Day 7: Banff to Lake Louise

I woke up at 6:00am on an unusually warm morning, and immediately drove up Norquay mountain, which was recommended to me as a potentially sunrise spot. Arriving at the view point, I saw that the area was clouded over, and the light would not be ideal: I would see the mountains lit from the side, and not from behind me. Further more, the high mountains behind me would obscure the sun for a long time, which would keep me from working the light for quite a while yet. I therefore quickly shot a nightscape of Banff and moved on.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

I was reminded of Lake Minnewanka, which had several signs pointing to it, and which Eungshin had mentioned the day before. I drove towards it and when I arrived, saw that another photographer had already staked out the place. The light was starting to look pretty good, so I quickly parked the car and ran out with my gear next to the photographer, who turned out to be Bill Wood.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

The light was amazing, and we started getting some of the most brilliant alpenglow I had ever seen. I worked the light every which way and then suddenly saw a rainbow right in front of Bill!

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

The rainbow never got very strong, and certainly had faded by the time I got out my polarizer, but I just could not believe my luck. 2 rainbows in one trip! I kept working the light, but one of the biggest penalty of the strong wind was that long exposures would lead to the trees blurring, which led to many a heart-breaking shot when I finally saw the resulting photos in light room. For instance:

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

The light eventually faded, and Bill and I finally found time to introduce ourselves and chat about our experiences. We exchanged e-mail addresses and were about to leave when an acquaintance of Bill's showed up and showed us the full rainbow she had found in Cranmore while we were shooting here. Apparently the clouds were not as extensive up there and so the rainbow had lasted quite a bit longer.

Bill sent me a link to his PicasaWeb gallery which includes some of the best sky/cloud pattern pictures I've seen yet.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

Bill drove off towards the highway, but I wanted to explore the whole loop, and besides, was looking for somewhere to eat breakfast anyway. Driving past Two Jack lake, I saw Johnson Lake and decided that it looked like a nice place. I made breakfast, which wasn't easy in the wind, but the water boiled in a reasonable time thanks to using the methylated spirits instead of rubbing alcohol. After breakfast, I walked around the lake, which was pretty in a very understated fashion. I even found a squirrel who let me shoot a picture of him eating his breakfast.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

Leaving the lake, I saw yet more vistas with potential, if only the light was just a little better. I had plenty of time before meeting up with Eungshin, so I dropped by the Vermillion Lakes as well, but found them uninspiring. It had also started raining very hard at that time, so perhaps they'd be better if you were luckier with the weather.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

I parked my car by the Safeway and started stocking up on food. I had plenty of freeze-dried food for up a few nights in the back-country, but given the amount of front-country camping I was thinking of doing, I needed more. I had also run out of chocolate.

I met with Eungshin and we went out to lunch at the local food court. I mentioned that I saw a rainbow this morning. "I haven't seen a rainbow since I came to Banff!" Seeing rainbows isn't just a matter of luck, it's a matter of optics. I racked my brain as to how to translate Galen Rowell's words "anti-solar position when the sun is below 45 degrees" into easier to understand sentences. I thought for only a few seconds before realizing that I was an idiot. I'm talking to an engineer. Math and Science are universal languages for people like us, so I drew a simple diagram showing the physics of rainbow spotting, and she got it right away. "We'll find you a rainbow this afternoon," I promised rashly.

