About two years ago, I made my first visit to Johnston Canyon in winter. Last Sunday, Greg Bourque and I made a return visit, following our photo stops around Canmore. Johnston Canyon is in Banff National Park, located about 25 km (16 mi) west of Banff on Highway 1A, the Bow Valley Parkway. This canyon is very popular with visitors all year round with the possible exception of cold days like last Sunday. It certainly was easier to take photographs with fewer people around, We walked the 1.6 kilometres (1 mile) to the Lower Waterfall, taking in the sights and snapping a few shots along the way. The canyon is quite deep relative to its width, so very little light penetrates to the bottom in winter. It was too cold to linger over each shot and I certainly didn’t want to take time for lengthy, tripod set-ups. Nonetheless we got some decent pictures. The canyon has a number of elevated pathways, cantilevered from the gorge walls. They offer some good vantage points from photography and today I wish to share some of the scenes I witnessed.
My first shot is a view downward from an elevated walkway. You can see the frozen river in the bottom with a break in the ice where the moving water hasn’t frozen.
Looking back down the canyon, you get a sense of its depth and narrow breadth. You can also see the walkway that extends the length of the canyon. Parks Canada has done a good job of making this beautiful walk accessible to the public, including people in wheelchairs.
The next two pictures show accumulations of snow and ice along the river. In the first picture, the canyon wall is quite exposed to sunlight. Snow on the side of the canyon melts on warm days and forms the many icicles you see suspended from the walls. I like the contrast in texture between the hard, sharp-edged icicles and the mounds of soft snow on the canyon floor.
The snow in this next picture is quite interesting. It looks almost molten with soft, rounded shapes oozing over the rock.
The light in the canyon is generally mottled, mainly shadows with shafts of light breaking through. This beam of light, filtering through the trees highlights the last vestiges of autumn colour on some bushes poking through the snow.
Our destination, the Lower Falls is a fascinating sight in winter. It’s frozen solid!
Or so it seems. This final shot clearly shows the flow of water emanating from behind the frozen face of the falls and continuing on down the canyon. This is just one of several places where the stream velocity is too great for the water to freeze.
It was nice to get back to the warmth of Greg’s vehicle, wrapping up a great day of winter photography.
Breath-taking!
(friend of Jinette’s)