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Just me messing with physics. Must’ve divided by zero or something.
And that concludes the first leg of our summer vacation. Next, after a brief rest at home in Saskatoon, being greeted by a very excited little puppy, we headed south to Swift Current and Lac Pelletier.
July fun. Mini snowmen on top of a mountain.
It still felt surreal to be looking so far down trying to grasp the scale of it all.
Next stop was the Jasper Tramway. It was a bit of a wait to get up the mountain, but so neat to be up there, going from 23 degrees to about 12 in seven minutes. With the movement of the tram and the elevation, severe drops just feet beyond the railings, it took a few minutes for the vertigo to subside.
Once back in Jasper I found a good parking spot and began exploring the town to enjoy the time until Angie returned from her adventure.
Jasper Brewing Company – Where we ended up for supper that evening when we learned the restaurant at the top of the tram was inaccessible. Good food and far more reasonably priced than most of the restaurants in Jasper, though not as fancy.
My final shots and final time spent at Pyramid Lake.
After that visit my van began leaking again so I headed back into Jasper to stroll the town until Angie had finished her rafting and minimize my van use.
Back near the Pyramid Lake Lodge, where I shot my first, earlier photos, I took some closer shots of Pyramid Mountain to try and emphasize the textures and scale of the mountain. It was the clearest day we had in Jasper, but there was still a noticeable haze so the clarity is not what I’d hoped for, but still some shots worth sharing.
In these shots you can better see the mist on the lake. However, it only lasted a few moments more as the slightest breeze had begun. You can see the tiniest of ripples on the water. That perfect stillness of the very first portion of the day had lifted.
After I was done at the shore of Pyramid Lake I returned to a viewpoint along the road overlooking Pyramid Lake Island, where I had shot the photos of Angie Monday, to get a more scenic shot of it and enjoy more of the morning quiet.
When I got to Pyramid Lake all I could think was peace. The mist was still on the lake and the only sound was my shutter, another photog’s shutter and a bit of gravel under my tires when I sought a new angle.
With the van behaving properly I decided to go to Patricia Lake and Pyramid Lake as I had planned all along.
This was shot from Patricia Lake. I took two versions simply to provide a choice for those purchasing prints. I am pretty certain that this is my favourite photo of the trip.
I found it so fascinating that the image of the mountain in the lake was clearer to the naked eye than the actual mountain.
More tomorrow…
Monday evening I took some long exposure shots of the river near our cabin at Becker’s Chalets. This is the very fast moving Athabasca River.
Tuesday evening we ate at Evil Dave’s Grill. Very interesting restaurant but, like many in Jasper, it was pricey. Very good food, all with evil names. Angie had El Diablo. My evil mac & cheese with bison, bacon & baked breadcrumbs isn’t on their online menu, but the Malevolent Meatloaf I considered is. It had a very nice, contemporary atmosphere. The flatscreens on the walls had video of flames playing that I think were in time with the music. Angie’s supper was amazingly flavourful, but very spicy. We traded halfway through and I didn’t mind one bit. I enjoyed both dishes equally.
Unfortunately when we left, after strolling around Jasper, taking a few shots of the town with Angie’s camera (I may post a few shots when I get to them), we got back to my van to find that my pneumatic suspension was leaking a bit. Very slowly, but enough to put me in a high anxiety state. It has happened before, in winter, because of a frozen & cracked air dump valve. I understand the typical cause. None of those circumstances were met this time, we were in a place that I’m all but certain the problem could not be diagnosed nor a repair affected and over four hours from Edmonton and the cause was unknown with the potential to be something more serious that could get worse, quickly.
It seemed to behave properly the next day to get Angie to her rafting and me to Patricia Lake and Pyramid Lake.
On the way back we stopped at a picnic area to eat. Once we were done I took time to do a longer exposure of the Maligne River which was visible from where we parked. The river was quite rough and fast, but a 1.5 second shutter speed turned it to silk.
Tuesday we headed down the Ice Fields Parkway to Athabasca Falls and the Sunwapta Falls. Both were disappointingly inaccessible despite indications in travel literature that they were. The Athabasca Falls were so close to accessible it was maddening. I could’ve made it right to the falls except for one flat slab of rock that made for a large, bumpy step in the middle of a path already paved over the natural features. Why not just pave that one spot? There was a steep descent to get to that slab that would’ve been unmanageable independently as well, but Angie was not afraid to help.
I could’ve had a decent view from that slab of rock except the design choice for the guard railing included a 10″ wide and a 6″ wide board right at my eye level. There was no way to see even a little, let alone take a few shots. Once I got out of my mood we went back to another viewing spot and, as I’ve learned from sunsets, I looked behind the subject of interest to see a nice view of the river.
I really enjoyed the character of the lake and area with the clouds and drizzle. It was a nice end to a scenic drive.
It was drizzling when we arrived at Maligne Lake, but we took a stroll a short distance along the shoreline. The paths were pretty decent for a wheelchair, but too steep for me to manage independently. Still glad to have had a chance to see things from closer than the parking lot.
UPDATE:
The many rock faces beside the road, right beside us, as we drove by were the most amazing to me. I have no question of the magnitude of the mountains, but the rock faces, right there in reach, felt more real to me than unattainable peaks.
This particular rock face seemed longer than most so I stopped for a photo.
Beside it was such a great example of the layers of dirt to gravel, rocks, trees to solid stone.
