Smoke in the Canadian Rockies

When I look at my photo archive I’m impressed by how much we accomplished on this date in 2017, all of it accompanied by varying amounts of smoke from forest fires. The first picture shows a view along the Trans-Canada Highway as we drove east that morning from our hotel in Golden, British Columbia.

We continued on to two scenic and therefore much-visited lakes in Alberta’s Banff National Park. The photograph above shows Moraine Lake, with its richly colored water, later in the morning. The view below lets you see how sunshine radiated through the clouds and smoke over Lake Louise as dusk approached.

© 2020 Steven Schwartzman

Minimalist mountains and clouds

Here’s a different take on the Kananaskis Range of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada: a silhouetted view with graphic clouds beyond and above. The date was September 11, 2017.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

The Kananaskis Range

A year ago today we drove through parts of the Kananaskis Range in Alberta. Though apparently not as well known as some other sections of the Canadian Rockies, the mountains in this range are massive, and it’s hard to convey their scale in photographs. With that caveat, here are four of the peaks I photographed that the staff at Alberta Parks could give me names for.

Cat’s Ears

Mount Lorette

Mount Blane

Mount Brock

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Natural Bridge rock formations and waterfall

A year ago today we stopped briefly for a second look at Natural Bridge on the Kicking Horse River in British Columbia’s Yoho National Park. The picture below shows the churning river as it flows downstream (toward you) from the falls.

But where, you might ask, is the natural bridge? A fair question. Here’s the stone bridge as I photographed it on our first visit two days earlier:

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

September 4, 2017

September 4, 2017, proved a long and adventuresome day in the Canadian Rockies. A couple of hours after heading north from Calgary we entered Banff National Park, where among intriguingly many other things I photographed the cloud-bannered fortress of rock shown in the first image. Call it Mount Rundle and you could be right.

Along the noisy edge of the Trans-Canada Highway I photographed some late-stage fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) divorced from its mountainy context.

By early afternoon we reached the famous Bow Lake.

At the far end of the day, as we headed east from Jasper to Hinton, I photographed burned trees with no water in sight.

Then, further along and with little daylight left, I found other trees not obviously charred but still seemingly dead that stood next to as much water as they could have wanted when alive. The way the water reflected the trees appealed to me.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Male elk

Rocky Mountains; June 5, 2017.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

A day in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains

We spent June 5th last year in parts of the Rocky Mountains northwest of Denver. There was still snow on the mountains and in some places on the ground close to roads.

 

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Bow Lake revisited

What goes up must come down, or so they say. Even if that’s not always true, it was true for us with regard to Alberta’s scenic Icefields Parkway. On September 4th last year we drove up it and on September 6th we came back down. You’ve already seen a conventional view and two abstract views of Bow Lake from the northbound trip. Now add a couple of looks at the lake from our southbound trip, which gave us smoky haze rather than the clarity of two days earlier. Nevertheless, you can still see the beautiful color imparted to the lake’s water by what’s known as rock flour or glacial flour. You can also confirm that some patches of snow and ice remained in the adjacent mountains even at the warmest time of the year.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Monday mountains 5

Today is the last of the five Mondays in this Mondayful January. Continuing with the month’s mountain sequence, here’s a look at Pyramid Mountain, which looms large outside the Jasper townsite in Jasper National Park, Alberta. The date was September 5, 2017.

When I looked in the opposite direction, I saw what amounted to one big set of antlers on an elk.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Monday mountains 4

The many Mondays this month let you marvel at mountains. This time it’s the grand sweep of Cirrus Mountain in the northern part of Banff National Park, Alberta, recorded on September 4, 2017. Thanks to the good folks at Travel Alberta for the identification.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman