Where in the West: Dean and Burke Channels; Thunder Mountain and Tzeetsaytsul Peak, B.C.

Dean Channel on the left, Burke Channel on the right.

The January 2013 Where in the West was won by Ron Schott, not only for finding the names of the two major fjords shown in this photo, but also for identifying the mountain near the head of Burke Channel, which has two major peaks: Thunder Mountain, the highest, and Tzeetsaytsul Peak, somewhat lower. Ron also came up with the name of northern branch of Burke Channel, known as North Bentinck Arm.

I didn't know the location of this challenge when I posted it, but having seen it from the air, I knew it was between Anchorage and Seattle, that it was south of a more-or-less north-south-trending strait, and that it was much closer to Seattle than Anchorage and probably south of SE Alaska. This general knowledge gave me an advantage over anyone else trying to discover the location. I homed in on the location and found most of the names of the fjords and mountains on Google Earth (in labeled photos), but wasn't sure if the names were correct, so checked them on Wikipedia and GeoBC.

Google Earth image almost identical to my first photo. Dean Channel is on the left; Burke Channel is on the right.

It's true that the snow and clouds in the photos I shot complicated finding the location!

A photo zoomed in on Burke Channel.

Google Earth image with Burke Channel centered,
similar to the previous photo. 

Labouchere Channel splits to the left (north), connecting Burke and Dean Channels; the North Bentinck Arm heads straight away from us; and South Bentinck Arm goes off southward, barely visible in this view.

Zoomed in photo with the mountain in question in the distance.

It was  a little harder to get the right angle on Google Earth to zoom in on and identify the mountain that stood out in my view from the airplane, and it was hard from the photo to tell which side of the Burke Channel and North Bentinck Arm the mountain really was on.

Google Earth view, with the North Bentinck Arm of Burke Channel on the left and the South Bentinck Arm heading southward to the right.

The mountain really stands out in the Google Earth view (above). It's really on the north (left) side of North Bentinck Arm, and it has three smaller mountains nearly centered in front of it (west of it).

Google Earth image: Thunder Mountain is the highest peak in the center; Tzeetsaytsul Peak is the next highest peak to the left (north).

And there we have it: several fjords carved by glaciers, now partly (mostly) inundated with water, and one mountain with two main peaks. Thunder Mountain is highest at 2664 m (8740 ft); Tzeetsaytsul Peak comes in at 2575 m (8448 ft). Apparently, both Thunder Mountain and Tzeetsaytsul Peak were named for the thundering sound created by the movement of Tzeetsaytsul glacier.

Google Earth view of Tzeetsaytsul Glacier on the east side of Tzeetsaytsul Peak and Thunder Mountain; north is to the right.

Read about the Bella Coola area (Bella Coola is at the head of North Bentinck Arm) at the Bella Coola Blog.

A few Geological References:
Gehrels, George E., and Nevine D. Boghossian, 2000, Reconnaissance geology and U-Pb geochronology of the west flank of the Coast Mountains between Bella Coola and Prince Rupert, coastal British Columbia: Geological Soc America, Special Papers, v. 343, p. 61-76. Abstract at Refdoc.fr.

Mahoney, J. B., et al, 2002, Structural geology of eastern Bella Coola map area, southwest British Columbia: Geological Survey of Canada, Current Research, 2002-A10, 9 p.

Smith, D. J., and Desloges, J. R., 2000, Little Ice Age history of Tzeetsaytsul Glacier, Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, British Columbia: Géographie physique et Quaternaire, v. 54, no. 2, p. 135-141.

Stowell, Harold Hilton, and William C. MacClelland, eds., 2000, Tectonics of the Coast Mountains, Southeastern Alaska and British Columbia: Geological Society of America, Special Papers v. 343, 389 p.

A few Geographical Links:
Dean Channel location - at GeoBC

Fitz Hugh Sound - Wikipedia

Fitz Hugh sound location - at GeoBC

Labouchere Channel location - at GeoBC

North Bentinck Arm location - at GeoBC

South Bentinck Arm location - at GeoBC

Thunder Mountain location - at GeoBC

Tzeetsaytsul Peak location - at GeoBC

Where in the West: January 2014

I won't mention exactly how long it's been since I posted a Where in the West (or the one and only Where in the North), because I don't have the means to look it up right now (I'm writing this without an internet connection). Suffice it to say that it's been quite a while.

The photos below are of snowy, mountainous country with fjords and -- for additional location-enhancing info -- with a particularly high mountain in the background. As I write this, I know only the general location: somewhere between Anchorage and Seattle.

