Sights Along the Icefields Parkway

This morning Bob Bear and I ventured up the Icefields Parkway on a photographic excursion. It was a beautiful day; clear sunny skies and warm temperatures. We chose four locations and made our first stop at site called Mistaya Oxbow, a horseshoe-shaped bend in the Mistaya River.  I captured this first picture looking west from our vantage point on the bank of the river.  That’s Mount Chephren in the distance, a scenic peak reflected in the waters of the river.

Our next stop was just a few kilometres downstream from the Mistaya Oxbow. At Mistaya Canyon the river plunges into a deep, slot canyon it has eroded in the rock over thousands of years. “Mistaya” interestingly, is the Cree word for Grizzly Bear. Not surprising given the way the water roars through the narrow curvy canyon on its way to joining the North Saskatchewan River, just a few kilometres further north. The next photograph shows the river just before it drops into the Canyon. That’s Mount Sarbach in the background.

I was able to find a good position to photograph the river where it enters the Mistaya Canyon. The channel narrows dramatically at this point, accelerating the water flow and creating tremendous turbulence.

Another good vantage point enabled me to get this next photograph after the flow has entered the canyon.

Our next stop was an area known as the Rampart Ponds. We photographed one of the ponds, located in the midst of a large marshy area. It males a good foreground for the mountains in the background.

Our last stop for the day was at Bow Lake, on our way home. Bow Lake and the Bow Glacier above it is the source of the Bow River, which flows through Banff, Canmore and Calgary. The lake was literally aglow on this beautiful, sunny summer day.

It was a long morning, beginning at 5:30 am and wrapping up with our arrival back in Canmore at about 1:00 pm. It’s an early start but well worth it. Not only for the photography; it’s great to be out in the wilderness in the early hours of the day.