Kodiak 9/17 - Anton Larson Rd

First, a correction. What I shared two days ago as a view "back towards the mountains on top of Pillar Mtn" was not. Those mountains were actually taken along Anton Larson Rd. After leaving Pillar Mountain, we took a drive down Anton Larson. These photos (today and 2 days ago) were over an hour after left Pillar.

The road out to Anton Larson Bay is one of the longer roads available on the island. It cuts across the island to the northwest side (the town Kodiak is on the southeast side). The road starts by following the Buskin River (the morning bears a few days ago). You even pass the Bear Valley Golf Course on the road! As you make your way across the island, you get a great view of Pyramid Mountain with its trailhead located on this road. After more driving of twists and turns and sometimes rough road, you reach Anton Larson Bay. There is a boat launch and nice dock that is heavily used for access to the adjacent islands on that side of Kodiak Island. The photos today are looking across that bay. We really hit the timing right with fall colors. Fall only lasts about 2-3 weeks in Kodiak. The winds are much higher in the fall/winter and the colored leaves have little chance staying around long.

This shot is looking across the base of the bay with a great reflection. After this shot, we continued down Anton Larson Rd the the dead end and turned around.

Coming back from the dead end, we get a slightly different view of the country and the sun has shifted a bit for different highlights and colors. This is a shot looking at Pyramid Mountain. It's clear where it got its name. I love the solitary golden tree on the side of the mountain. These shots were taken 20 minutes after the shot above. You see a different cloud structure and the wind had picked up a bit knocking out reflections in the water. Weather is always changing on Kodiak Island. Lesson learned - don't pass up a shot.

Another view including a little farther back towards Kodiak. Sometimes these views look too good to be real. I was making my riding partners a bit nervous with these shots as the drop-off at the edge of the road is substantial and I had to get on the edge to get away from the heavy brush along the road. It's not the first (nor last) time I made my traveling partners nervous.

Thanks,

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