Another day another outing, today it was a return to the upper lake at kananaskis to shoot some cloud scenes during the scattered snowstorms. Cecil and I were a little surprised by the almost constant cloud rather than the predicted 'passing showers' but we made the most of the trip and enjoyed a short hike on the lakeshore trail.
Starting from the upper lake boat launch, we crossed the dam and took the lakeshore trail for about 3.5 km before turning around and heading back. Not far I hear you cry, but during the hike we are stopping and starting and wandering off trail as often as we're on it, always in search of new images. Then there's the constant squatting, kneeling, standing and kneeling again to get the right shot at every stop. Wet feet, cold hands, bruised knees and various cuts and grazes are the norm as we maneuver through the boulders and piles of slippery timber on the shoreline. On many occasions we wait patiently for the light, laughing and joking about life in general and usually snacking on something too, until the light hits and we scramble for the camera before it changes again. There was a strong wind blowing today, and combined with the cool air it was a nod to the forthcoming winter each time we stopped by the water. Temperatures aside it was another enjoyable day shooting and the clouds provided a wonderful change from the harsh light of day. The main image was one of the last of the day as we headed back to the car park and was chosen by Sarah as her favourite from the collection, I'm in agreement. The small gallery below has captions with a little detail.
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It was a lovely afternoon again today so I decided to head down to the elbow valley and have a short hike around the beaver ponds there. It's a regular haunt but still a really enjoyable afternoon wander.
There are few critters around now as the heavy snow and cold temperatures earlier this month saw most of them heading south, I can't say as I blame them. But temperatures have picked up again and we've been enjoying some great weather, today was just an extension of that. The beavers have left their old holt and moved upstream after taking all they could from the location. They're not far away and have made some impressive dams in the new place. I've also added a few shots from the garden during the snow earlier this month showing size difference between some of the birds. The hairy woodpecker in particular was difficult to scale until he sat beside a downy woodpecker and showed his size. I've had these on the computer for a few weeks but thought they were worth sharing. No spectacular shots today just the regular old beauty of the daily routine explained in captions in the gallery below. The main shot is one I try to make repeatedly and still can't seem to get it right. It's the right shot and framing I think but wrong location, the cluttered background is a distraction, but not so much so that I don't try this shot every time I'm in the area. Is anyone tired of sunsets yet? You will no doubt see from the images below that I'm not. It has been quite some time since I went west to Banff National Park and the sunset 'hotspot' of Vermillion Lakes so I thought it was about time to return.
After arriving and getting set up I was swamped by the occupants of a tourist bus, all seeking that globally familiar shot of Mt Rundle tipped with the golden light of an autumn sunset. To be honest the light wasn't great but a graduated ND filter allowed me to get the most out of it. On occasion the lake calmed into a flat mirror making a perfect arrowhead of Mt Rundle and its reflection. Oddly enough I shot another anticrepuscular ray over the top of Mt Rundle (my second sighting of this phenomena in less than a week) you can see it clearly in the 4th image in the gallery below. There are no captions for the gallery as they are all taken from the same location using the wide angle, 24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses. Maybe next week I'll get out in the harsh light of day and make a few images.....unless I can think of a new sunrise or sunset location. After a successful pursuit of sunrise last week I already had my eye on a sunset, largely because I'd rather stay up late than get up early. After checking out the conditions for today I decided to head out to lower kananaskis lake this evening.
I called Cec to see if he fancied coming along, he didn't take much persuading and we were soon in the truck heading west. We stopped off at the junction of highway 40 and highway 742 at a small pond there and made a few shots of the reflections, more to kill time than anything else. We arrived about 30 minutes early so decided to call in at the upper lake and make a few shots there too before dropping down to the lower lake for the main event. The lower lake had enough calm area to provide a great reflection and we rattled off some nice shots. At one point a little dipper walked right by us as he tried to get a last meal before dark. I found a piece of driftwood along the shoreline that looked promising so wandered that way to make the main shot for today before calling Cec over to share the find. From the driftwood we returned to our starting location to shoot some 200mm telephoto close ups of the last light on the summits, then, just as the blue hour took over I got one shot of a perfect anticrepuscular ray stretching out across the horizon. Anticrepuscular rays, as you might expect, are the opposite of crepuscular rays (which most folks just call 'sunbeams') Anticrepuscular rays occur when something blocks the light from the sun which casts a long shadow across the sky away from the sun. They aren't really rare but they are interesting and a single one cutting through the evening sky was nice to capture. You can look for these by turning your back on sunset and looking to the opposite horizon, usually when the sun is very low in the sky. I feel we did well today and made some nice shots in just a couple of hours, it was the kind of day that keeps you coming back for more. Cecil and I revisited the wedge pond for sunrise again this week and were struck by this crazy 'double sunrise' occurrence, thanks to bounce light from mid level cloud. We arrived at 07:15 for an 08:09 sunrise, after setting up and talking for a few minutes the tip of Mt Kid began to illuminate even though we were 40 minutes before sunrise.
