SATURDAY
– 1 October
On
Saturday we again
got to sleep in as it was totally overcast at dawn. After breakfast in the Lake
Louise area we packed up our gear and headed North to be based out of the Sumwapta Falls area. The weather was overcast at times with clouds moving about which made for some good photo opportunities.
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| Low Clouds on the Icefields Parkway |
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| CLOUDS IN A VALLEY |
We
photographed mountains, weather, and waterfalls today. We started with Mistaya
Canyon Falls. We had stopped in the area yesterday, but did not take the short
trail down into Mistaya Canyon. The water flowing through here is the Mistaya
River. It was quite full and running fast, even though this is October.
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| NARROW GORGE, MISTAYA FALLS |
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| MISTAYA RIVER |
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| MISTAYA RIVER ABOVE THE FALLS |
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| ROCKS AWASH |
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Views along the Parkway --
Our
next stop was at the base of the Athabasca
Glacier. As we drove off the highway we had snow flurries mixed with rain. The
sun was at the right angle and so we saw and photographed a very low but quite
visible rainbow to the East across the Parkway.
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| Keeping A Watchful Eye |
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| Rainbow across Pond with Parkway at base |
The
Athabasca Glacier is quite dominant along the Parkway and quite visible. One
hundred years ago it extended across what is now the Parkway. They do a great
job of showing the receding of the glacier over the past 100 years with markers
along the road in the area.
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| Trail to toe of Glacier below Mts. Athabasca and Andromeda |
The glacier currently recedes at a rate of about 5 meters (16 ft) per year and
has receded more than 1.5 km (0.93 mi) and lost over half of its
volume in the past 125 years. The glacier moves down from the icefield at a
rate of several centimeters per day. Due to its close proximity to the Icefields Parkway and rather easy
accessibility, it is the most visited glacier in North America.
The
leading edge of the glacier is within easy walking distance from the parking area. The glacier is
approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) long, covers an area of 6 km2
(2.3 sq mi), and is measured to be between 90–300 metres
(300–980 ft) thick.
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| Athabasca Glacier with parking and Pond Below |
Our final stop was
for Tangle Falls which is just a short drive North of Athabasca Glacier. This is a
lovely tiered falls which is right along the roadside. You do have to be
careful with the traffic on the Parkway. We scurried up the side of it about
halfway to get closer and more intimate views of the various sections of the
fall.
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| Tangle Falls |
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| Tangle Falls Tiers |
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| Tangle Falls Layers |
|
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| Tangle Falls Detail |
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| Tangle Falls Close Up |
By the time we had
all finished with getting our photographs, the sun was well behind the
mountains to the West, and the sky had clouded over. We enjoyed a relaxing
dinner at the Sumwapta Falls Resort.
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| A Touch of Color |
SUNDAY - 2 October
This
morning we went to Sumwapta Falls for sunrise. The sunrise color did not
materialize, but we had a good time capturing the Falls. The water for this
falls originates from the Athabasca Glacier. We spent a good
amount of time composing and taking photographs and doing a bit of exploring.
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| Sumwapta Falls |
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| Sumwapta Falls |
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| Sumwapta Falls Detail |
From
the bridge over the falls area you also get a good view of the mountains. I
explored down stream from the Upper Falls and followed the falls below through
a narrow gorge. It opens up with nice view downstream with the water still being
that glacial blue in color.
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| Below Sumwapta Falls |
After breakfast we took
a short break before heading into Jasper and then down to the Medicine Lake
area.
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| Medicine Lake from Shore |
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| Color on Edge of Burn Area |
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| Medicine Lake |
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| A Touch of Color | | | |
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| A Bare Aspen Grove |
Once again we were in quest of wildlife. We took in the views and scenery
along the way. Finally we were rewarded with seeing a fairly large black bear
up slope of us. The bear was feeding on berries, etc., and hung around for
about an hour. Of course, it was the hour before sunset, and he was in the
shade, but with the use of a high ISO I was able to capture a few good shots of
it.
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| Black Bear Looking |
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| Settling In |
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| On the Look Out |
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