A cross fox plays with her silver kit, Fairbanks, mid-May. Cross and silver are both color morphs of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #wildlife #fairbanks #spring

Jumbled seracs in the Gabriel Icefall on the Gulkana Glacier, eastern Alaska Range. Seracs are ice towers formed where intersecting crevasses open as the glacier moves over steepening terrain. www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide... #alaska #hiking #glacier

Aurora over the Goldstream Valley, Fairbanks, January. A very active night. photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #aurora #winter #auroraborealis

Glacier cave in the Canwell terminus in summer... drip, drip, drip #alaska #hiking #glacier

The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) are starting to nest at Creamer's Field. I can never get over how pretty the iridescent patterns on their backs are. Taken last night (May 15, 2026). www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide... #alaska #spring #fairbanks #birding

Waterfall along the Prince William Sound Coast near Valdez, Alaska, on a rainy day in summer. photos.lwpetersen.com/Explore/Expl... #alaska #waterfall #valdez

Found this young moose browsing in a seasonal streambed yesterday morning near Fairbanks. The willows are just starting to bud, and the moose are already on them. They'll strip the new growth as fast as it comes in through May and June. #alaska #fairbanks #moose #wildlife #spring

A few more images from Creamer's Field around midnight the other night. Many of the spring migratory birds have moved on, and the swallows are present but quiet. #alaska #fairbanks #spring

Symmetry and texture at the seasonal wetlands pond at Creamer's Field tonight at midnight. #alaska #fairbanks #spring

A very active aurora display over a spruce boreal forest in Fairbanks, Alaska, in early February. Prints and wall art in my aurora gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #aurora #northernlights #winter #auroraborealis

Alpine forget-me-not (Myosotis asiatica) in the White Mountain National Recreation Area, late June. Alaska's state flower, and one of the more common wildflowers in the alpine and subalpine zones of the interior. Info: www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-wildf... #alaska #hiking #bloomscrolling #wildflowers

Giant seracs in the Gabriel Icefall on the Gulkana Glacier, Alaska Range. Seracs are towers and blocks of glacial ice formed where glaciers fracture as they move over steep terrain. www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide... #alaska #glacier #hiking

A stream above the Canwell Glacier in the Alaska Range, lined with Alaska boykinia (Boykinia richardsonii) in full bloom in mid-July. www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide... #Alaska #hiking #wildflowers #bloomscrolling

The terminus of College Glacier in the Alaska Range, and the braided meltwater stream of College Creek draining into Phelan Creek and eventually the Delta River. The debris on the glacier surface is supraglacial moraine, carried atop the ice as the glacier moves. #alaska #hiking #glacier

February light - Fairbanks, Alaska photos.lwpetersen.com #alaska #sunset #fairbanks

A little aurora on a starry and very windy night along the Angel Rocks to Chena Hot Springs Trail in the Chena River State Recreation Area. Prints and wall art available in my aurora gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #aurora #auroraborealis #fairbanks #hiking

Anthers opening, revealing pollen on a male willow catkin. Taken yesterday in Fairbanks, Alaska. #macro #fairbanks #flora #bloomscrolling

Pussy willows just started emerging in the Fairbanks area about a week ago, still plenty of snow on the ground. This is an extreme close-up of a female willow catkin. #alaska #wildflowers #spring #fairbanks #macro #bloomscrolling

The Teklanika River in Denali National Park early this morning.

Meltwater falls off the headwall above Gulkana Glacier, eastern Alaska Range. Shot from the glacier surface. The pink at the base of the falls is watermelon snow, Chlamydomonas nivalis, a red algae that blooms in snowfields that persist in the summer. #alaska #glacier #hiking

Aurora over the Chena River on the Angel Rocks Trail, early March. The green reflection in the foreground is overflow water seeping up through cracks in the river ice and refreezing on the surface. Alaska Hiking Guide: www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide/ #alaska #auroraborealis #fairbanks #hiking

Still a few weeks out from wildflower season in the Fairbanks area, but Calypso bulbosa, the fairy slipper, is one of the earliest orchids in the boreal forest. It has a short bloom window in late May. #alaska #wildflowers #orchid #fairbanks #bloomscrolling

Aurora over a boreal forest near Fairbanks, early January. An unexpected geomagnetic storm lit up the sky, with temperatures around -25°F. Nothing seems to move in that cold. Prints and wall art: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #aurora #auroraborealis

McGinnis Peak, Alaska Range, from the Black Rapids Glacier. 11,400 feet of rock and ice, photographed in early July after a fresh snowfall, about 20 miles from the nearest road. #alaska #mountains #blackandwhite

Frost crystals on a car window in Fairbanks. The large sectored plate crystal at the center grew directly on the glass. Frost nucleates on the surface and grows outward. The stepped ridges visible within each plate section record successive growth stages as the crystal expanded. #alaska #macro #ice

