My Expectations

A year ago, when I reserved my space in the Denali Photo Workshop, I had some very vague ideas of what it would be like in the park.  I didn't know anyone who had been there, so these ideas were based on my imagination.  To say that my imagination was off-base would be an understatement. 

My expectations were way too high in one area, but not high enough in some other areas. 

There's one (1) road in.  Period.  Getting out requires travel on the same road.  It's 90 miles to the interior where we stayed, and it takes about 4 . 5 hours.  I'm not saying that it's not beautiful (sometimes totally breath-taking), but it is a loooong drive. 

The naturalist guides / drivers were great - - personable, funny, friendly and extremely knowledgeable.  But . . . . . . the best they could do was guess at where the animals might be based on activity observed in the previous days. 

Along with information about the animals we received a plethora of facts concerning the flora and fauna.  It's Fall in Alaska now and the colors are changing.  In the 4 days we were inside the park, we saw the colors change dramatically - - it was beautiful.  There weren't many flowers still in bloom, but I managed to get this one.

This mooose was way far away on a hill.  I usually didn't try to photograph the animals when they were so far away because I didn't have a long enough lens and I'm doubting its critical sharpness.  But I figured I should come home with at least a few images of wildlife and not just scenics.

This was the only bear that was close enough for me to bother photographing and even so, it's not sharp.  Sigh.

I think I need to start saving my pennies to buy that pro-series lens I almost purchased this past July.  Kind of like "closing the barn door after the horses escape" if you get my drift . . .