it is almost May 2018 and time has gone by so fast and so much has changed since I left Florida in the rear view mirror at the end of July 2017! Briefly, we sold our house,left Florida with our dogs and began our road trip north to the Carolinas, across this beautiful country and finally spending a wonderful week on Lake Powell. 

But, before I can even think talking about my journey, I need to take a moment to talk about my friend Jeannie Matusik. I met Jean on a trip to Alaska a few years ago. She was older, perhaps in her late 70s and I admired her with all my heart. I have never really admired anyone in my life.  And then she came into my life. She loved to create video stories about the Kodiak bears she encountered on her trips to Alaska over the years. Jean was hard of hearing so we setup FaceTime so we could talk from her home in Pennsylvania.  She was not a well person but that sure didn't stop her from climbing in the wild while carrying a whole pack of gear on her back. She was on many medications and her back was bad. Jean showed me what real confidence is about. She was a member of the NRA and taught me how to shoot my first rifle on a beach in Afognak.  On July 15th last year, she texted me that she was recuperating from a cold and went to the gym and walked two miles. "Well BFF, have a fun

 trip and get lots of pics..."

A few days later, her beloved husband called me and told me Jean was gone... "She was at the pool and suddenly slumped over." I took a picture of Jean in Alaska that very clearly shows who she is. That's my dearest BFF Jeannie, I will always miss you...

More to come...

If you would like to see her videos here is her link. It will keep her alive!

https://vimeo.com/user7396900

Jean MatusikYou are always in my thoughts my dear Jean...

At the end of my blog, I will share the things I did well and the not so much!

This summer I headed to the Canadian Arctic via Montreal, northeast to the Inuit town Kuujjuaq near Hudson Bay and then onto a float plane 100 miles west to Lac Dufreboy. Here on Lac Dufreboy, I had a gnarly and somewhat amusing introduction to the Tundra mosquito as my trip guide approached the aircraft with a hugely swollen right eye from the previous nights nasty bites!

I had done my research although I really could not believe they could be "that bad". Well they were. I was prepared for the attack of the arctic mosquitoes. My friend and veteran adventurer Jean, told me just how to avoid the horrible experience j my fellow travelers endured for days. I was bite-free!

The Tundra is massive area, a flat, barren, treeless,rocky wilderness where nothing really grows because of with a permanent frozen sub-soil or permafrost. During the short arctic summer, the frozen soil melts, leaving the ground very soggy. I imagine an area covered in marshes, lakes, bogs and streams. Plants grow on the higher ground in in bog areas  does take place are plants that  are short like reindeer mosses, a variety of wildflowers, grasses and ancient lichen that attach themselves to the rocks pushed millions of years ago by the arctic ice flow. And, for the first time of my life I experienced the taste of the purist water on earth and it didn't come from a bottle! It was the first time I had taken large cup, walked to the shore of the lake and drank it with with an incredible enjoyment. No boiling, no bleach and no bacteria... pure and clean arctic water.

The vast wilderness of the Tundra

My wild and vivid imagination had me tracking and photographing the elusive Tundra wolf or hours on end. The reality ... we searched, we heard, Each day, we took a little motorboat across the lake and walked through the marshes surrounded by swarming mosquitoes and black flies for hours to the location of "the wolf den" the guides said they discovered before our arrival.

However, my instincts told me otherwise. A single female wolf with a pup were seen entering the below ground den some 400 yards away. Yes, comparable to 4 football field. Merely a dot in my binoculars. For a photographer they could have been doing a wolf dance and were still beyond what I could do with my camera and lens. 

We waited for hours hidden behind a natural blind and .... not a sign of a wolf. No one was home. Especially Mama and her pup.

After a couple of days, I made the choice not to revisit the den again and decided to go out on my own. I was finally alone and exploring the Arctic Tundra on my own terms. I probably had as much of a chance to see a wolf than the others who returned to the empty den back to the den to spend the night. I took my camera, a radio for communications, my compass and went off to explore the lake and Tundra hills on a beautiful summer day.  I came across an old caribou kill. Bones picked clean but the skull still had fur and there was white fur all over the kill site. And, then I sat down leaning against an ancient rock and nodded off for a summer afternoon nap!

The vast wilderness of the Canadian Tundra

Canada's frozen Tundra

Canada's northern TundraBush plane docked at nigh

SAWYER'S PERMETHRIN

This is the start of your preparation after you have the clothes you plan pack. That includes everything you want think you plan to wear.  I created an outdoor wash-line and sprayed every bit of clothing, thermals, pants, tees, jackets, hats,sleeping bag, backpact and even my Pjs. Everything was saturated and left outside to dry.

Read more about this product on their website sawyer's permethrin and make your own decision. For me, it turned out to be my BFF against the meanist bugger in the tundra.

