Experience Alaska: Iditarod & Aurora

Join Alaska photographer Carl Johnson for a once in a lifetime photography experience in the remote Alaskan Range!

This six day/five night journey will start in Anchorage. Arrive at Anchorage by 5:00 p.m. and start out the trip with a 6:00 p.m. pick up from your hotel for a welcome dinner at the private Chef’s Table at Kincaid Grill. Over prix fixe dinner featuring local Alaskan fare, we will discuss the plans for the trip.

The next day, you will be transported to Merrill Field for your ski plane flight out to the Rainy Pass Lodge, located in the wilderness of the Alaska Range. Before the flight, we will discuss aerial photography techniques to prepare you for the stunning views along the flight route. It is at the Lodge where we will base our operations for four nights. After settling into your rooms, you will enjoy a delicious gourmet lunch in the main lodge dining room, with an expansive view of the frozen Puntilla Lake and the mountains of the Alaska Range. After lunch, we will head out on a snowmachine (snowmobile) outing to scout the Iditarod route and photograph the snow-covered mountain landscape. After dinner, we will walk out in the vicinity of the lodge to photograph the aurora borealis.

Our first full day at the lodge is Iditarod day! With the official Sunday start in Willow, the first teams can arrive as early as 8:00 a.m. on this day. We will spend the entire day photographing the teams at various locations around the lodge. The checkpoint is on Puntilla Lake, just a hundred yards from the lodge. We will be able to walk out onto the lake and down the trail where teams come down to the lake. Part of the day will be spent out on the trail, transported by snowmachine so that we can photograph teams out in the wilderness and away from the crowds. After a full day of photographing the teams, we will enjoy an evening concert with Alaska country legend Ken Peltier and a fireworks display.

For our remaining time at the lodge, we will take advantage of the best light for landscape photography during the day and photograph the aurora borealis at night. On at least one night, we will take a snowmachine trip out into the dark to photograph the aurora borealis among the mountains and away from the lodge. Our down time during the day will include classroom sessions on various topics, including photo review. We will also try to photograph the beautiful Norwegian horses kept at the lodge and receive a tour of the historic buildings at the lodge.

Your final day will start with breakfast at the Lodge, then the group will fly back to Anchorage. After four days in the wilderness, you may find yourself surprised by how busy life feels back in town, and we know that you’ll bring with you unforgettable memories and incredible photographs that you’ll cherish for years to come.