If you are interested, here is a link to a feature travel article I wrote and photographed for The Baltimore Sun. It recaps a trip I took this summer with 5 of my closest friends. Be sure to check out the images that accompany the story.

I hope you enjoy the article. Comments always welcome.
Les
http://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/bs-tr-yukon-trip-20111201,0,410319.story
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Today my 5th visit to the Yukon is over. After 24 days in this majestic land, I’m heading home on Air Canada on a route that has by now become familiar to me. I’ll process some photos, write a bit, read a good novel (right now I’m reading Eventide, the sequel to the acclaimed Plainsong by Kent Haruf)), and begin thinking about my next visit.
Take Our Workshop!
Which brings up an interesting point. Richard Hartmier (www.hartmier.com)  and I are planning a photo tour of the Yukon next summer, stretching over the …

Klondike Gold Rush fever spread through the world in 1898, bringing tens of thousands of dreamers, mostly Americans, into the harsh and frigid reality of the Yukon. Dawson City was its epicenter, but to get there those Klondikers had to endure a months-long journey against Mother Nature that was brutal beyond imagination. During its peak year, almost 90,000 people lived in and around Dawson City, where before there had been a tiny outpost and First Nations dwellers.
When the gold rush ended, gold mining by larger corporations continued until the early …

There are good days and there are bad days. And then there are days like today.
The day started out poorly, as inclement weather kept us grounded until just before lunch. The skies began to clear and we sailed north along the Dempster Highway, tracking reports of grizzly bear sightings near the border with North West Territory. Along the way we stopped for some landscape images right at the Arctic Circle (click on the images to enlarge).

Proceeding north from there, we didn’t have to wait long before we sighted a gorgeous …

Well, today has been a l-o-n-g day of photography. Richard Hartmier and I spent the night at the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, had a 6:00 AM breakfast and were on the road before 7 in order to get to a beaver pond by 8:30 to record their winter preparations before they went to sleep for the day.
Frustrations
That’s when we encountered our first frustration. The pond was lightly frozen over (remember, today is August 31!) with a few small holes indicating where the beavers had recently surfaced, but there were …

We left Whitehorse, Yukon this morning under bright, sunny skies and were granted a glorious day driving the 8 hours to Dawson City, Yukon, the Gateway to the North. Of course, we stopped several times along the way for photographs. Fall is in full swing up north.
You can trace our route and stopping points on my SPOT interactive mapping site. For those of you who are curious, here is my SPOT GPS device standing on the dashboard. It sends out a signal about every 10 minutes to a satellite which, …

If you’ve been following my travels on my SPOT site, you’ll notice that I left late because I had to do some errands in Whitehorse before Richard Hartmier and I left for Haines, Alaska for bear-gorging-on-salmon photographs. We arrived in time for lunch in Haines Junction, Yukon and planned to scout around for some good images at the entrance to Kluane National Park, but the weather continues to be uncooperative- low light and dull clouds. We did make good use of the time, though, by visiting some of Richard’s friends …

I’m sitting in the Eagle Plains Hotel and Restaurant lobby as I create this blog. After our disappointment regarding Tuktoyaktuk, we headed back south toward Dawson City. Our group was excited to see three very large grizzlies, including one male that was about the biggest grizzly I’ve ever seen. We also saw seven caribou. All in all it was quite a trip segment.
The skies continue to plague us, although we did get a sustained sunny period en route here.  The tundra is an incredible sight when the sun plays on …

Sad to say, our flight to Tuktoyaktuk was cancelled. We waited for the skies to clear from 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM. First we were delayed by heavy fog in Inuvik. Then it was 30 mph winds and rain in Tuk. At 1:30 the Aklak Air service agent came out to tell us we were last Saturday’s dinner.
We weren’t able to reschedule due to a lack of seats on the next day’s flights so, reluctantly we left the airport knowing that our dip in the frigid waters of the Arctic …

Tomorrow I leave again for Canada’s Yukon Territory, my second trip up there this year. When I visited in February the temperature was minus 40F, so I’m in hopes that this trip will be a bit warmer.
Those of you who read my blog know that I have a love affair with the Yukon, with its abundance of wildlife, mind-blowing scenics and friendly people. With a land mass 20% larger than California’s, the Yukon has 30,000 residents, compared to California’s 33,000,000. Since 24,000 of Yukon’s residents live in the capital …