For The Love of Travel

So I get all excited this early morn, because its sunrise photo taking time at Lake Louise – returning after 4 years, this time with tripod and capacity to do long exposures and use a filter. Perfect. Freezing cold with -2 degrees at 7am. Tripod and camera all assembled at the photo taking point, with about another 20 keen photographers. Turn camera on and I read a message “no memory card available”.  I freeze, but not from the cold. Good God, I’ve left the memory card in the computer last night after doing my edits. NOOOOOOOO! Lids is not taking a photo this morning after all. As I was travelling to the hotel, got to see what the sky was doing in the opposite direction. Very nice hues. Ah well. Lesson learnt.

After brekkie, travelled to see the renowned Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, crossing the border back into BC. Glad I got there before 10am, because after that, bus hoards descended. A 5.2 hiking trail circuits the lake, the first half of which is accessible to wheelchairs and strollers. The lake is enclosed by mountains of the President Range, as well as Mount Burgess and Wapta Mountain. The vivid turquoise colour of the water, caused by powdered limestone, is most spectacular in July, as snow melts from the surrounding mountains. Still a lovely sight in October.  

Then onto Natural Bridge, an impressive rock formation that spans the Kicking Horse River, where the slower moving waters from the Field River flats begin their descent through a canyon to be joined by the Amiskwi River. It’s a powerful reminder of how much influence water plays in the shaping of a landscape!

 

 

 

 

 

Went back in the evening for sunset….

Lovely weather for exploring more rocks and water vistas. First stop Lake Minnewanka, meaning “Water of the Spirits”, is a glacial lake fed by the Cascade River, in the eastern part of Banff. Its 21 km long and 142m deep making it the 2nd longest lake in the Canadian Rockies. The area is rich in animal life – bear, elk, mule deer. Back to downtown Banff for brunch…the mountains that surround the town make a real impact as you drive around.

Next the Bow Valley Parkway, a 50 km scenic route with lovely picnic stops; a canyon and falls to explore;  Morant’s Curve, where the Bow River and rail line snake in front of the rising peaks of Mt Temple and Fairview mountain; and the dramatic Castle Mountain, sitting astride the mountain fault, which has thrust older sedimentary rocks forming the upper part of the mount over younger rocks forming its base. Its castellated appearance is a result of erosive processes at different rates on the peak’s alternating layers of softer shale and harder limestone and quartzite.

I love the grassy wildlife overpasses on the Trans Canada Highway – these innovative structures have opened migration corridors and saved countless animals from vehicle collisions, including grizzlies. Pine trees and wildflowers have given root, giving the overpasses a fringe of greenery. There are also camouflaged underpasses, which black bears and mountain lions prefer to use. 

Also in the Bow River Valley, but closer to Banff, are the (3) Vermillion Lakes from which you can see Mt Rundle and Sulphur Mountain. I visited during the day and came back for sunset, and was sooo rewarded. A beautiful pink/blue hue over one set of mountains and over to my right, simultaneous yellow/orange hues over another mountain group – about 15 photographers arrived for the sunset and left quite quickly, leaving myself and Charlie, backpacker from England, to revel in the sunset’s  ‘afterglow’. Magic!! 

 

An unexciting trip from Valemount by and large, to Jasper. It rained most of the way, but stopped briefly for me to be able to jump out and snap this meandering river….and this ‘stand off’ between deer and driver…….

At the BC/Alberta border, the sun came out suddenly with a very pleasing rainbow (I was sitting for 20 mins waiting for the road works official to wave me on)…not a very good image of it, but you can see a bit. 

I was surprised that the ranger at the border, welcomed me in French (bienvenue) and then English, before collecting National Park fees…now that I’ve googled, discovered Alberta has had a French-speaking population since the 1700’s, since the settlement of fur traders.

The weather just continued to get worse, so decided to rest up in Jasper and make an early start. Pyramid Lake and Patricia Lake had muted, but nice sunrises.

A 5-hour road  journey to Banff was rather scary in parts, where it got close to a total whiteout and a bit of black ice on the road. But I drove slowly, so the usual 3 and a half hrs turned into 5. That was quite exhausting!

The sun came out for a bit at Vermillion Lakes, close to Banff.

After a bit of a rest, ventured out tonight to the viewpoint on Mt Norquay and took an okay pic of the town in the valley. I managed to get the silhouette of mountains in the distance including Mt Rundle, I think.