The weather was not the best today but forecast to be worse tomorrow so I went out this afternoon for a hike amongst the larch trees on Mt Indefatigable Ridge. It's a nice hike, hard going and a good workout, but best of all it has spectacular views.
If you fancy the 9.7 km (6 miles) hike with 829 m (2719 feet) of ascent you will find a previous write up of this hike with route descriptions and map by clicking here. Today was a lovely hike, with the blustery snow showers and intense wind over the ridge keeping temperatures very cool even during the tough ascent. The sky was constantly filled with cloud and not the best to photograph but the larch brought such a beautiful splash of color to the scene that the sky didn't seem to matter. I managed to get up/down and back home a few minutes before Sarah got in from work, so I could sing happy birthday again, all in all a perfect day. The main shot below shows the north summit of Indefatigable with it's scattering of larch trees leading the way up. The gallery below has captions to give some indication of the content.
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Looking out of the window this morning I spotted something on the sunflower that is growing close to the house. I picked up the camera and telephoto lens that I keep in the dining room and fired off a shot.
It was a bee, very wet and very still, it looks like he has spent a cold night out on the seed head. I made an image or two then went outside with the macro lens to make a few close up shots. Back in the house I sat at the window and made a few more shots of the usual suspects to add to the post. I got both of Sarahs current 'pets' a small scar faced squirrel who showed up one day with a huge cut on his cheek and another on his nose, Sarah fed him peanuts and seeds over the next day or two and he soon healed. The next squirrel is a 'full size' grey that came with a really badly injured foot. It was painful just watching as he hovered it above the ground and jumped with pain if it touched down for a second. As he tried to climb down the feeder he fell off into the bushes below so Sarah threw nuts in there for him for the next few days. He would hobble across the lawn and go into the bushes for a while then retreat to the woods again. Just like 'scarface' he has healed quite well, his foot doesn't work as it should and he's still a little unstable on it, but it is clearly much less painful now as he hops around comfortably and climbs up and down the feeder without issue. I've captioned the images in the gallery so you know who's who. UPDATE: The bee dried out, warmed up and flew off in the afternoon sunshine. Just a short post to show a few images of autumn that I made while roaming around this afternoon. I did part of my usual circuit along highway 68 onto highway 40 in kananaskis but I stopped short of reaching kananaskis lakes owing to resurfacing work.
Rather than sit in a row of cars both ways I turned around and called it a day. I'm sure I'll be back in the area again as autumn progresses. The main shot is of Barrier Lake and the gallery below is captioned. Clear skies dragged me from the house and into the beautiful Elbow Valley this afternoon. I need little excuse to go down there, close to home and quiet now the holiday season is over, it is a lovely place to be.
I decided to hike to the south summit of Nihahi Ridge and set out along the early autumn colours beside the river (main pic). It was a wonderful afternoon, cool but sunny and the 13.2km (8.2 miles) passed quickly, though the near 800 metres (2624 feet) of ascent slowed me toward the end. This was my favourite hike for a couple of years until it was ousted from the number one spot by Burstall Pass, but I still make this one a couple or more times a year. I didn't write up a new hike page as there is an existing one with parking info and map already on the site, you can visit that page by clicking here or find it among the numerous canadian hikes we have posted here. As for today's hike, there are captions in the gallery below to lead the way to this wonderful wedge shaped beauty that guards the easternmost edge of the rockies. I was in the garden last night trying to shoot a weak aurora that was hiding behind stubborn clouds hanging over the city. The cloud would not break sufficiently to allow any decent shots of the aurora so I turned my lens toward the milky way in clear skies to the west.
I wasn't quite set to make the image and was still trying to frame the house and the milky way in the same shot when a good sized shooting star burst onto the scene. I instinctively fired off a shot and caught the tail end as it broke up in the star filled sky. The shutter wasn't long enough to get sufficient light to reveal the milky way, but it is just visible on the right of shot. The settings I had been using for the aurora turned out to be almost perfect for catching the meteor so I'm thankful for that. Not the biggest or brightest meteor shot, but it is over our house so I think it's pretty cool and I'm sure Sarah is going to love it. You can click the image for a larger version. Since creating our bird table the garden has been a constant hive of activity, much of which focuses on the local squirrel population. Today a big grey wandered in and found the remains of a seed bell that was left in the bushes when I put a new one on the feeder.
