Salmon and Grayling Streams

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Alaska

> The Tanana River

The last contiguous ice on the Tanana near town. On the right side of the photo, the river's original ice still extends all the way across. A rapid flow of water and ice is pushing in toward it from the left. Moments later, the original ice gave way and opened up a free-flowing channel packed with truck-sized icebergs.

This is what a lot of the remaining river ice looks like right now, laying in massive chunks up on the bank. Kick it and it shatters into a million little shards.

The water is exceptionally low right now on the Tanana, leaving most of the logjams high and dry. The area on the right in this photo is underwater during much of the summer.

These dust storms are a common sight on the Tanana whenever it hasn't rained for several days. The river's channel, mostly over a mile wide, consists mostly of vast bars of dry gravel and glacial silt that's easily kicked up by the wind.