Where in the West (WITW) always features a location in the western part of the northern hemisphere. Be the first to identify the location -- hopefully the fjords and a mountain or two have names -- and if you can find out a bit about the geology (hint: glacial?), all the better.

Two fjords.

Zooming in on the fjord on the right in the first photo, from a slightly different angle, with a fairly tall mountain near its head.

Zooming in on the high mountain, slightly off-center to the left, with the fjord now nearly out of the picture on the left.

This should be easy to find, and sorry, no prizes.

Down to the Kenai: AK2011 Day 4

Looking across the Turnagain Arm fjord at our general destination, the Kenai Penninsula, that flat area west of the edge of the Kenai Mountains.

It is in the usual order of things for us to make our way down to the cabin as soon as possible after arriving in Alaska, sometimes heading out as early as the first or second day. This time, we drove down on the fourth day.

It is also in the usual order of things for everyone to travel in one vehicle, but this time we took two: the truck needed to get to the cabin so it could be in a position to conduct cabiny things like putting the boat in the water.
Hard to tell for sure with the clouds, but this is most likely Mt. Spurr (MSRMaps), a volcano west of Anchorage and across Cook Inlet (AVO Webcam). It last erupted in 1992.

We made our way eastward down Turnagain Arm on AK State Route 1, the Seward Highway, without making the usual stops at Beluga Point to check the tides or at Girdwood to get coffee. We speculated about the tides, and whereas I thought the tide was possibly going out, the wind was very strong, creating huge easterly waves that obscurred the water motion. The tide books indicated that the tide was either almost all the way in, or just starting to go out, but I didn't try hard to parse the time differences between Kenai and Anchorage and then to translate those times to the arm.

I looked for Beluga whales, but it was early in the summer: they follow the fish, especially the silvers and humpies of August. It was only the late run of July reds that was just beginning to come up the arm; I looked for Belugas nonetheless.
The light on the water of the arm is always fascinating to me. Here it's flickering in thin patches just below the last major valley on the south side of the arm, Seattle Creek.
I seem to photograph the valley of Seattle Creek every time I pass through: it's a great example of a U-shaped valley carved by a glacier that once entered into the larger glacier that carved Turnagain Arm.
We passed the turnoff and viewing area for Portage Glacier near Portage and made the turn at the east end of Turnagain Arm. Crossing the second bridge across the Placer River — a river typical of anastomosing rivers and streams coming off ice fields and glaciers, in this case the Spencer Glacier and a small icefield northwest of the larger Sargent Icefield — I could look northward up the Placer into the valley of the Twentymile and Glacier Rivers (MSRMaps).

Welcome to the Kenai!

The fireweed was in relatively early bloom: when the flowers at the top are blooming it indicates that fall and Termination Dust are just around the corner. Here, only the lower flowers are blooming.

We skipped a usual stop at Summit Lake Lodge in favor of continuing onward to the Sterling Highway (still AK Route 1, but no longer the Seward Highway).
Near Cooper Landing we began to catch tantalizing glimpses of the Kenai River, a river we would soon fish.
We bypassed the cabin, needing to run to town to purchase fishing licenses, thereafter going directly to Buckets for dinner.
We both had the Sunken Island IPA by Kenai River Brewing.

Related Posts:
Getting There: AK2008 Day 1
Turnagain Arm: AK2008 Day 2
We Make the Turn: AK2008 Day 2
Summit Lake and Beyond: AK2008 Day 2
Fireweed in Alaska: Is it Fall?

Mud Flats in Winter

While I was in Alaska last week, we drove down to Girdwood in hopes of breaking out from under some persistent, usually snowing clouds. Our find-the-sun attempt really didn't work, however. In fact, while in Alaska, I saw only one really clear day, a day set aside for family.

Going to Girdwood involves driving the Seward Highway (partly Alaska S.R. 1) south out of Anchorage. The highway follows the railroad along the north side of Turnagain Arm.
We came into view of the Turnagain Arm mud flats near Potter Marsh (currently a snow-covered, frozen marsh), and spotted these oval, sub-rounded ice fragments sitting on mud covered by a thin sheet of water. The tide was clearly down - was it going out or coming in?
A bit of mud flat shows itself between Potter Creek and McHugh Creek - mud, water, and mountains across the arm are all gray, making for a particularly wintry look.
We made our usual stop at Beluga Point, a good place check the disposition of the tide. The wind was howling up the arm toward the east, enough to make for a penetratingly cold experience. In fact, I was the only one who chose to get out of the car (the Real Alaskans knew better), and after doing that once, I didn't do it again until we came to a heated and enclosed espresso place in Girdwood.

