More Pictures from Canada

Panorama of Herbert Lake

In the week since I returned home from Canada, I have been cleaning and putting equipment away, doing paperwork, and I have written the blog's.  However, I still have many pictures to go through and have been working on them all day today.  So here are additional pictures of Canada.  I still have more to go through and select.

Conifers growing on the side of the wall in Johnston Canyon

The Prairie along the Trans-Canada Highway With the Canadian Rockies in the Background

One of the lakes alongside the side of the Trans-Canada Highway

Looking down the Trans-Canada Highway at the Rockies

The Mountains near Patricia Lake

Photographing an Elk

Johnston Canyon

Herbert Lake With Reflections

Ewe and Kid Bighorn Sheep Running

Bighorn Sheep Kid on the Rocks

Canadian Rockies at Sunrise

Panorama of Herbert Lake, six vertical pictures stitched in Photoshop

Bighorn Sheep Eating

Bighorn Sheep Kid Running

Bighorn Sheep Ram

The Road to Jasper

Mount Cheperen

Early Wednesday morning, we checked our of our hotel in Banff and started our convoy toward Jasper.  We wanted to be on the Icefields Parkway, prior to dawn, so we can get the sun rising on the mountains.  Our first stop was Waterfowl Lake with Mount Cheperen in the background, and we were able to capture the sun's glow hitting the peak of the mountain.  Also, the moon was right above the mountain.

Mount Cheperen with Moon

Our next stop was Mistaya Canyon, a slot canyon formed by the Mistaya River.  The Canyon has rushing water winding through it and a great view up the river.  Along the trail to the Canyon, there was a number of dead tree stumps with lichens and moss covering them.

Mistaya Canyon

Mistaya Canyon

Mistaya River entering the Canyon

View down the Mistaya River from the Canyon

Moss and Lichen

Our last stop on the Parkway, prior to traveling on to Jasper was at the Parker Ridge, which is just below the boundaries between Banff and Jasper National Parks.  We also had a close encounter with a Common Raven.

Parker Ridge

Clouds over Parker Ridge

Common Raven

When we reached Jasper and the hotel the Jasper Park Lodge, our rooms were not ready yet, so we were shown with the parking lot was and then one of the Lodge employees took us to where elk were right on the property, so we could get some photographs.

Female Elk

After checking in, we then left the hotel to search for wildlife and we found very cooperative bull elks, and since the rut was over, they allowed us to approach close to them and enable great pictures

Bull Elk Resting

Bull Elk

After supper in Jasper, we returned to the Lodge for a good nights sleep.  Looking forward to another great day exploring and photography.

Final Full Day at Banff

Reflections in Wedge Pond at Sunrise

The last full day that we spent at Banff we started off early and drove toward Calgary to photograph at Wedge Pond and the Kananaskis River, both, which are located in Kananaskis County.  There were beautiful reflections in the pond of the mountains overlooking the pond.  And at one end of the pond was a view of The Fortress, whose name comes from when it is viewed from the north the appearance of a fortress.  We watched the sun strike the peaks of the mountain across the lake and the sunlight slowly moved down toward the lake.  Viewing toward the Fortress, the moon was high in the sky.

The Fortress and the Moon at Wedge Pond

After we finished photographing at Wedge Pond, we traveled down to the Kananaskis River, where in either direction, there was beautiful scenery.  One of the pictures that I took, I post processed in the new NIK plug-in Analog and created a wet plate picture, just like would've been done in the early days of photography.  Because the temperature was called they were ice crystals on the ground foliage.

Kananaskis River

Kananaskis River Processed As a Wet Plate

Kananaskis River

Ice Crystals on Ground Foliage

In the afternoon, we traveled to Johnston Canyon with its beautiful colors and waterfalls. 

Johnston Canyon

Johnston Canyon

Johnston Canyon

Johnston Canyon

Johnston Canyon - Processed with bleach bypass

We finished off the day at Castle Mountain, where we watched the golden sunlight setting setting on the mountaintop.  Behind us as the sun set.  It produced a beautiful sun pillar and lit up the clouds over the mountain range.

Castle Mountain At Sunset

Sunset Lighting up the Clouds

Sun Pillar

Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada - Landscapes

Banff Springs Hotel with Orion and Sirius the dog star in the sky above.  I was hoping for a media from the Orioniod meteor shower that was occurring, but did not see any.

The second day of the workshop started somewhat later in the morning, because, we will going to photograph a world known landmark in the town of Banff, the Banff Springs Hotel.  This hotel was built because of the vision of the general manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway, William Cornelius Van Horne.  He recognized the tourism potential of the Canadian West and built hotels to accommodate tourists that would ride the Canadian Pacific Railway.  The Banff Springs Hotel was open to the public.  In 1888, and in 1926, the original wooden hotel burned down.  The hotel was rebuilt in its present appearance starting in 1928 and remained open until 1942, when it was closed because of World War II.  The hotel reopened in 1945, and remained on the auspices of the Canadian Pacific Hotel until 1999 when it became a Fairmont Hotel.

We observed and photographed the stars above the hotel and the lighting of the hotel as dawn approached.

Banff Springs Hotel

Banff Springs Hotel and the Bow River Rapids

After breakfast, at a great restaurant The Wild Flour, we traveled back by Lake Herbert, stopped there are to take some more pictures.

Herbert Lake and the moon with reflections in the water

We then went up to Peyto Lake.  The first trail from the parking lot was ice covered and the upper parking lot was closed due to some snow, which was very minimal.  It still was a steep uphill climb, and I wish to thank E.J. for making and helping me climb up there to get photographs of this extremely beautiful location. The best time to view Peyto Lake is mid-to-late morning and when the sun is shining to light up the lake, because the sun has to be high enough to clear the mountains that surround the Lake.

Peyto Lake Panorama

Peyto Lake

Peyto Lake

After we finished at Peyto Lake, we traveled back to the hotel to eat, rest and download pictures.  My group stopped on the way to take a few pictures of Bow Lake and Crowfoot Glacier.

Bow Lake and the Crowfoot Glacier

In the afternoon, we photographed Lake Minnewanka, which means " Water of the Spirits", and is the longest lake in the mountain parts of the Canadian Rockies at 17 miles long.  This is the result of a power dam at its West End.

Lake Minnewanka

We then traveled to Lake Johnson and photograph that beautiful site also.

Grasses in Fall Color at Lake Johnson

Lake Johnson

We finished the day again at Vermillion Pond, catching the sun set, as the sun lit up the mountain peaks as it slowly set.

As the Sun Set, It Is Lighting up the Peaks of the Mountains Overlooking Vermillion Pond

That concluded another wonderful day in Banff National Park.