After hiking up
Sulphur Mountain yesterday to get a grand view of all Banff, today I stayed low visiting many pretty locations. I enjoy winter at Lake Minnewanka when I can skate and when the ice formations and methane bubbles are plentiful making for a photographer’s dream. That’s only in my dreams right now. It could become a reality in two months. I walked a portion of the shore and admired the views.
It has been ages since I was here in another season other than winter. I forgot what it looked like without ice. In a couple of months, I should be able to walk from where I am standing to that little island with the trees on it.
the sun catching the mountain peaks with the glow reflecting in the water
a Black-capped Chickadee
The picnic tables, shelters and food storage cabinets are available for use read round.
It’s rutting season and there are warning notices throughout the Park.
Luckily there were no Bull Elk close to where I was walking but I did have to stop to let this one cross the road. It was walking in my direction on the road so I backed up and pulled to the wrong side to give it a wide berth. When it got to this spot, I rolled down the passenger window to snap this shot. There were two more of these guys further along the road that were behaving erratically, I zoomed on by,
Two Jack Lake is another location that is so dreamy in winter. While the Lake is still open water, ice lined the shore. I broke a piece off to play with. This slice measures about four inches in height.
reflections at Two Jack Lake
a female Common Merganser
Time came to venture into downtown. Even at noon it was very quiet.
Tomorrow could be a different story as it’s the first day of the Banff Mountain Film Festival. I looked in many shops but my heart was not into shopping today. I do better at that in December during the spirit of the season.
The walk along the river was beautiful!
squirrel with lunch
female Mallard
I eventually made it back to the free parking lot near the train station. This was the view from my vehicle just before leaving to head back to my home away from home.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteNice variety of birds and ducks. I love the Chickadee and Merganser. I love the scenic views, the reflections are gorgeous. Banff is on my wish list of places to visit. Looks beautiful. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a great weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.
I hope you get to visit Banff some day! Enjoy your weekend!
DeleteYou have an awesome opportunity to visit Banff any time you want.
ReplyDeleteI never take that for granted! Retirement gives me the flexibility to go at the spur of the moment if the weather looks good and I can get accommodations.
DeleteAlexandra, Holy smokes … 3 posts in the last week, all while you were traveling around Banff National Park. How do you do it? You’re amazing. All 3 posts are excellent, lots of neat photos! Your “the call of the first snowfall” art is great. So many good photos … it’s hard to pick a favorite … but I’m going to go with #11 (Oct 25 post) … pic of the mountain in the distance (landscape view) with perfect reflection in the lake. Thanks for sharing your blog! PS I so appreciated your comment on my travels post. You are right … I did not cover the San Diego to LA part. I will have to do that in some future posts. Thanks for your kind words. John
ReplyDeleteIt does not take me long to put a post together and I like to do it while having my morning coffee. That photo you like is at one of my favourite places to be near Banff, even more so in the middle of winter when the lake is frozen and windswept of snow and the ice formations are turquoise in colour.
DeleteYou took beautiful photos. Glad you were at the lake and enjoyed the water. It's wonderful to enjoy the beauty of all seasons.
ReplyDeleteI love winter with snow and ice, but now I'm totally happy with sun and autumn.
Thanks for your great photos. Great tour.
Hug you.
Viola
This was a good initiation to winter conditions! A gentle transition works best for me!
DeleteOoh, aah! A walk down memory lane November 2009.
ReplyDeleteBack before you were a blogger! I just went back to your blog to see if there was a story capturing your memories!
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