We left some of my batteries charging in her apartment and then drove North to Lake Moraine, which was a much longer drive than expected because of the amount of construction on the highway. The weather was overcast while we were driving, and by the time we got to Lake Moraine it was raining and windy. We were astonished by the bluish color of the lake, but it was so cold we huddled in the gift shop with some hot drinks instead. By the time we were finished with our drinks however, it was pretty outside, and we could walk around the Lake.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

Actually, you couldn't quite walk around the lake, as the path dead ended half way around the lake. Overcast days make for good portrait weather, so I broke out my 100mm/2.8 macro and showed Eungshin how many shots it took to get a good portrait. The number exceeded 10, but I'm also an unusually poor portrait photographer. My friend Jenny Yee could probably nail something in just a handful of shots. You'd hire her to do your wedding. You wouldn't (or shouldn't) hire me! I did take the time to show Eungshin how to use the DOF preview button on the camera. The little button used to be a bonus feature you could only get on high end cameras, but in recent years has migrated down to even the lowest end Canon body. Given that I consider a camera without the feature crippled, that's a good thing.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

By the time we were finished it was 4:00pm, and I told Eungshin that it was time to start chasing our rainbow. "The time for rainbow starts at 4:30pm." "How did you know that?" "I saw a rainbow pop out at 10:30am in Glacier. That's 3 hours after sunrise. I'm guessing that 3 hours before sunset, which is 4:30pm, would be also when you can start seeing rainbows." Lady luck is a fickle woman, but she had been smiling on me the entire trip, and thus fulfilled my rash promise at 4:30pm while driving down the Transcanada highway to Banff. The anti-solar point was on the left side of the car, so Eungshin got a good look at the rainbow. Unfortunately, the rainbow was also seen at the point of construction on the road, with no shoulders and no place to pull over, so despite all our desires to stop for a photo we could not do so. Eungshin had to settle for shooting from inside the car, which was not at all how you wanted your first rainbow shooting session to go. She also needed a polarizer and needed to know how to use it, which unfortunately since I had to have both hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road, I was in no position to teach her about at this point.

I delivered her safely back to her home, and got my camera battery back fully charged but my ipod only half charged because someone had unplugged it so he could charge his own device instead. A half charge was plenty though, so I was happy. We said goodbye to each other. As I pulled out of her driveway, my ipod played Don't Let Go by Canadian artists Bryan Adams and Sarah Mclachlan. I laughed at the irony, pointed the car North, and headed for Lake Louise.

Lake Louise at sunset was beautiful, but with the sun hidden back behind the mountains behind me, it was difficult to have good lighting. I ended up using an ND grad. filter in conjunction with a flash to properly expose flowers while retaining the background snow.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

With the disappearance of the cloud cover, the weather had suddenly turned very cold. I was shivering by the time I got back to the car after the sunset shoot, and drove down to the campground as described by the park ranger a couple of days ago. Driving around the campground left me uninspired, however, so I ended up at the youth hostel for the night. It was incredibly expensive for a hostel ($42.50), but it did have internet, and a warm place to cook my dinner. My dinner table was shared with a Swiss woman who was poring over loads of maps and information sheets. We exchanged information about where to go, where she was going, and when she told me she was Switzerland, I told her about my adventures this past summer. She told me I had to go to St. Mortiz next time for hiking, and gave me the names of a couple of small towns that was quite a bit cheaper than St. Mortiz itself, while retaining easy train access to St. Moritz.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

I went to bed with everything else packed so that I could make a silent getaway at 6:00am tomorrow.

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Day 6: Waterton Lakes National Park to Banff

I woke up again at 6:00am and immediately headed out towards Cardston to the spots I had found the night before to await the sunrise. It was just as windy as before, which made foreground leaves blurry, but I don't mind the effect too much and so just lived with it.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

Unlike previous days, I got a pretty lengthy sunrise this time, with enough time to go from point to point and still get good lighting. Even after the light was gone from the mountains, I could still drive along to the Bison loop to look for Bison, but they were too far to get decent shots of, so I ended up driving out of the park completely towards Pincher Creek and Banff. As I exited the park, I saw some more good scenery and stopped and shot the last frame depicted above. There I met Jack, who was on a road trip of some sort, and also headed towards Banff. I told him that I could use someone to share a campsite with in Banff, and since he was heading there we could keep in touch. He asked a bit about my point and shoot, and took notes.

