Lee Petersen

Me at 45 years old trying to climb like my stupid competition team kids. I'm too old for this shit.

"Should be" without any measure of doubt. In my humble opinion, the chance of impeachment proceedings with this Congress is zero.

U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus Advocacy group reports commanders giving similar messages at more than 30 installations in every branch of the military

Killing in the name of...

jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-...

A cow moose stands partially hidden in a dense thicket of green and yellow-green willow shrubs, her large body filling most of the frame. She holds her head low and forward, her long distinctive nose pointing toward the left as she browses on the vegetation. Her large ears are relaxed and splayed outward. The late summer foliage surrounds her on all sides, with warm golden backlight filtering through the leaves and catching the fur along her back and ears. Her dark eye is calm and focused downward on the willows in front of her.

A cow moose grazing on willows in late August in Denali National Park.

In my Wildlife Gallery: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al...

#alaska #wildlife #moose #denali

Since the Dow is under 50,000, can we talk about the Epstein files again?

Aurora from the Tors Trail Aurora from the Tors Trail

My latest photo of the week post: lwpetersen.substack.com/p/aurora-fro...

#alaska #auroraborealis #photography

Bright golden sunlight filters through a stand of snow-covered black spruce trees in a boreal forest, the sun sitting low on the horizon at center frame. Large rounded snow mounds and smaller snow-laden spruce fill the foreground. The sky is pale blue above and warm yellow near the horizon. ADMA trail system, Fairbanks, Alaska, March 1, 2026.

I caught a little sunlight on the first day of March. We now have over 10 hours of daylight in Fairbanks, Alaska. Of course, it's -42°F this morning, but it is supposed to warm up a bit.

More of my recent photos here: photos.lwpetersen.com/Recent-Photos

#alaska #winter #sunlight

A field of large rounded snow mounds fills the foreground in front of a dense stand of stunted, snow-laden black spruce trees under a pale blue twilight sky. The snow surface has a lumpy, organic texture from vegetation buried beneath. Fairbanks, Alaska.

A boreal forest of tall, slender black spruce trees stands against a pale blue twilight sky. The upper branches of several trees on the right catch the last warm golden light of sunset while the rest of the scene is in cool blue shadow. Large rounded snow mounds and small buried shrubs fill the foreground. Fairbanks, Alaska.

A bare, snow-covered dead tree leans dramatically to the right against a deep blue twilight sky, its twisted branches reaching upward. A flat snow-covered pond or clearing stretches across the foreground, with a dense line of silhouetted black spruce trees in the background. A faint orange glow lingers on the horizon. Fairbanks, Alaska.

A wide frozen lake or pond stretches across the foreground under a deep blue twilight sky. A thin band of warm orange and peach light glows along the horizon behind the silhouetted treeline of black spruce. Ballaine Lake, Fairbanks, Alaska.

Decided a -21°F and colder evening walk was exactly what I needed yesterday. Turned into two hours in the dark. Full post with photos on Substack: lwpetersen.substack.com/p/chilly-eve...

#alaska #winter #landscape

It's chilly

Just chillin in the snow tonight

Such a stupid distraction from Epstein. No one wants a war with Iran either. It's like he shit his pants, so he walked over and punched a baby to distract everyone from the smell.

Also, release the rest of the god damned files!

This official White House photograph shows US President Donald Trump (2L), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (3R) and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles (2R) monitoring activity related to Operation Epic Fury against Iran from an unnamed location

I, as an American, have never felt as secure as when I learned the President was starting a war from the blanket fort at his clubhouse.

Now that the Board of Peace has a war under its belt it can really get down to business.

The vegetation difference in your photos of Exit Glacier, only 4 years apart, is quite dramatic.

Yeah, that's the Worthington Glacier. I've noticed a similar scale retreat with it. It's also quickly disappearing from view at the overlook.

Solomon Gulch Hatchery - Valdez, Alaska - Wildlife Viewing The Solomon Gulch Hatchery is a great place in Valdez, Alaska to potentially see Steller sea lions, seals, otters, eagles, bears, and, of course, salmon.

Wildlife viewing at the hatchery: www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-guide...

Two bald eagles face off on a rocky shoreline with water in the background. The adult on the left has its beak open and wings spread wide. A juvenile eagle with mottled brown and white plumage lunges with talons extended toward the adult. A second adult bald eagle watches from behind. The birds appear to be fighting over food on the rocks.

Adult and juvenile bald eagle sparring over salmon at Solomon Gulch Hatchery, Valdez, Alaska. The brown mottled plumage on the juvenile is distinctive; they won't develop the white head and tail until about age 4 or 5.

#alaska #wildlife #eagle #valdez

Lol, yeah, no reason to keep them separate.

Exit Glacier terminus in 2016, viewed from close range. The glacier face fills much of the frame, with blue-white ice descending steeply to a dark moraine. Little vegetation is visible on the surrounding rocky slopes.

Exit Glacier terminus in 2025, viewed from the same general location. The glacier has retreated significantly up the valley, now visible only in the upper portion of the frame. Dense green shrubs have colonized the foreground slopes where bare rock and moraine were exposed by the retreating ice.

What a difference 9 years makes...
View of the terminus of Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. I wrote about this in my expanded post from our hike in late August 2025 (2nd photo). First photo from July 2016.
www.lwpetersen.com/photo-blog/l...

#alaska #hiking #glacier #climatechange

Brilliant green aurora borealis streams across a deep blue night sky above Angel Rocks, a large dark granite outcrop in the foreground. The aurora forms a sweeping ribbon stretching from lower left to upper right across nearly the full frame. Below and behind the rock formation, a snow-covered valley and forested hillsides recede into the distance under the glowing sky. A faint twilight glow sits on the northern horizon despite it being after midnight — late April in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Late April aurora over Angel Rocks, Fairbanks. By 1am there's already light on the northern horizon; that's why the sky is deep blue rather than black. One of the most brilliant displays I've seen. Two hours on the rocks after midnight.

