I met Cecil in the car park for Elbow Lake today and we made our usual trek up the steep opening ascent to a very busy lake. Elbow is always popular but today was rammed full of 'work from home' trippers too, compounding the crowding.
We did a circuit of the lake and included a brief wander down the Elbow Trail toward the valley, just to check it out. The main image today is of the flooded trail in the valley looking away from Elbow Lake. The gallery below that has captions as usual.
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We both love the spring sunsets we get at the back of the house at this time of year. By now the sun has moved as far north as it is going to go (quite literally, as today is the summer solstice) As a result of this northern maximum, we are treated to some truly wonderful sunsets along the foothills behind the house. Spoiled as we are, I rarely shoot them anymore, but occasionally I just can't let them go undocumented.
This beauty was shot on June 15th, a three shot panorama using the 400 mm lens, showing the distant foothills and those beautiful illuminated cloud formations above. There is a second sunset shot, taken a little earlier, in the gallery below. There's also some better images of the Common Grackle that has been around for a few weeks now, and thus far had proved evasive, and, of course, a spring catch up with Peg Leg, our favourite squirrel. As the season warms, and more and more birds come passing through the area on their migration routes, we see new birds almost daily. It's nice to spend an hour or two by the window watching the comings and goings with the camera in my hand.
Lets start today with the main shot, a Cedar Waxwing, one of a pair we had visit early this month. They don't stay in Canada for winter, unlike their cousins the Bohemian Waxwings that will overwinter here. We also had a Common Grackle, a first for us in the garden, which belies the name 'common' really. Another first was the Brown Headed Cowbird, and our final 'first' was the Brewers Blackbird, as well as a few of our old favourites. The gallery has captions so you know who is who. I set out today for a spring leg stretcher in the Elbow Valley. Still cognisant of the 'work from home' crowds filling the place I opted for a quiet area of the powderface trail known as Canyon Creek.
Fortunately nobody else had the same idea and I had the place to myself. I walked all along the creek and then ascended the mountain at the end of the watercourse. I had intended to return via the ridge but after walking along it for a while the icy cold wind had me bailing out and returning to the valley for a long walk out. All in all I had almost 3000 feet (914 m) of ascent over 9.4 miles (15.4 km). The ridge is accessible from the other end and provides a much shorter trip if you just go up to the first summit and down again. You can see a previous version of this hike HERE which will show you access points, maps etc. Along the route in, I saw a wild horse herd with a new foal but they we're spooked by me stopping the truck to get a shot of them, on the way out I stopped the truck half a kilometre away and walked slowly up towards them. They still scooted off once I got closer to them, but not before I got a shot of that lovely little foal. It's good to see them still thriving in the valley. Today's main shot is from my initial ascent looking back along the creek with Mt Bryant in the distance. The gallery below has captions. Cecil and I met up in Kananaskis today for a walk along the exposed western shore of the lower lake. Water levels have been reduced to 'exceptionally low' in order to allow for snow melt and the usual June rainfall combined. Normally the snow is gone before the June rains, but on occasion it isn't, and this year is one of those years, any prolonged downpour now can seriously jeopardise local communities.
The upside of this situation is the opportunity to explore places that are normally covered with vast quantities of water. We made some nice postcard shots beside the lake, not least of which was the close up view of the deep mud cracks in one of the exposed bays, see todays main shot. Then, as you might expect, we shot stumps, rocks and lakeside views to fill the day. When we returned to the cars and parted ways, I opted to stay a little longer and explore a trail I had noticed earlier, that cut into the forest beside the lake. I haven't noticed this before and was interested in exploring it a little way. After making a blurred shot of a moose in the dark forest, I made one of a great horned owl which was also terribly blurred, finally I shot a mossy forest floor with a different lens and called it a day. On the way home I saw a group of people at the roadside pointing cameras, obviously a bear or moose was nearby, a quick scan revealed a small black bear trying desperately to get away from all the chaos. I made three shots before he was gone only to find they too were blurred. When I finally got home I took off my telephoto lens and found several loose screws which were preventing the focus ring from turning fully. Two minutes with a screwdriver fixed the issue but it spoiled three good opportunities today, not least of which was my fifth bear of the season. With Sarah hard at work today I decided to get out and hike to one of my favourite spring venues, Jumpingpound Mountain. It was a little early in the year for this one to be honest, as it tends to hold it's snow on the higher portion of the route well into June, but it's out of the way and less likely to be full of all of those 'working from home' folks, so I went anyway.
I should at this point admit that it was a terrible mistake, honestly the slog I made through the snow along the summit ridge was ridiculous. However, in my defence, I need the exercise and it's not an overly long hike. When I met two young women heading down who told me it was impassible so they had turned back, I should have called it a day, I didn't. When I hit snow only a third of the way in I should have known what was to come, but instead I picked my way around the tree wells and kept on going. The final third (about 1.5 km) was an absolute slog, truly gruelling and so incredibly energy sapping I almost turned back....almost. I finally made the summit with just a little skin left on my shins. After crashing through the snow so often you will eventually find winter fall under there, repeatedly, trees with a grudge to settle, so their broken branches bite your legs as you unknowingly interrupt their final resting place. The journey down was almost as difficult, and both shins, my left thigh and right knee all lost more skin to those vindictive trees. All in all I could have chosen better today, but I still enjoyed it even though my time at the summit was cut short by repeated snow showers and biting cold winds. For those seeking directions to this (usually) beautiful family hike, you can click here for the details of an earlier one with directions to the trailhead etc. everyone else can flick through the rather dull images from today and feel happy that you didn't have any skin in this particular game! |
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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