I was hungry and hadn't had breakfast, so I pulled into Pincher Creek and headed for the diner, Denise's Bistro. The service was slow even though I was the only person in the bistro, but that was OK by me since I was really paying for both hot food and the privilege of charging my batteries. After I was half done with my meal Jack showed up at the same bistro and ordered breakfast as well, so we had a nice long chat about life, what we were doing, and what our experience had been so far. He was determined to drop by Calgary on the way to Banff, and I had to do laundry, find some real fuel for my stove, and resupply with food, so I was much more time constrained.

Driving on 22 towards Banff, however, the scenes were so beautiful that I should have stopped and shot. Instead, I drove it straight, and I should keep in mind that just because it's mid-day doesn't mean I couldn't get a few decent pictures to document my trip. Nevertheless, I drove on and made Banff by about 2:00pm, which was enough time for me to drop by the information center to talk to the park rangers about backcountry trips, get my laundry done, eat lunch, find methylated spirits and loc-tite, and finally, get some wi-fi and e-mailing done. The park rangers gave me a few ideas about where to stay and where to shoot the sunset, chiefest of which was Tunnel mountain.

After getting a campsite at the campground, I sent an SMS to Jack in case he wanted to join me, and then set off to hike Tunnel mountain. What I saw at the base of the climb blew me away. There was a layer of clouds over Banff and in front of the mountains ahead of it, but there were holes in the clouds which allowed corpuscular rays to come through. I quickly strapped on my Mini-Treker and tripod and started hiking up the hill at my best possible speed. The entire hike went by as if a blur, as I felt as though I was racing against time, hoping against hope that (1) at the top there would be a clearing relatively free of trees so I could shoot, and (2) the prevailing light conditions would not disappear by the time I got to the top.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

There was definitely a space at the top with only one tree blocking the view. And fortunately, the light conditions if anything, were an improvement over when I started the hike. In fact, the light show would get better and better as time went on. The wind was very strong, however, and I was at a loss as to how to stabilize the camera until I realized that I could splay open the legs of my tripod and shoot leaned over on one side. It was a very uncomfortable position to shoot, but the camera was rock solid as a result.

I shot frame after frame, marveling at the light. When it looked like it was fading a bit, I ran down to a lower position in the mountain to see if the other side of Tunnel mountain had good light. When I discovered that the answer was "no", I quickly ran back to the top and resumed shooting at a slightly different position. To my surprise, the light show had gotten even better. I got a few final frames before the clouds shifted and the light went away all together.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

All through the shooting, I had various people come up to me and ask me about my filters, tripod, or camera equipment. By this time, the wind and gradually darkening skies had driven most of them away, but I still held out against hope that I could get one final burst of light. There was a woman standing behind me, though, and from her gesture I could see that she was using her phone as a camera, and also regarding my activities with interest. I grinned at her, and gestured at a spot beside me in case she felt sociable. To my surprise she smiled back and sat down beside me as I fiddled around and shot a few more frames.

She was Korean, and on a working holiday visa in Canada for a year. She had been in Banff for several months, and was about to leave for Toronto in the hopes of getting better work. "What sort of work did you do in Korea?" "I was a programmer." "Oh wow. I used to be a software engineer as well!" We laughed and she told me that today was her birthday, and that she had a birthday party later this evening. Despite her time in Banff she had not explored very widely because she had no car, and didn't have a driver's license and so could not rent one. "I thought I should get a driver's license since I was coming to Canada, but I didn't get around to it and now I regret having been lazy," she said. She also aspired to be a photographer, a cyclist, and a hiker/camper as well. "Well, since I am all of those things, there's no reason we shouldn't be good friends! I have a car, so if you want to join me on a morning shoot let me know." "Ah no, I rarely get up before noon." I asked her name, and she said it was Lilly. I did a double-take at that point, because not only was my brother's ex named Lilly, they looked pretty darn similar as well.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

It was quite clear that the light show wasn't coming back, so I started packing up the gear and we started walking down the mountain. She told me that the youth hostel would be almost as cheap as the campground if I was a member (I was not), and that in a pinch, one can sleep in the parking lot of the youth hostel and use the showers/toilets in the youth hostel. Since I had already paid for my campground, this was moot, but I filed away the information for future reference.