Prints: bit.ly/4cTlZoh

#aurora #alaska #auroraborealis

Pinks Come Out The low altitude pinks started to shimmer

This expanding ribbon over Fairbanks was just starting to show that low-altitude fringe. These displays don't usually last long.

Print available: photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al...

Bright green aurora borealis forms a large sweeping ribbon or arc across a dark night sky over a boreal forest in Fairbanks, Alaska. The lower edge of the aurora shows a faint pink fringe. Snow-covered black spruce trees fill the foreground, their branches heavily laden with snow. The aurora dominates the upper two-thirds of the frame, with the ribbon curving from left to right across the sky.

The green is atomic oxygen fluorescing at altitudes of roughly 95–200km. The pink appears when the aurora descends below about 95km, exciting molecular nitrogen, a mix of red and blue emission that together read as pink.

#aurora #alaska #auroraborealis

Decoded hourly weather observations at Fairbanks airport showing the low temperature of -46F on February 26, 2026.

Fairbanks Airport low temperature Thursday morning of -46F (-43.3C) is the lowest temperature this late in the season since March 15, 1964, when the low was also -46F. #akwx #weather #Winter2026 @leahwrenn.bsky.social @coyotetrail.bsky.social @leepetersen.bsky.social

Black Rapids Glacier - Alaska Glaciers The Black Rapids Glacier is a 40 km long surge-type glacier in the Eastern Alaska Range.

More info on the Black Rapids Glacier here: www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-infor...

A vast snow-covered glacier basin stretches toward a row of heavily glaciated mountain peaks under a deep blue sky with wispy high clouds. The foreground shows a gently undulating snow surface with subtle wind-sculpted texture. Several rocky outcrops, called nunataks, pierce through the snow and ice along the mountain flanks in the middle distance. The scene conveys extreme scale and remoteness. Trinity Basin, Alaska Range, Alaska.

This spot sits just above the equilibrium line, where accumulation and melt balance out. When that line moves up, the glacier loses more than it gains. GRL puts the rise at 170m since the Little Ice Age.

Trinity Basin, Alaska Range.

#glacier #climateChange #alaska

Close-up of Nutzotin milkvetch (Astragalus nutzotinensis) growing low among angular grey rocks on a gravel bar. Several small, pea-like flowers in pale pink to soft purple are visible along prostrate reddish stems, with small grey-green compound leaves tucked between the stones. Some flowers are fully open while others remain in bud. The rocky substrate and sprawling growth habit of this mat-forming perennial are clearly visible.

Nutzotin milkvetch (Astragalus nutzotinensis) sprawling across a rocky gravel substrate, with multiple clusters of pale pink to soft lavender pea-like flowers visible at various distances. The foreground shows a single small raceme of two to three flowers resting against a grey rock, while additional flowering stems spread across the mid and background. The small, grey-green pinnately compound leaves of the plant are visible between the rocks, illustrating the mat-forming growth habit of this species in its natural gravelly habitat.

My newest addition to the Alaska Wildflower Guide: Nutzotin milkvetch (Astragalus nutzotinensis). ID, etymology, distribution, and habitat information all here: www.lwpetersen.com/alaska-wildf...

#alaska #wildflowers #bloomscrolling

graphic for Photo of the Week, February 25, 2026. The upper half shows a warm brown background with white serif text reading "Alaska Range from the Granite Tors" and below it, "Photo of the Week of February 25, 2026." Smaller text reads "LWPETERSEN.SUBSTACK.COM" and in italics, "Field notes from the north." The lower half of the graphic shows the photograph itself: a wide early-morning landscape from an elevated ridge in Alaska, with granite rock spires rising from a dark spruce forest in the middle ground and the snow-covered peaks of the Alaska Range visible on the horizon 90 miles away. Patches of snow remain on the foreground hillside. The light is warm and low, coming from the northeast.

Photo of the Week: the Alaska Range on the horizon, from the Granite Tors on my first overnight there, twelve years ago. A reflection on familiar places and what you lose when they stop feeling new.
lwpetersen.substack.com/p/alaska-range-from-the-granite-tors

#alaska #hiking #photography

Camera Settings For Aurora Photography - How to Take Great Northern Lights Photos - Northern Lights Photography What are the right aperture, shutter speed, ISO camera settings for aurora photography? How to photograph the northern lights with examples. Article 1: settings

I wrote more about camera settings for aurora photography here:
www.lwpetersen.com/learn/camera...

Vertical nighttime photograph of bright green aurora ribbons sweeping diagonally across a star-filled sky above a snow-covered spruce forest in Fairbanks, Alaska. The aurora forms long, curved bands with layered strands and soft gradations of green, with faint hints of purple along the edges. The sky behind the aurora is dark blue and dotted with numerous visible stars. Below, a dense stand of spruce trees fills the lower portion of the image. Their branches are heavily coated in thick white snow, illuminated by moonlight, giving the forest a soft, glowing appearance. The trees vary in height, with pointed tops reaching upward toward the aurora-filled sky.

Bright moonlight changes how you photograph the aurora. With a snow-covered foreground, exposure is a balancing act. Too long and the snow blows out. Too short and you lose the aurora structure.

Aurora ribbons over Fairbanks, photographed under a bright moon

#alaska #auroraborealis #northernlights

Glaciers and Icebergs - Lee Petersen Photography Lee Petersen offers prints and wall art from images of Alaska landscapes, aurora borealis, wildlife, glaciers, and more. Travel, Adventures, and Life in Alaska.

From my Glacier gallery:
photos.lwpetersen.com/Galleries/Al...