Day 37, September 18

Day 37, September 18

Locations: Peyto Lake; Kootenay National Park; Vermilion Lake

Miles driven: 181

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The alarm was set for 5:45 again and I saw clear skies off to the east. I was planning on shooting at Moraine Lake, but since it was clear and I already had a clear sunrise there early in the trip, I figured I'd shoot at Bow Lake instead, a minute away. I slept in until 6:30 and drove down to Bow Lake. I saw its waters were choppy and that there were some clouds off to the west, so I changed my plans again and went directly to Peyto to see if the clouds could pull a magic trick. Sure enough, I shot a beautiful pink sunrise there. When I first got up, I was thinking that if it remained clear skies again today, I would head up into Jasper and make another attempt at Mt. Robson tonight, but with all the clouds that were off to the north, there wasn't a chance I'd make that drive today. A little after the sun came a ways down the mountain sides, clouds came in from the east and diffused the light, at which point I headed back down to Bow Lake.

I got back to Bow Lake around 8:40 and waited for the sun to come out, but the wind was out still preventing any reflection and the clouds overhead had a dirty look. I left there around 9:00 and headed for Kootenay to see what the mountains down there looked like as I had yet to see them with clouds lifted off the peaks.

I went to the Floe Lake trailhead again in Kootenay and waited things out a bit and did a whole lot of nothing. I did change out 28 sheets of film. There was a real thin cloud layer and the sun was shining, but it was diffused. After staying here awhile, I finally got motivated to shoot some pictures, but only got a few lackluster efforts of the forest and river in the immediate vicinity. I never did make it beyond this point as I wanted the skies to be totally clear, or with better looking clouds for the mountain views further to the south, but they weren’t worth shooting in these conditions.

I drove back over to Vermilion Lakes around 4:00 for another afternoon shoot and figured I'd leave there around 6:45 in hopes of trying to shoot the mountain scene I shot a couple nights ago from Moose Meadows along the Bow Valley Parkway. The light wasn’t happening at Vermilion Lakes, either, and there was a stiff breeze. I left there at 6:15. Nothing ever transpired for sunset from Moose Meadows, so I figured I'd go find camp, and I'd probably try Herbert Lake tonight.

I arrived at Herbert at 8:27, and I didn't see until now that the parking lot has a picnic loop, so I stayed in one of those spots for the night. I stayed up until around 9:30 to make sure I'd be awake if any park wardens came by (who, for the most part, are not actively patrolling the parks and are rarely seen), so I looked at maps and considered what routes I might take going down through Idaho in two days. I would aim for Moraine Lake in the morning, and Herbert offers a short approach, only being about seven minutes outside of Lake Louise.

7:13 AM — From my perch at Peyto Lake looking east