"Have you been to Lake Moraine?"
"No, I haven't. It's my first night in Banff."
"I want to go there, but no buses go there."
"Well, since it's your birthday and I have a car, I can take you there tomorrow if you like."
"Really?"
"Sure! After my morning shoot I'll have time to scout and be in between shoots."
"We can meet at noon."
"How about at the tourist information center?"
"I can do that."

At this point, we had arrived at my mini-van. We exchanged phone numbers, and I offered her a ride to wherever she was walking to in town, but she declined, saying that it was a mere 5 minutes walk anyway, and it wasn't so dark. I drove back to the campground, made dinner, took a shower (Canadian campgrounds are so civilized), and went to bed, setting my alarm clock for yet another 6am start.

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Day 5: Waterton Lakes National Park

I woke up in the morning feeling great: it's amazing how nice you can feel after a shower after having camped out in primitive camp sites for 3 days. I drove out of Waterton Lakes to an area I had scouted out the day before while driving into the park: Maskinonge Lake. When I arrived, there was already another photographer there. I tried different positions, close to the water and further from the water, but with the wind, it was actually difficult to get good shots without the grasses moving and therefore blurring. Mike would deliberately set up the ISO rating on his camera to ISO 400, but as someone used to shooting Fuji Velvia 50 I always try exhaust all alternatives before dialing up the ISO.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

After the shoot, I drove back to Waterton Lakes, pausing to get in a shot of an Elk by the road side eating breakfast. I had plenty of time to make and eat breakfast at the campground before heading over to the village marina to purchase a ticket for the Crypt Lake hike.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

The hike was time constrained, since between the drop off at approximately 10:30am and the pick up at 5:30pm, we had to complete the hike, which was estimated at 6 hours. Since that was the case, I elected to leave the heavy equipment behind and just carry the point and shoot, hiking sticks, a couple of sandwiches, an apple, a hat, and first aid kit. The day had gotten only more windy, with spray coming off the bow of the ferry, "Miss Waterton", creating a nice rainbow for me to look at during the trip.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

The pilot even missed the landing dock 3 times before nailing it, which cannot be usual for someone who did this trip every day. I would only get a good idea as to how much wind was in store for me that day later. After unloading everyone, "Miss Waterton" took off, and I went to look at the trail head while the majority of the hikers took off at speed.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

Just as I got going, a couple behind me asked how far the hike was, and I replied, "6 hours, but it can't possibly be that long, since if they under-estimate it folks would probably complain." And that was how I ended up hiking the Crypt Lake trail with Hanna Kubas and Greg.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

Both of them were swimmers with the University of Calgary, which is apparently a hot spot for Canadian swimming. Greg had graduated and was now training to go to the Olympics in 2012 (yes, I was hiking with a professional athlete!). Hanna was in her last year of school. I really enjoyed hiking with them, since the world of competitive swimming was never one I had ever encountered. The amount of training seemed to be intense, and the two of them enjoyed talking about how specialized swimmers were.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

The walk rapidly took us through the forest on a gentle grade, and then steepened as we entered the exposed area. We got great views of waterfalls, negotiated a couple of stream crossings, and then finally way up high, saw the ladder and tunnel in front of us.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

The ladder was fairly short (quite a bit shorter than the one found on the Steep Ravine trail, for instance), but it was also quite narrow. The tunnel was a bit of a pain. While I did not need to get on your hands and knees, it was short enough that stooping wasn't enough, so a sort of duck walk was necessary to keep my backpack from scraping.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

After emerging from the tunnel, we stepped down a bit and walked right into the cabled-section of the trail, where cables were provided so you could retain your footing while stepping on the narrow trail. Since it was dry the cables were not strictly necessary, but I could see how they would be very useful when the trail was wet.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