The tide was going out, though you can't really tell from my photo; the water was moving downstream to the west, with surface waves from the wind breaking to the east.
Mud flats near Indian Creek, looking up Turnagain Arm to the east.
Mud flats between Bird Creek and Bird Point, looking across Turnagain Arm at the Kenai Mountains. We can see two relatively large stream incisions in the mountains on the left side of the photo beyond the low, tree-covered land, the tip of which is Bird Point. The valley just above Bird Point was carved by an unnamed drainage; the larger valley on the far left was carved by Sawmill and Slate Creeks. These drainages are U-shaped in their upper reaches, and V-shaped below about 500 feet.
Partly frozen mud flats, with the lowland of Bird Point in the middle background, in front of the steep, glacially shaped northern front of the Kenai Mountains.
Near shore, between Bird Point and Girdwood, angular to sub-rounded fragments of ice float on the muddy water of Turnagain Arm. Much of this thin ice originated as pancake ice.
Snowy and partly frozen mud flats with piles of chaotic ice blocks, near Girdwood, looking across Turnagain Arm toward the large, U-shaped mouth of Seattle Creek.
Snow-covered and frozen, nearshore mud flats with strange ice forms that look like mini-hoodoos. This photo was taken near Girdwood, and looks east across the below sea-level channel formed by Glacier Creek. Through the fog, you can vaguely see in-use power lines, along with dead trees left from the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, when the land sank and salt water flooded the area, killing the trees.

Turnagain Arm photo locations

The same mud flats in summer.

Where in the North: Sognefjord

This month's Where in the North (the first ever that wasn't in the west) was won a couple days ago by Perry, who blogs at Robert Perry Hooker. The fjord in question - one of the longest in the world, and the longest in Norway - is the Sognefjord, see above in the Google Earth image from approximately the same angle and azimuth as the photo in my original post.
And here's another Google Earth image of the same part of Sognefjord, plus a little bit of the countryside around it. As you can see, Highway or Route 55 passes through the center of the image, making its way up the fjord to the small village of Skjolden (shown improperly as being out in the water by the yellow pin I stuck on there), which is at the head of the fjord. The area, sometimes called the Roof of Norway, has mountains rising more than 2000 m or 6560 ft above sea level (which is right there where the water begins), lots of glaciers, and lakes galore. And you can drive through it, which I find totally amazing!
I took the photos after leaving this airport in Helsinki. The airport has wonderful wood floors...
And lots of interesting signs...
...in Swedish, Finnish, and English.

A Clue - Where in the North, December

Well, having had exactly zero takers on the Where in the North photo I posted a few days back, I'll add a little clue: the fjord in the photo is one of the longest ones in the world!

Where in the North: December

Click photo to Enlarge.

Note: that's In the North, not In the West; I'm diverting from the usual WITW series for a northern area (WITN), just in time for winter, if it ever comes.

This photo, taken from an airliner in mid-winter, shows a portion of a long fjord. A road runs through this area, and there is a small town or village in the picture, probably not very discernible. I don't know much about the geology, except that the area has obviously been glaciated.

We Make the Turn: AK2008 Day 2

So, where were we, anyway? Oh yeah, there we were on the Seward Highway, crossing Twentymile River, looking across the arm to Ingram Creek (above).

We made the turn of Turnagain Arm - that is, we drove by the turnoff to Portage Glacier without stopping because we were so intent on getting to our next destination, turning from going southeasterly to going northwesterly - we didn't have to go back like Captain Cook, who had to turn back once again while looking for the northwest passage in 1778 (a bit of history here and here).

While driving northwest on the southern side of Turnagain Arm, we passed by more trees dead from subsidence during the 1964 earthquake. The marshes these trees are now standing in, especially the ones on the south side of the highway, are good places to look for moose and swans. Alas! We didn't see any this time! Trees on the north side of the highway are pictured above, looking back towards the glacial valley of the Twentymile River; trees and marshes on the south side of the highway are pictured in the photo below.

After passing the marshes, the road makes a sharp southward turn and starts climbing the the hill toward Turnagain Pass, which can be seen on this MSRMaps image. As you drive up the hill, a good exposure of sub-vertically-foliated slaty meta-graywacke shortly comes into view. To examine this rock, which is cut by narrow quartz veins, pull over on the right side of the road, into a nice, wide pullout.

