Lakes

Howie Dingle and I set out early this morning for one of our favourite photo locations, Bow Lake. We arrived in time for sunrise and were rewarded with clear skies and great light. Bow Lake is about 1-1/2 hours northwest of Canmore, along the Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper. I’ve posted the following photo and I’ve added a panoramic shot to the blog’s masthead. You can see it by watching the slideshow in the masthead at the top of every page.

We left Bow Lake for Lake Louise where we arrived in time for an early breakfast. Yes, early breakfast. Before we reached that destination we were sidetracked by the beautiful Herbert Lake. Conditions were such that we did a double-take as we drove by; it’s not always favoured by such beautiful weather for photography. We turned back and captured a few quick shots of this small, but eye-catching lake.

After a leisurely breakfast we returned home on the Bow Valley Parkway, a secondary road that parallels the Trans Canada Highway between Lake Louise and Banff. This is usually a good place to spot wildlife, although we knew we were a little late to see much this morning. You need to be there around sunrise or soon after. Nonetheless, we did come across a large, bull elk near the end of the parkway. Unfortunately, we were not alone and it was difficult to get a good shot among the traffic chaos created by sightseers and fellow photographers. The elk was not fazed and continued his grazing as we left. If you count the “points” on his antlers, you’ll note there are seven on each side. That is a sign of a dominant male, who should do well in the autumn sparring for the right to mate.