After that, a short trail led us to the Crypt Lake itself, where we sat for lunch. I was very amused that everyone else had brought along a subway sandwich. I was clearly not Canadian enough to know that subway sandwiches are the proper meal for the Crypt Lake hike.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

Sitting down made us very cold, and soon Hanna was complaining about how cold her hands were. Her dipping her hands into the lake to feel the water temperature probably had something to do with it. I loaned her my gloves, amused that I was lending clothing to a Canadian swimmer! To warm up we walked around the lake, which was a typical alpine tarn, with mostly scree and stones up the sides except for the area near the feeder stream, which was lush and green.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

We then went back to the trail junction and followed the other trail to the falls, which we had spied from far below. The falls were large, and the spray, coupled with the sound of the wind and the water falling felt quite refreshing.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

The descent along the cables proved to be tougher than the climb, but the tunnel for whatever reason felt a lot easier this time. While hiking down this out and back trail, however, we saw an unusual phenomenon: the Chinook winds were so strong that one of the waterfalls was being blown up instead of down! I shot a video, wishing that I actually had had a S95 so I could get it in HD.


On the way down, we took a detour to explore the Hell Roaring Falls, which was a nice side trip. We ended the hike with half an hour to wait for the return shuttle, happy for the unique experience this hike had brought us.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

Once back on the mainland, I had decided that I wanted to go to Cardston to eat (and possibly stay) at the Cobblestone Manor, a restaurant with food so great that even though my family and I had already eaten a meal when we visited, we kept ordering food because it was so good! As I drove on the road to Cardston, however, I kept finding beautiful scenes to look at, which slowed me down quite a bit.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

The kicker was the crepuscular beams right outside the town of Mountain View (yes, Mountain View Canada actually has a view of the rockies). I shot quite a few pictures there, congratulating myself for being lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time (with an ND grad. filter, of course).

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

Arriving at Cardston, however, I was disappointed to find that winter hours were in place: the restaurant was closed Sunday and Monday! The local hotels and restaurants were all quite expensive ($80/night), so I drove back to the Waterton Lakes park, watching the scenery around me with an eye to finding a different location to shoot the sunrise the next day. I didn't find any restaurants that looked good, but the Weiners of Waterton Lakes caught my eye, and I walked in to find myself chatting with the co-founder, Matt.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

The place had been opened only this year, and it was apparently going gangbusters. "I could have gotten an office job, but being here in the park is far more appealing," said Matt. We had a nice chat, and I enjoyed both the dog and the sweet potato fries. I had a shower and went to bed, feeling that meeting Matt and chatting with him had made up for the disappointment of the Cobblestone Manor being closed.

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Day 4: Many Glacier to Waterton Lakes National Park

We woke up at 6:00am, prepared a quick breakfast, and headed back to the hotel in the hopes of capturing the morning colors. The wind was very strong, and it didn't take too long before I realized that without some form of shelter, none of the photos in question would be usable because of the wind buffeting both the camera and tripod. One obvious place was the levy just before the Swiftcurrent lake, which offered a bit of shelter.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

Then I saw another photographer with a giant stroke of genius: this man had his wife drive his minivan before the bridge, and then shot from behind the mini-van's wind shelter. Not being ashamed to borrow someone else's great idea, I shot from behind his mini-van as well as the sun rose from behind the horizon.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

The light changed rapidly, with the scene changing dramatically from minute to minute, to the point where the same picture taken just a few seconds later would be quite different.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

In just 10 minutes or so clouds moving rapidly over us obscured the sun and we immediately lost all the golden light which made photographs so pretty! This pattern would continue for me throughout the rockies, making this two week trip by far some of the most challenging shooting I have ever done. You literally had to move quickly or your opportunities would be lost. The photographer with the mini van left, but not before telling me to hike the bear's hump in Waterton Lakes for a good view of the village.

