The Baird Mountains from Above

I just got back to town after leading a five day float in the western Brooks Range. We arrived in the middle of the rainiest stretch of weather the northwestern part of the state has experienced all summer. It wasn’t until the afternoon of our flight off the river and back to Kotzebue that the sun appeared for the first time. The brief window of stellar weather coincided with our flight from the confluence of the Nakolik and Noatak back to town. I was able to shoot from the windows of the Cessna as we flew over the Baird Mountains. Flying over such terrain is half pleasure, half torture. While the views are extraordinary, the potential of the landscape below is even more so. Each valley I want to wander up on foot. At every glacial tarn I want to sit and watch the dark green waters change colors as the sun comes and goes behind the clouds. Alas, my time with each element of the landscape is measured in seconds rather than hours or days. Someday, I’ll get back there, and it will be with a backpack and camera rather from an airplane. So much potential, and not nearly enough time.

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