ Alaskan vacation, that happened to me during a fifteen-minute break after we had finished our amazing group sea kayaking expedition around Yukon Island in the Kachemak Bay near Homer.

Downtime can be your Magic Opportunity
We were all waiting around on the island’s beach for the water taxi to pick us up and transport us back to Homer. The group slowly began to focus on skipping stones on the water. This was technically a slight delay in our schedule (as if you could ever perfectly align every minute).

I had already taken my share of photos and videos with my waterproof GoPro while my son and I traversed the Kachemak Bay in our kayak. It was hard to know how successful my shots would be as I snapped away, but I felt satisfied with my attempt.

That said, I can’t deny that I still felt the painful memory of my iPhone kayaking disaster back in Connecticut earlier in the summer. The incident was still fresh. So, I had been a bit preoccupied to avoid a similar incident. Sure, my GoPro was more impervious, but I didn’t have it locked down. I could have easily dropped the GoPro into the bay. (But if I had, that would have certainly been the topic of this post.)

Time to Put my GoPro to Work
I already had ample opportunity to capture beautiful shots and record a few videos while on the water. I was done. Or was I?

For me, a big challenge during this kind of trip was to snap away… and also keep up.

Remember, I was always in motion with the group… kayaking… bicycling and hiking. I never had fifteen minutes to really take my time and craft the perfect shot. And then it hit me…

I was standing there on a mystical island in Alaska in perfect weather conditions. I had nothing to do for fifteen minutes while our group waited.

Holy cow! This was the moment! My opportunity! It was like a lightning bolt hit me. (And yes, sometimes I need that to see the obvious.)

Every view from this rocky island beach was spectacular. My mind raced as I considered my options on how to best use this creative opportunity.

By this point in our vacation, I had realized that the wide Alaskan vistas were my ‘money shots.’ I had come prepared to zoom in tight with my Panasonic Lumix ZX200D and its 15x zoom lens. But I quickly learned that the opposite approach demanded equal attention.

GoPro… this is your moment to shine!

But wait, I didn’t have a tripod with me. D’oh! I looked about at the craggy shore and angled boulders littered about. (I felt like nature was smirking at me.) Then I walked up to one of the rocks and peered closer. Yep… I could see a few flat spots… Enough space to balance my GoPro.

I looked behind me. Everyone was happily skipping their own rocks, and nobody noticed my absence.

I had found my moment. And I put my GoPro to work. Here’s what it captured:

My Alaskan Zen
It’s often difficult to be in an incredible environment and appropriately capture its imagery. And in trying to do so, you can easily forget to fully immerse yourself in that space.

This fifteen-minute exercise enabled me to do both. Admittedly, my video clips only offer a limited view on this mind-blowing Alaskan space. But I can happily report that these fifteen minutes also became my minutes of pure Alaskan Zen.

Slow Down
I returned to the group as the water taxi arrived. I boarded the boat, and nobody knew what I had just experienced. I had joined with the Alaskan wilderness for those few minutes. It was a true gift.

When you’re wired to always be on the go, it’s useful to sometimes slow down and embrace the unscheduled moment. That’s where the magic often resides.

For your camera… and for you.

August 27, 2023

Hiking the Harding Icefield Trail in Alaska

One destination during our Backroads’ vacation was Kenai Fjords National Park where we hiked next to the spectacular Exit Glacier. I used a dependable trick to help me frame my camera shots…

My family and I have returned from our bucket-list vacation to Alaska, and as you might expect, it was an absolutely transformative experience.

First off, let me answer your first question. No… my wife, 13-year-old son and I did not take a cruise. We took a less conventional route and signed up for a really fun Backroads adventure, featuring a healthy dose of hiking, biking and kayaking. We also boarded a small cruising vessel to explore part of Prince William Sound.

Our trip began in Anchorage and across six days, we traversed the rugged terrain with two other families and three Backroads’ leaders.

Our Itinerary
Alaska is a massive state, and we were only able to explore a small sliver… the magical Kenai Peninsula.
Our Backroads’ van transported us to Girdwood, Whittier, Seward and Homer. For context on the distances, our return ride back to Anchorage took around five hours.

We also scheduled a day on the front end and two at the back for our own family time and a high-octane experience that involved strapping ourselves into a tiny Cessna plane for a up close and personal view of several glaciers.

Weather Conditions
The weather during our Backroads’ itinerary was perfect. (We were expecting at least a bit of rain.) The crisp August temperatures ranged from high the 40s in the mornings to the low 60s in the afternoons (colder on top of mountains). Perfect for me!

Yes, it was a rustic trip, but we stayed in nice lodging and ate in great restaurants. (I mostly focused on consuming fresh local salmon and halibut. Yum!)

My Camera Gear for Alaska
There’s a lot to unpack from our amazing experience, but I’ll begin today with sharing a few more photos. Of course, I brought along my camera gear to capture Alaska’s natural beauty, such as this sunset I snapped while we were staying in the Resurrection River Valley.

I was mindful to keep my ‘rig’ light. I had my GoPro HERO11 Black for the wide vista shots and I carried my compact Panasonic Lumix ZS200D, which sports a 15x zoom lens (24-360 mm) when I needed more reach. Both lived in a small fanny pack that was strapped to my waist the entire trip.

I even pulled out my iPhone when I needed to quickly capture a fleeting moment (like a Moose quickly passing by).

Photo Tip: Frame Context into your Shots
My biggest challenge was capturing the scope and scale of everything I saw. One solution I used was to include foreground elements in my scenic shots. This provides context for the background’s enormity. Whenever I spotted people in the distance, I knew those moments would be my best opportunities.

This visual tactic was especially useful when we visited Kenai Fjords National Park on Day 3 and did a hike up the Harding Icefield Trail (3,512-foot elevation) next to Exit Glacier.
Along the way, we spotted another group of hikers who were walking literally on Exit Glacier! Thankfully, this was not part of our Backroads’ route, but it did make for a great photo opportunity!

At the top of our own hike (on solid ground), we looked out over the front part of the spectacular Harding Icefield (over 900 square miles).

Regaining Perspective
Our journey up to this top of the world was both inspiring and humbling, as we are clearly just little specks in this vista of reality. But I’m still honored to be a tiny piece of it all. It’s an important reminder that anyone can benefit from.

I pondered this as I began my descent, and I wondered what revelations the next days would bring.

Our Backroads’ adventure was not yet finished…

Tag: GoPro

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