Mike and I had more breakfast, and then decided to go for a walk together up to Redrock Falls. Mike had recently gotten into shooting HD video on his 7D, and was excited about waterfalls the way I'm excited about rainbows. The hike up was along the continental divide trail, with beautiful autumn leaves and a nice lake, but with the drab lighting very little inspired me.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

Mike, however, having discovered ND grad. filters as a tool the day before had gone crazy with them, and was shooting everything in sight. It helped that he had his laptop with him in the trailer and was therefore in no danger of running out of memory cards. We did reach Redrock Falls, which were a multi-layered set of falls that were quite pretty.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

After our shoot, we returned to the trailer, where Mike powered up the generator and I gave all my batteries one final charge before heading over to Waterton Lakes. Mike could not join me, because he had a gun in his trailer, and therefore would be barred from entering Canada with the trailer. We ate one more meal together, and he mentioned that since I had a 2 whole weeks, I should consider driving over to Banff and Japser.

The drive over to Waterton Lakes was very pretty. Upon entering Waterton Lakes I noted that the Canadian parks charged by the day, and that I was better off buying an annual pass (again) for $66 if I would spend a week or more in the various parks, as Banff and Jasper were about $10/day each! Upon arriving at the visitor's center, I asked about the Crypt Lake hike, which I had first seen a video of 15 years ago. To my relief the water taxi shuttle was still running for the hike, and it would still be a good hike to do. The timing was great as well: the morning service started at 10:00am, and the return was at 5:30pm. That meant that my sunrise and sunset shooting schedule would be uninterrupted, and I would not loose a sunset or sunrise. I was even further pleased to find that Waterton Lake's campground still had shower and water. I was not pleased to find that the wind was forecast to be even stronger the next day! Waterton Lake village had many many tame deer coming through. It would not even be a challenge to approach the deer!

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

I found a campsite, walked around town for a bit, ate an early dinner, and proceeded to climb Bear's Hump with my photo gear. The walk wasn't very long, but it was quite steep. The views at the top was very good, but the wind was even stronger. This led me to find a location where I could wedge myself and my tripod deeply into crevices for better stability, and then I proceeded to shoot. My first subject was the Waterton Lakes hotel:

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

This was particularly tricky because my ballhead would work loose from the tripod every time I rotated the head. The insecure connection was driving me up the wall, and I resolved to find some loc-tite as soon as I could, but Waterton Lakes did not have any.

My next subject was the village itself. The sun was far from setting, but the mountains meant that the village was already in shadow. This meant that I had no chance of getting alpenglow on the nearby mountains, but with the appropriate use of ND grad. filters, could keep the village in view and the lit up mountains on the opposing side would not be too blown out. The wind whipped up waves in the lake, creating ripple patterns that were high and furious.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

The wind was really unpleasant, and after a few more attempts at some backlit shots of people, I decided that I was wasting my time: by the time the light got really good, the mountains would all be in shadow and I wouldn't have any more good photos. I started the walk down and encountered two women from Cardston who were out on their first hike. They asked for a photo, and said, "Can you make us look skinny?" "You know that the camera can only add weight, right?"

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

I went on down the mountain, got into my car, and drove to see if I could find better views. On a whim, I started down Red Rock Canyon road, which was where my family and I started an ill-fated backpacking trip 15 years ago. There was not any good light to be seen, but there was a traffic jam on the road. I stopped my car and got out of it to see what was going on, and immediately encountered a bear:

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

II was shooting with a 200mm lens, but it was still a bit too close for me. I walked slowly back to my car and proceeded to shoot more photos in the fading light. I would encounter 3 more bears along the road that evening, but the light got really dim and the shooting was no longer any good.

