Vermilion River

I ventured out this morning to the Kootenay Valley with Howard Dingle, looking for some shots of the Vermilion River. Our location was near Vermilion Crossing in Kootenay National Park, a little over an hour’s drive from Canmore. After several cloudy days, we did get a clear view of the sky but the sunrise was quite muted by a heavy haze in the air. The location we chose for our pictures was subject to extensive wildfires in 2003, when 12.5% of Kootenay National Park was burned. The burnt landscape has a stark, unique beauty and of course, its appeal is not shared by everyone. Forest fires are natural phenomena that have been happening forever, part of nature. I have photographed burn areas before and they can be particularly interesting later in the spring when the wildflowers bloom. Too early for that, so today my interest was the spring surge in the Vermilion River. My first photo was taken looking northwest up the valley. You can see the pale pink of the sun’s rays on the mountain top in the distance. That’s as vivid as it got on this day.

The next shot was taken from the same location, but looking in the opposite direction. There is a nice colour to the sky, a pale glow created by the sunlight filtered through the haze. I can always count on the brilliantly coloured water. The water is turquoise due to a high concentration of dissolved lime picked up as it runs through sedimentary rock.