This sunset holds a special place in my heart… and not because of how drop-dread gorgeous it was. I didn’t know it at the time, but I wasn’t just preserving this view of the Alaska Range under a sky full of color.
It was summer 2018. Two weeks prior we had driven out of the congestion and concrete of New Jersey on our most ambitious road trip yet: Alaska. We had completed multiple cross-country, National Park road trips and wanted to push ourselves further. The parks were too crowded- we were after something more wild.
So we loaded up the whole family (I was pregnant with our third at the time) and took off in our trusty SUV, sleeping in a rooftop tent in a different place every night all the way across the continent in search of adventure.
We found it, and we had the trip of a lifetime camping along the Alaska Highway. We were even lucky enough to have a clear view of Denali the one afternoon that we were in the area. The trip didn’t go off completely without a hitch… but that’s a story for another time.
I also found myself here, standing in the brush under this sunset on the side of the remote Denali Highway. I was almost 5,000 miles from home but also the closest I had ever been.
It felt like the finale of our adventure at the time. We had made it to our destination, and we were on our way back toward hot showers and real beds. It was magic, but magic that was just out of reach and we were retreating every day.
That’s what I thought I was capturing. A beautiful view to remember an epic adventure that had come to an end.
Five years later, Alaska IS home, and now I can see what I couldn’t at the time. This wasn’t just any sunset… this was the moment that Alaska became home in my heart.
Rosy Range is available for the first time in the exclusive February 2024 release “With Love, Alaska.”
Purchase prints in various sizes, including panoramic, and browse the rest of the collection here: visit gallery.
