Paint Pots in Kootenay National Park

A year ago today we stopped to visit the Paint Pots in British Columbia’s Kootenay National Park. The “paint” is ochre, which permeates the earth there. Parts of the ground are sodden, and in some places water flows over the ochred earth.

It was common to see dead trees fallen across the rivulets.

We followed the trail past the scenes shown in the first three photographs and ultimately came to a picturesque pond ringed with ochre. Notice—as if you could miss it—the approximate ellipse implied by the curved dead tree and its reflection.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Marble Canyon

 

On September 8th we followed Tokkum Creek through Marble Canyon* in British Columbia’s Kootenay National Park. The photograph above captures the way we first saw the canyon.

The middle picture shows how high above the creek the trail takes visitors in several places. Notice that some leaves were already changing color.

The last photograph, taken at 1/800 of a second, gives you a view of the waterfall at the upstream end of the canyon. In the upper right you see some of the smoky haze that stayed with us for most of our trip (and that was thicker along the highway we took to get to Marble Canyon).

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* Coincidentally, Marble Canyon is the name given to a stretch of the Colorado River in Arizona. A couple of pictures from that area appeared here a year ago.

© 2017 Steven Schwartzman

Vermilion River

A visitor to Marble Canyon in British Columbia’s Kootenay National Park encounters the Vermilion River a short distance before its confluence with Tokumm Creek as that creek flows out of the canyon. Here from September 8th are two views showing that part of the Vermilion River and some of the picturesque rocks in it.

© 2017 Steven Schwartzman

More about the Paint Pots

Last month you had an introduction to the Paint Pots in British Columbia’s Kootenay National Park. Now here’s a little more from our September 8th visit. The first photograph shows the ochre-saturated mound we encountered as we approached the end of the main trail. What a contrast between the dark green of the trees and the saturated orange earth, don’t you think?

The second picture lets you walk up over the rise and have a look at a portion of the picturesque “paint pot,” i.e. pond, beyond. Notice in this closer view how the ochre had stained the bases of the sedges at the pond’s margin and made rings around the leaning dead trees at the waterline. And what’s not to like about the ghostly reflections of those dead trees?

© 2017 Steven Schwartzman

I like clarity and contrast in my photographs.

Yes, I usually do like clarity and contrast in my photographs. If what’s in front of me doesn’t lend itself to those qualities, then I go with the toned-down reality that’s available. Here from September 8th along Highway 93 in British Columbia’s Kootenay National Park are two takes—one horizontal, the other vertical—on a formerly burned forest hazily visible through the smoke of the latest fires in the area. Subtlety can be special, too.

© 2017 Steven Schwartzman

Ochre

(Here’s a pumpkin-colored post for Halloween.)

Wikipedia says of ochre (or ocher) that it “is a natural clay earth pigment which is a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced by this pigment, especially a light brownish-yellow. A variant of ochre containing a large amount of hematite, or dehydrated iron oxide, has a reddish tint known as “red ochre” (or, in some dialects, ruddle).”

On September 8th in British Columbia’s Kootenay National Park we got our biggest dose ever of ochre when we visited the area known as the Paint Pots. We followed in the steps of native peoples and Anglo settlers, as you can read on the national park’s website. While world travelers may see merely mediocre ochre occur occasionally elsewhere, I rate this deposit more than just an okay ochre.