Scenes from the Highwood Pass

The Highwood Pass, as its name suggests is a mountain pass traversed by Alberta Highway 40  to cross the Highwood Range of mountains onto the eastern slopes of the Rockies and onward to the prairies. It is the highest, paved mountain pass in Canada at an elevation of 2,206 m (7,238 ft).

It is also a very beautiful area and a popular place for photographers interested in the scenery and the abundant wildlife.

I returned there this morning with the purpose of re-shooting the Misty Range to improve upon my efforts of a few weeks earlier. I wanted a picture with greater depth-of-field such that the flowers in the foreground and the mountains in the distance are equally in focus. I used a special lens to help me out and pushed it to its limit by getting as close as I could to the wildflowers, while keeping them and the mountains in focus. Here’s the result.

In this first one, I was about 12-18″ from the clover and was able to keep it in focus. I had the tripod almost flat on the ground for an “ant’s eye” view.

I took this one from behind some shrubs and managed to keep them focused as well. I parked the camera a little higher to see over the shrubs, of course.

Just a short distance up the highway from where I took these two pictures, I stopped to take this one of Mount Odlum, looking southeast. This mountain straddles the Alberta/British Columbia border and it is named for Brigadier-General V.W. Odlum, who commanded the Second Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during WW I. (Bet you didn’t know that!)

My second, planned stop for the day was the King’s Throne Rock Glacier, a short distance west of the Pass.  A rock glacier is a mass of rock resembling a valley glacier that moves or is moved down a slope by its own weight or by the action of frost and ice occupying small spaces between the rocks. This very large deposit of rock is caused by the gradual disintegration of the west face of Mount Rae.  As the pile grows from ongoing deterioration of the mountain, it slides down the slope.  Eventually the pile will slide across and block the highway.

Following are two views of this impressive accumulation of rock. In this scene, you can see the west end of Mount Rae behind the glacier.

On the far left of this scene is the eastern flank of the glacier backgrounded by its source, Mount Rae.

Before I departed the area, I was visited by two Bighorn Sheep, traveling down to the highway. Bighorn sheep are attracted to the road by road salt and can often be seen licking the road surface. That’s what they were doing when I left.

It was a very nice morning, with sunny skies and warm temperatures. It’s always a pleasure to visit the Highwood Pass.