I’ve photographed sunrise at this place along the river at sunrise so many times I couldn’t give you an accurate count. But this was my first time at the river for sunrise in almost a year.

This year in April we had a heat wave, afternoons in the high 20’s, I only wore a thin shirt for this sunrise and while walking back at 9am it had already warmed up. This was a vast difference to the -30 degree days I experienced all winter in the Yukon.

After living away from a place you’ve photographed so often, you see it with fresh eyes. You’re thankful for the little frogs and toads that jump off the path and scare you, the bird calls that follow you from tree to tree, the sound of the river running.

In just a couple months I’ll be living again in my camper in Alaska, my goal for the last 6 years to get to. A place dreamed of by so many photographers to experience.

And yet I think, if I cannot take a place like the grand river with so many species, and so much life and not take the time to see all these creatures, do I really have any business going to such a vast wilderness and experience like it should be.

As the inventor of the telephone said about this city,

So here I am, over 100 years later thinking the same thing. If I cannot take a photo of a red squirrel along the Grand River and see the glory of creation, how can I expect to see grizzlies in the last frontier of Alaska next month and truly appreciate the experience.