Light the Way

After some recent decisions that needed made I thought I'd do a post with a little bit of a meaning. I love this shot because of the way the mountains are illuminated but not the valley. It was too early in the morning for the sun to have come up above Sulphur mountain and this gave a lovely lighting situation for me. I think the bench helps to offer up a focal point for someone to sit and watch the illumination of the range. It may help shed a light on the persons life as well. Ya never know these things :D

Banff Springs

The Fairmont Banff Springs is a world renowned hotel. Apparently because it's a Fairmont hotel but really... the only Fairmont's I'd ever heard of were Banff and Lake Louise.... Either way, it's world famous and has been called the Castle of the Rockies. Personally I think Lake Louise has a better view but hey, that's me :D Anyhoo... this is the back view of the Banff Springs hotel. It's facing up the Spray Valley, towards Mount Rundle and, as you can see in this shot, is bordered by the Bow River (The Spray River is also just to the left in this shot, off screen). This shot was taken January, 16th, 2010 after a couple weeks of extremely warm weather. Normally there's be more snow and possibly more ice on the river as well.

On this particular day I went for a nice long walk around the back side of Tunnel Mountain. The trails there eventually turn into one trail that runs along an over flow for the Bow River and then back along the river itself. It apparently makes it to Hoodoo's as well but since I was alone and there were no tourists venturing in the same direction I decided to limit myself from going to far from town. The ice on the river is constantly cracking which is surprising when you walk along beside it. Hard not to jump. They were also doing some avalanche blasting that day on Mount Norquay which is like thunder multiplied by 50 on a nice sunny day. You do more than jump when it goes off lol All in all was an awesome walk though and definitely made me feel my legs.

Now, onto the photo!

Sundance Loop Marsh

   The Sundance Loop is an old fireroad turned into a trail that heads southwest out of the Cave and Basin Natural Historic Site in Banff. 3 miles from the centre of town is our steakfry site and about half way to steakfry is this little marsh. In the summer it's a gorgeous clear water that geese always have flocks of little babies in. In the winter, it looks like this. Fed by a natural hotspring the water is open at the source because of the above 0 temperature. In the upper right corner you can see the top tip of Mount Rundle.

Bull Elk

Two bull elk, part of a larger bachelor herd grazing just off the Minnewanka loop outside of Banff, Canada. Behind you can see the Fairholme Range, famous for it's Mount Rundle.