Make sure to gather enough slaty graywacke to fill the back of whatever vehicle you are driving, enough for your garden, or even some nice pieces to ship Outside, in case you happen to be a real rockhound, like me, and want to take some with you when (or if) you leave. Btw, the term "Outside" is properly capitalized, as in, "I'm going Outside next week." [Translation: I'm going somewhere outside Alaska, not always refering to the lower 48 states, next week.]

Then proceed to Turnagain Pass, which is at Milepost 68, where you can pullover on the northwest side of the highway for a pitstop and to enjoy the view.

Turnagain Pass is in a U-shaped glacial valley at the head of Ingram Creek, which flows northward into Turnagain Arm, and the head of Granite Creek, which flows southward and then eventually back northward into Turnagain Arm via Sixmile Creek. Glacial ice in the area once filled the valley at Turnagain Pass to a depth of about 2000 feet, leaving behind spectacular striations and grooves in the bedrock, along with peculiar lumpy terrain (irregular morraines?) and ridges. Grooves and striations can be seen by walking west to the base of the small hill seen in the photo above, and also along various trails through the funny, lumpy ground. You can find some good exposures within a couple hundred feet of the parking lot, although locals tell me that the deciduous bushes and small trees have been growing a lot recently because of increased carbon dioxide, so you might have to scour the ground to find the best glacial grooves (ha!).

Above, a view of the pass area looking west, toward the high mountains (about 3300 feet above sea level, which was right back behind us to the north in Turnagain Arm). This is an area where avalanches are common in winter, and where hikers, snowmobilers, and skiers should be extra careful. Fireweed, one of my favorite flowers - with all but the topmost blooms gone - can be seen in the foreground. (So, is it summer, or fall?)

After stopping at Turnagain Pass, we hightail it for our next stop, Summit Lake Lodge.

Turnagain Arm: AK2008 Day 2

As soon as we could, after getting there, we packed our bags (again) and left a typical Alaskan house in a not-so-typical Alaskan mini-van (it isn't rusty or dented, and it's not a pickup truck)...

...and we immediately took one of the three small segments of freeway in Alaska, all located in the Anchorage area, and headed southeast out of town as fast as possible, on Alaska State Route 1. Alaska has exactly 12 numbered highways, 1 through 11 and 98, which can be viewed here. Several of them don't connect with any other roads except by air or sea.

We didn't make it very far, not even to Beluga Point (about seven to eight miles outside Anchorage, our usual first stop) at Mile 110 (see this article for a list of places by mile number) when we stopped to view the mudflats - to see whether the tide was going in or out - and to view our general destination across Turnagain Arm: the Kenai Penninsula. While looking across the arm, we got a through-the-clouds view of Mt. Redoubt, which last erupted in 1990.

Our next stop was the Famous Alaska Turbidite Locality, which is a bit east of Milepost 105, about 23 miles outside of Anchorage. This turbidite roadcut, seen below from the east looking west, is between Windy Point and Indian Valley. The entire roadcut, top to bottom, is turbidites - more about them later. (Can you wait?)

A bit down the road, we made our usual coffee and hot chocolate stop at Girdwood - Mile 90 - which has a gas station along side the road, a gift shop or two, and at least one espresso place. This is the turnoff to the Alyeska ski resort.

While at Girdwood, you can't help but notice the dead trees all around, especially between the highway and the arm (Turnagain Arm), which resulted from the sinking of the land there during the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, and the consequent exposure of the tree roots to more water than they are normally used to, with that water also being a bit salty. A huge area was affected by subsidence, including most of the Kenai Penninsula. An earlier seismic event about 800 years ago resulted in similar subsidence, as recorded by a forest of tree stumps buried beneath these present-day dead trees.

And farther up (or down?) the road, approaching Portage but still on the north side of the arm, a nice U-shaped valley, carved by glaciers, comes into view, below. This is the valley of Seattle Creek, a small valley on the south side of Turnagain Arm.

Finally, we cross the bridge at Twentymile River, still on the north side of the arm, still with the tide partly out. A larger U-shaped valley can be seen across this upper, eastern end of Turnagain Arm: Ingram Creek. This green valley is the glacially carved valley that the highway goes through, after we make the turn of Turnagain Arm, at Portage, and head west for a short distance. A topo map, via MSRMaps, can be seen here.

And, hey, that's as far as we'll get tonight!