A sedge darner (Aeshna palmata) on very invasive bird vetch (Vicia cracca) at Creamer's Field in Fairbanks, late July. photos.lwpetersen.com/Macro/Macro-... #alaska #summer #macrophotography #dragonfly #insects

Aurora forming a spiral loop over a snow-covered boreal forest in mid-winter, Fairbanks, Alaska. Prints available in my aurora gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #Alaska #auroraborealis #NorthernLights #aurora

"Tr'at'egheth No', Lower Tanana for 'from Cottonwood Creek,' commonly known as the Savage River, in early April, Denali National Park. The Alaska Range visible in the background. #alaska #denali #hiking

Grizzly wandering through dwarf birch and willow in the tundra in Denali National Park. photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #denali #wildlife #wildlifewednesday

Otter in Valdez harbor. photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #wildlife #otter #valdez

A glaciated peak near the head of a tributary to the Black Rapids Glacier, Eastern Alaska Range. The bergschrunds visible on the upper ridge mark where the glacier ice pulls away from the rock headwall or stagnant ice. www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-infor... #alaska #alaskarange #glacier #mountains

Rainbow over the Donnelly Flats, just north of the Alaska Range in July. Prints available: photos.lwpetersen.com/Portfolio-Im... #alaska #rainbow #landscape

Mid-April aurora over Fairbanks, a few years back. It's snowing pretty hard here at the moment. This feels like a good day to look back at better skies. My aurora gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #Alaska #aurora #northernlights #auroraborealis #fairbanks

A red fox kit pounces on its sibling. In my wildlife gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #wildlife #fairbanks #alaska #fox

A trickle of meltwater falling through the seracs of the Gabriel Icefall, Gulkana Glacier, Eastern Alaska Range. My guide to the area: www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide... #alaska #glacier #hiking

Golden hour in the White Mountain National Recreation Area, taken in early September. Endless ridges, autumn hues, and that perfect Alaska silence. photos.lwpetersen.com/Portfolio-Im... #alaska #hiking #autumn

A glacier table on the Black Rapids Glacier, Alaska Range. The boulder insulates the ice beneath, while the surrounding surface melts down, leaving it perched on a pedestal. Eventually, the pedestal becomes unstable, and the rock topples, and the process starts again. #alaska #glacier

Aurora and moon over a Fairbanks hoarfrost-covered forest in January. photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #aurora #fairbanks #northernlights #auroraborealis

A juvenile peregrine falcon landed on a rock about 15 feet away at Angel Rocks and just watched me for five minutes. I watched back. More wildlife photography: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #peregrine #falcon #wildlife #birds

Aurora corona over Fairbanks, January. Rays converge at the zenith overhead, like looking up a tunnel. #alaska #aurora #auroraborealis #northernlights

A few more photos from my first trip to Denali National Park this year. www.lwpetersen.com/photo-blog/f...

The Gabriel Icefall on the Gulkana Glacier, Eastern Alaska Range. About 400 vertical feet of ice in this frame. The striations are annual accumulation layers that become folded during flow. #alaska #glacier #hiking #glaciology

A wave formation in the aurora over the Chena Hills, photographed from the Granite Tors Trail. The glow on the horizon is light pollution from Fairbanks and North Pole, about 40 miles away. photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #aurora #auroraborealis #fairbanks

This morning I woke to the first images from the Artemis II lunar flyby. Then I read the worst thing I've ever seen come from an American president. Same species. Same moment. We have to choose. lwpetersen.substack.com/p/which-path-are-we-on

Columbia Bay in July, choked with calved ice from the Columbia Glacier. One of the largest tidewater glaciers in North America, and one of the fastest retreating. Glaciers and Icebergs Gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #columbiaglacier #iceberg #princewilliamsound #glacier

Had the entire Savage Alpine Trail to ourselves yesterday. It involved a fair amount of postholing, but that just added to the fun. Looking over the Park Road and Savage River Valley toward Fang Mountain, Denali National Park. Trail info: www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide... #alaska #hiking #spring

A calved iceberg drifting in Columbia Bay near the Columbia Glacier, Prince William Sound, Alaska. More from my Glaciers and Icebergs gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #iceberg #glacier #valdez

Camping on the moraine of the Black Rapids Glacier in early summer, you fall asleep to the sound of meltwater running in channels below. Supraglacial streams drain off the ice surface, some of them disappearing down moulins beneath the glacier. #alaska #glacier #blackrapids #camping

Canada lynx giving the side eye in Denali National Park, Alaska. #alaska #wildlife #hiking #denali

Aurora rising over the Chena Hills from the Angel Rocks to Chena Hot Springs Trail, about 45 miles outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. More in my Aurora Gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al... #alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights