Happy New Year! Today, January 3 marks the date of my first blog for the new year. Incidentally, I begin the new year with the 670th post since I began doing this in March 2010. I just don’t seem to tire of doing it.
Yesterday, I went out with Bob Bear and Stewart Hamilton, after waiting patiently for a break in the frigid weather we’ve been experiencing recently. By that I mean, temperatures in the -10 to -15 deg C range as compared to temperatures as low as -32 deg C, over the past couple of weeks.
Despite the improved temperatures, it was windy at our first destination, the Bow Falls located just behind the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff. It was sufficiently cold that we chose to move on soon after our arrival. I did get a few pictures and have selected this one for inclusion in today’s post.
Bow Falls is a small drop in the course of the Bow River. What this waterfall lacks in height it makes up for in water volume. What you see in this picture is the full height of the falls, frozen solid but for a steady stream emerging from beneath the river’s cover of ice. It is essentially a dam of ice at this time of year. We took our pictures standing on the ice below the falls.
We moved on, in my case to another waterfall, located on Canmore Creek. The creek below the waterfall is located in a narrow canyon, with better protection from the wind. I was much warmer here than standing on the ice in the middle of the Bow River.
This first picture was taken near the base of the waterfall, looking downstream at the creek winding its way to the Bow River. As you can see, there is lots of snow in the canyon, which coupled with the creek makes a pretty scene.
Given our recent temperatures, I expected the creek to be frozen over and that I would be photographing mostly ice. Not the case. The water was moving briskly and ice formed only in areas where its movement slowed.
This next picture was taken a little downstream from the waterfall at a location where rocks were disrupting the flow of water and enabling ice to form around them. Snow has accumulated on the rocks and the ice surrounding them, creating little “Islands of White”.
Okay, so what about the waterfall? It is largely obscured by ice, except at its base where it shoots out from behind a thin mantle of ice. I think this is a great phenomenon, something you don’t see every day.
So much so that here’s another look from further back and off to the side.
My last picture was taken looking upstream toward the falls. It shows more islands of white and the calmer areas where ice is forming. Noteworthy in all the pictures are the latticed edges of the ice forming along the edge of the creek.They are quite rounded and shiny, appearing to have been polished by the water flowing by.
I look forward to getting out again soon to capture more sights from our winter wonderland.