BEN'S WIPES WITH 30% DEET

As a photographer, wearing a mosquito net over my face is a real pain. There were two short occasions where I had just had to wear one. My dearest friend, Jean Matusik suggested Ben's wipes. Yes, it does have 30% deet and I'm not a fan. However, she suggested that I tuck a wipe under my wooley hat. She told me not to use it as a wipe and so I did. 

Neither product prevented mosquitoes from swarming around me but they never laid a bite. The Ben's wipe did save me wearing that darn net over my face. It made the photography part much easier. Ladies, if you have acrylic nails, the Deet melts the product and makes it sticky. I will know better next time. You can buy them most anywhere.

Inspiring voyage - April 2013

The Bolivian Andes - one of earth's amazing places-April 2013

One night while I was watching a show called “The Americas. Something caught my attention, a short minute about the Antiplano. The what?  Bolivian Andes. Checklist Bolivia.

Google earth view of the largest salt flats in the world

In retrospect, I was a bit of a  newbie at planning for these "off the grid" locations. The transition from "studio portrait" photographer to wildlife and landscape photographer is a learning process. It's like going back to school! I love geography but I did not do my homework. I should have gone a couple of months earlier to catch the rain, to capture the water on the salt flats. This was only my first trip and it is a place I will go back to. 

After some planning and making sure I had a dependable guide company, flights from La Paz and Uyuni aand secured flights to Uyuni.  I was on an American Airlines flight out of Miami south the highest airport in the world,  La Nuestra Senora La Paz airport at over 13,300 ft and a very crowded city with over 2,000,000 people and by the way, there is only one traffic light. Crossing the street in downtown La Paz is a challenge but it seems to work.

Panoramic taken from just outside the airport at La Paz - 13,300 ft. I stitched vertical images.

Altitude is a funny thing...Age, youth,physical fitness do not seem to determine how you might respond to these kinds of altitudes. I was hoping that I wouldn't get sick and have to return to sea level, meaning I would have to go home.I did make every effort to put the odds in my favor,  I took altitude medication and got some advice on taking nighttime Tylenol, a good anti inflammatory.  Landing in La Paz was like landing on the moon.  I hit the altitude wall. I went from zero sea level from Florida to over 13,300 ft. My brain slowed all the way down and I had trouble remembering a simple three number lock. So much so, Bolivian customs had to cut my lock, I couldn't t remember three simple numbers.

When we reached the hotel, they had us drinking coca tea, a staple for altitude stability. I never stopped drinking tea the entire week!

The Hotel Rosario - downtown La Paz

The next morning on Amazonas Airways for the flight south to Uyuni at an altitude somewhere about 12,500ft. Uyuni is home the the largest salt flat desert in the world high in the Bolivian Andes. On the little island made of salt blocks visiting tourists leave their mark as they walk around the dried flats.

The salt flats high in the Andes - Visitors place the flags as if they had reached the Everest summit.

Not too far away is the yes... the hotel on the salt flats, made of salt. Chairs, tables, beds, walls and all the decor is made from salt. The floors are carpeted in salt. Different and off the grid.

The Salt Hotel at over 12,000 feet.

Locally made salt. Adding iodine and bagging dried salt

We left the Salar De Uyuni south, stopping at a volcanic island in the middle of the Salar called the Island of Incahuasi, which is inhabited during the  dry season to offer tourists a place to rest and eat. Its' a place where all the tourist stop and grab that "Kodak moment" And, by the way, it is the only place for miles in the vast salt flats to get something to eat.

From then on, we went south and as the sights of tourists began to fade, we climbed in altitude through the Siloli Desert and the active Tomasamil Volcano as we climbed from 10,240 ft meters to  13,444 ft and we just kept climbing! We drove along the Chilean border to San Pedro de Quemez.

I traveled south with my guide visiting the most amazing places, El Lago Verde, El Lago Rojo sprinkled with Bolivian flamingo, vast areas of amazing sights. I would get out of the car and stand there in constant amazement, hypnotized as I viewed the beauty of the desert thru my lens of my camera. lens.

The railroad that from the north to the south with Argentina and Bolivia on the right side of the rails.

The view of the little town of San Pedro de Quemez

Resident flamingos at around 14,000 ft.

A visit into the cave miles into the great salt flats.

Riding the salt flats as we go south

Local resident in Uyuni

El Lago Rojo with feeding Flamingos -Flamingos' become smaller to adjust to high altitudes and grow larger when they migrate to Argentina

El Lago Verde and again speckeled with migrating flamingos

Then southern most stop in the Andes... a challenge and an expedition to earth's wild places!

My next inspiring journey .... South Dakota to photograph iconic wild mustangs and buffalo.