I got in one more shot of the full moon rising over the plains towards the East, and then called it a night.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

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Day 3: St. Mary's to Many Glacier

The gravel parking space turned out not to be as well hidden as I liked. At 3:00am, I heard an explosion and woke up. Fireworks were going off in the gravel area, and I heard shouts of "USA, USA, USA!" Sitting up from my sleeping bag, I could see that a bunch of folks were setting off bottle rockets and such in the parking lot, and they were indeed quite drunk. Rather than get out of my sleeping bag and drive off elsewhere, which might trigger an ugly reaction from these people, I decided that I could out wait them and that they would eventually run out of fireworks. That took about 90 minutes, after which they drove off and I could sleep again.

I awoke at 6:00am, and then made a phone call to Carl Strong, who had received my broken frame, and agreed to build a new one under warranty. Having settled that matter, I drove back into the park to try to find a sunrise spot. With clouds looming in the west, I decided to stay low and shoot from near the park entrance at St. Mary's Lake.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

After shooting the setting moon for a bit, another photographer drove up and started shooting the same area. After an hour or so of shooting, we met up and had a chat. He invited me over to his trailer in the campground, and I mentioned the fireworks in my parking lot the night before. He felt sorry for me, and said, "Well, I have extra room in my trailer, so if you want to join me at Many Glacier this afternoon you're welcome to sleep over." And that was how I met Mike Peterson.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

On a hunch, I decided to drive further up the road before heading over the Many Glacier. With the higher probability of rain, and the relative early time of day, I was betting that I would find a rainbow somewhere along the road. I stopped at a turnout to shoot a picture of St. Mary's Lake, and lo and behold when I turned around there was a solid rainbow across the road. I quickly ran across the road, set up my tripod, got out my polarizer, and tweaked the camera to show the rainbow off at its strongest.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

I got in about 10 shots before the rainbow faded. Noting that it was still raining, I checked the time and saw that it was 10:30am when the rainbow faded. In the hopes of getting dramatic scenery, I drove further up the road to the Goose Island overlook. The clouds there looked dramatic, but the best light was gone, so I took a few pictures and left for Many Glacier.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

I had never been to Many Glacier before, so what I saw along the way was stunning. Amongst other things, I saw a bear climbing high up in the hills, which was neat but it was too far for my 200mm lens to capture. Note to self: next time, bring a 1.4 and 2.0 TC. By the time I got to Mike's trailer in Many Glacier it was past noon, and he was making soup. We at lunch together and then tried to go for a hike up to Iceberg Lake, but didn't get even half a mile down the trail before it started raining. Not wanting to fight mother nature, we went back down the trail, got into my van, and started driving in search of better weather. We had not gotten even past the hotel at Many Glacier before we saw a herd of goats and started chasing them. Mike got out his 100-400/4-5.6L and I got out my puny 200mm/2.8L. I'm not normally a wildlife person, but the animals weren't disturbed by humans and I shot many many photos.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

After the wildlife shoot, we drove out to the main highway and got started up the Chief Mountain Highway towards Canada, and then Mike realized he had forgotten his passport! We turned around, went to his trailer for some tea, and went back to find the sunset. Chief mountain was a big block of monolith rising from the area around it, creating its own weather pattern. Looking at the photos now, I realize that it would have been a far better sunrise spot than a sunset spot, but I never did get a chance to see it in the morning due to weather conditions. Mike knew every spot in the rockies, including many obscure turnouts where a dirt road would lead to a nice photo location, so I felt very lucky to have met him. I in turn showed him how to use his newly acquired ND grad filters.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Journalism

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

We drove around and shot a number of pictures, with a climatic dusk shot of the sky in the area.

From 2010 Canadian Rockies Fall Colors

By the time we got back to Mike's trailer, it was 8:30pm, and we made a quick dinner before turning in. Mike's trailer was fully equipped with a flush toilet, power, an inverter and generator so we could charge our batteries, and his laptop. This was a good thing, since after 2 nights without access to a power socket I was starting to drain my batteries. Mike also kindly copied off one of my memory cards and started making DVDs for backup.

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