He took the whole thing and went to the middle of the lawn where the autumn sun was shining. He then settled down in the warm grass to enjoy his spoils. As we watched from the window a hawk flew out of the woods just a few feet above him and he decided discretion was the better part of valour and scurried home with his find. The sunflower in the gallery below came from a seed buried by the squirrels and we thought we would let it grow along with some wildflowers the squirrels also 'planted'. I've also posted a couple of shots of the mountain blue jays again. The chicks that were brought here by their parents in the springtime for food are far less timid than others. They now return almost daily and hop around the feeder without a care making for some easy shots of these beautiful creatures. At 4am this morning my eyes opened as if programmed, I'd set the alarm for 04:30 but didn't need it. As I stumbled around getting ready to head out to The Wedge Pond I wondered if this time I would actually get some sunrise images. I've made this trip several times trying to catch the sunrise hitting Mt Kidd and reflecting in the still waters, all have failed.
I arrived in good time and made my way through the trees in total darkness with just my head torch lighting the way. A dark Canadian forest is an eerie place to walk alone in the early hours. Not in a 'spooky' sense, but in a 'is that a shadow or a bear' sense. At 5:30 am all noise is amplified and a Canadian forest waking up at dawn has plenty of noise. It was nice to reach the edge of the lake where (thanks to lack of rainfall) there's a good wide buffer of open space between the water and the forest. I dumped my gear in one spot and set up the tripod hoping for some stars over Mt Kidd, unfortunately low cloud eliminated any chance of that. I hoped the cloud would stick around and bounce the morning sun back to earth but it drifted away before sunrise. I still managed a few nice shots as the light crept down the mountainside opposite. The lake was perfectly still and a thin veil of mist floated gracefully across the surface. It was a beautiful morning and I`m glad I made the effort to get there once again. I know I`ll be back because I am yet to make the shot I have envisaged, perhaps conditions will prevent me from ever making it, but what fun would it be if we got every shot, every time. With Cecil heading off on holiday tomorrow we decided to get a day in with the camera gear before he left. With an early finish required for his birthday celebrations we opted for the shores of Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park.
Along the way we called in at Cascade Ponds where we found some nice images with a walk around the largest lake before heading to Lake Minnewanka. Lake Minnewanka is a stunning location with turquoise blue water held captive by towering mountains and a man made dam on the western end. There are still quite a few tourists around so finding a quiet place to make our shots was not easy but we picked our way along the western shoreline just south of the dam where opportunity usually awaits. The main image below is of a lichen covered rock on the shore of Lake Minnewanka illuminated by dappled light breaking through the trees behind the camera. Across the lake Mt Astley stands most prominent with Mt Girouard creeping in from the right. The gallery below has captions to help you follow along. I set out intending to hike Belmore Browne peak today but there was a mass of logging trucks and cutting work in the area so I drove right by on the powderface trail and dropped into Canyon Creek.
I've made this hike to 'Bryants Bumps' before, the ridge actually has no name so I gave it one last time I was out here. After all, Mt Bryant stands directly behind and it 'bumps' along in front. For those looking for full directions and map click here to see the previous version though that write up goes further along the ridge it will get you there, then you can decide if you want to go further. Today I just did the ridge to the summit and back so about 10 km with 550m of ascent. It's a great little ridge with some wonderful views along the way, but don't be deceived, it's a tough ascent early on. The main shot today was taken as I set out along canyon creek, the gallery has captions to ensure you don't miss the fat man sleeping (no comments about the fat man standing on the summit please) The new extension to the bird feeder has brought a nice long 'horn' of wood to the left side of the stump and the downy woodpeckers seem to think highly of it.
Sarah and I watched this little guy hop around it as we had dinner tonight. He was so persistent that I decided to grab a few shots for the blog. |
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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