Marble Canyon

Today I made a morning trip to Marble Canyon, accompanied by friend and fellow photographer, Bob Bear. Marble Canyon is located in Kootenay National Park, just off Highway 93, a short distance south of the continental divide in British Columbia. It’s about a 45 minute trip from Canmore. The canyon is very narrow and deep, a slot canyon, carved by erosion of the sedimentary rock in this area. Tokkum Creek runs in the bottom of the canyon, joining the Vermilion River which runs alongside Highway 93.

My first picture in today’s blog was taken at the beginning of the trail leading up to the canyon,  at the confluence of Tokkum Creek and the Vermilion River. It features the Vermilion River, swollen with this year’s heavy spring runoff.

The next picture offers a good view of the canyon at its bottom end. Here you can see Tokkum Creek rushing through the canyon as it approaches the Vermilion River. The canyon walls are much lower than at the upper end.

We hiked to the far end of the trail where Tokkum Creek drops abruptly from a plateau into the depths of the canyon. The canyon walls are very high at the upper end; I would estimate close to 100 ft. (30 m) at its deepest point. The canyon depth and narrowness, as well as the swirling mist from turbulent water make it difficult to get a good photograph of it from the top. I did manage to get this following shot from one of the bridges crossing the canyon along the trail.

The best photo opportunities were surprisingly not the canyon itself but the scenery at its upper end where the creek plunges into its depths. The area is a burnt forest, in recovery from a devastating forest fire in 2003. The area is covered with the still standing, charred remains of evergreen trees and the ground is littered with the burnt trunks and branches of the trees no longer standing. Emerging from the ruins of this forest is new growth, brilliant green after the rains of recent weeks. The area was blanketed with low hanging clouds on this day, giving the erect tree trunks a supernatural appearance. From time to time, the clouds parted to give us a view of some of the surrounding mountain peaks, yet mantled in snow.

This next photo shows Tokkum Creek, upstream of the the canyon with a good view of the re-emerging forest growth.

Turning to look in the other direction, I was fortunate to spot Vermilion Peak, briefly peeking from behind its cloud cover and glowing in the sunlight. I was actually interested in the large boulder in the foreground and got the bonus of a spectacular view of the mountain emerging from the mist.

Today’s last shot features the forest shrouded in mist with the shadow of a peak emerging from the clouds behind it.

Bob and I agreed that this was a great morning and we left satisfied that we had enjoyed a truly great experience. Marble Canyon joins my list of favourite photographic sites.