Cold Day at Bow Lake

This past Friday, I set out early to photograph the sunrise at Bow Lake, about 1-1/2 hours north of Canmore, along the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park. I went there with Kevin McCormick, a fellow member of the Canmore Camera Club.

We arrived at 7:15 am, about 40 minutes before the sunrise. We set up for our first pictures at the outlet of a creek that flows into Bow Lake, just west of the Num-Ti-Jah Lodge.

It was cold, with a temperature of -15 deg C (5 deg F). Fortunately it was a still morning, so no wind chill factor.

My first picture was taken soon before the sun crested the horizon over Mount Andromache on the left side of the image, just before 8:00 am.

The sun appeared at 8:08 am, lighting up the lake, the mist and Crowfoot Mountain to the right. One should never be disappointed with clear skies but we were hoping for a few clouds to make the sunrise more colourful.

My eye and subsequenty my lens was drawn to this shrub, encrusted with hoar frost. It was close at hand, just to the left of where I was photographing the sunrise. It’s gnarly and hardy, withstanding the rigours of winter in the mountains. The light glowing on the frost is eye-catching and photo worthy.

We continued taking photographs through the morning in the same general area. As the sun rose it warmed considerably and we were able to better enjoy our day in this strikingly beautiful location.

The following picture was taken facing west from my position on the shoreline. That’s the Bow Glacier in the centre of the scene at the far end of the lake, bounded by Mount Jimmy Simpson to the right and Crowfoot Mountain on the left.

This photograph features Crowfoot Mountain, a prominent landmark in the area. I chose this location to include the brush in the foreground. I can never have too much of that hoar frost, glowing in the morning light.

This little bridge spans the creek where we had centred our morning photo activity. It’s part of a hiking trail leading west to the Bow Glacier. It’s an appealing subject and was a good location to get pictures of ice formations in and around the creek.

I took this photograph from that same bridge, looking north. I like the scene with the creek meandering toward the cabin the distance.

I took the day’s final picture from the same location on the bridge, looking in the opposite direction. Once again, it features the unavoidable Crowfoot Mountain, as well as the mouth of the creek as it flows through the ice on the shoreline into Bow Lake. I took the picture in colour and chose to convert it to a black and white. I’m really pleased with that choice.

Despite the early morning chill, we had a great day with fine conditions and some very pleasing shots from one of my favourite areas.