This was a result of bounce light from mid level cloud spread across the prairie to the east reflecting light all the way through to our position in the mountains. This lasted for more than 30 minutes culminating with the bright red cloud seen in the main image below (taken at 08:07) Then at 08:15 (6 minutes after sunrise) Mt Kidd was illuminated again by direct sunlight from the east. This changed the cloud colour from red to yellow before the sun rose far enough to reduce the cloud light and leave a clean alpenglow along the summit ridge. You can see the colour shift in the sequence below (the main image would sit 4th in the chain). Each has a timestamp to guide you along the way. With the weather taking an autumnal turn and sunshine filling the skies it was an easy decision to head out to Kananaskis for a photo walk with Cecil. The sun was making some incredibly harsh light but we managed to find some nice topics and a bonus moose.
This young male was drinking (and dribbling) in an area that often has a moose. His watering hole was frozen but he made himself some openings by breaking through the ice. As he tried drinking he seemed to spill half of everything he took in, which kept him there for a long time, happily milling about as we took our shots. We started the day at Barrier Lake but didn't make any shots there. We went on to the river bridge close to Kananaskis Village where we made a few including my favourite of the day of some frosted leaves on the ground. From there we dropped in at the Wedge Pond (who can resist those reflections) before continuing on to the Upper Lake. We saw staff from Parks Canada servicing the latrines from the campsites around the lake by flying full containers out and empty ones back in. They were also flying in tons of logs for firewood at the sites, this is done to prevent the transport of wood from site to site helping to slow the spread of the mountain pine beetle which is decimating forests in Canada. All in all it was an excellent day and that beautiful young bull moose just capped it off nicely. We started the weekend with a new addition to the squirrel population in the garden, Sarah soon decided he would be called Sooty for obvious reasons. Sooty is clearly still young and has much to learn. He began by trying to reach the seed bell that hangs from the stump but fell off into the bushes below.
He climbed back up and made a jump for the fat ball, but that's hanging on a chain and moved as he landed leaving him hanging on with just one leg. He seemed to have rescued himself when he grabbed the stump with the other legs....but then fell off again. I thought I would reward him for his entertainment so I opened the window and threw some peanuts on the ground at the base of the stump, as he went down to collect them he fell off again, flipping over and landing on his back in the snow. He laid there very still for a second or two looking to the sky before wriggling around and 'righting' himself, he grabbed a few peanuts and scooted off back to the forest. We had a wander by the river as usual and saw a hawk we haven't seen before, the Rough Legged Hawk. These are the most northern of all raptors and very common in the arctic, it seems we caught him migrating south. There's a shot in the gallery of the construction work by the river where the piles are going in for the new bridge crossing, and as usual captions are provided. As for Sooty, he's been back a few times over the weekend so it seems we have another 'regular'. You might recognise the image on the left below as the one posted yesterday; on the right is how it looks today following a 'snowmageddon' event. Snow began falling at midnight last night and by mid afternoon our garden had a 31 cm (12.2 inch) accumulation.
Because the trees still have lots of leaves, I had to go out and rattle them with a brush to knock off the snow and prevent the accumulation from snapping branches off. I put a new seed bell out for the critters and Sarah and I watched as they made hundreds of visits to and from the feeder in the heavy snow. Peg Leg squirrel was so busy trying to retrieve the remnants of the old seed bell I had pushed into a crevice in the tree, he fell off and went crashing through the shrubs into a cold bed of snow. There was a pause for some time before he emerged and returned to prise the seed cluster out of the crevice, before climbing to the top of the feeder stump and eating the whole thing in one sitting. I finally managed to capture some of the Dark Eyed Juncos on camera, they have been around all year but are very difficult to catch as they tend to stay on the ground under shrubs. The deep snow has lifted them out of the cover allowing me to catch a few nice shots. You can click the main pic for a larger version and the gallery has captions to identify the locals coming and going from the feeder. Sarah and I had our usual weekend wander by the river in Cochrane on Sunday but there were few shots to be had with the long telephoto lens I had with me, so I saved them in a folder with some new ones from the garden that I had made on friday and saturday.
Today I had a nice 13 km hike around the forest at West Bragg Creek and made a few shots of the hoar frost along the way. So, I bunched them all together in this post as a catch all for the last few days. The main image is a curve on the trail in West Bragg with a dusting of fresh snow which fell sporadically as I hiked so it set up nicely to show some autumn colours along the way. The gallery is captioned and has a nice mix of images from our garden, the riverside and the forest. |
AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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January 2024
The Shaman, West Texas
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