Scenery 2

Lac des Arcs is a hamlet located opposite Exshaw, on the other side of the Bow River. This area is not far into the mountains as one drives westwards from Calgary. Highway 1 (the Trans-Canada Highway) borders Lac des Arcs on the south. It is located at an elevation of 1,320 meters (4,331 ft). This lake, that goes under the same name, attracts wind surfers and fishermen, and the north shore hosts the Lafarge Exshaw Plant, a limestone quarry (which is off to the right of my photo. Yesterday, I was invited to go with friends to Lake Louise, out past Banff, and we stopped at Lac des Arcs to take a few photos. I love the patterns and shadows of these mountain slopes. As you can see, the weather was beautiful (apart from being very cold at Lake Louise), around +10C. I think we have passed on our bitter winter weather to those living in eastern Canada - sorry, everyone : ) Honest!

A very hazy photo (presumably caused by forest fires) of where I drove to yesterday afternoon. Reminds me that I keep on meaning to go and buy a polarizer filter, LOL. This little man-made pond/lake is at the far end of Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66) in Kananaskis. Takes about 50-55 minutes to drive there with no stops on the way, but usually I stop at several places en route, to go for a short stroll and give my body a break. The views are so different in each direction - wasn't sure which one to post today, so just grabbed one. Had some lunch sitting at one of the picnic tables along that far shoreline. There were several other people there, enjoying themselves. My adrenalin always rises a little when I do this drive, as the mountain road is quite spectacular as you get closer and closer to this place. Often, there is no one else in sight.

Whenever I see a photo like this one, I usually sigh and think ... Alberta : ) It was taken a little in desperation yesterday, when I drove a few of the roads north and south of Highway 22X, going westwards towards the mountains. Wasn't finding much to photograph at all. Our weather has been horrid, but the sun did come out for a while later yesterday. As I type, Calgary is under a Wind Warning, and we are going through a real wind storm. Have visions of my roof being lifted off, I'm in such an exposed place. Spent this morning walking in South Glenmore Park, by the Glenmore Reservoir, wearing a fleece jacket and my thick winter jacket ... brrr! Temperatures will be around 2C or 4C for the next few days. Nothing to photograph this morning, so I decided to go over to the Zoo for the afternoon, where I attempted to take photos even though it was far too windy for much success. Winter is definitely here - possibly a bit of snow again overnight.

A change of season and now the harvest is in. Drove just south of the city yesterday, but the sun wasn't shining. This photo is taken from the opposite direction to the image below. I sometimes wish the area wasn't as hilly, because I can't get both the road and the row of red granaries horizontal. Think I made the mistake of not keeping the slightly uphill road level in my viewfinder and letting the sheds slope down to the right more. Or maybe I'm just sweating the small stuff, LOL?

I dashed down a few gravel side roads just south of the city three days ago, when the sun finally came out for a short while. This is the kind of scenery you will find around the city and then, as you travel westwards, these rolling fields turn into the Foothills and then eventually into the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. How lucky we are to have such beautiful, endless countryside just a few minutes away from the city. I had hoped it would rain heavily since then, to wash off all the dried mud that now covers my car from these muddy, rutty, gravel roads, but I've been out of luck. Looks like I will have to hit a carwash soon - hopefully before the snow returns, LOL.

Yesterday, I dashed south west of the city a short way, as the clouds were building up quite nicely. Looked so much more impressive in person than when seen in a photo. This is just about the only image that is even remotely worth keeping. Not really worth getting my car covered in mud from the snowy, muddy, gravel side roads for one shot, LOL, though of course I enjoyed being surrounded by such beautiful scenery. By the way, I was facing away from the mountains, so those are clouds in the distance.

Nothing too inspiring, but kind of liked this view of forest and mountain peaks that I noticed in a side mirror, when we went to the mountains yesterday. This was the main highway between Canmore and Calgary. Didn't see a whole lot of birds - in fact, it was an extremely quiet, slow day for birds, though the highlight of the day was seeing a Northern Hawk Owl on a very, very distant tree! As you can see in this photo, the roads were clear and it was a beautiful day. Today, it's -2C and we have had/are still having heavy snow all day long. Here comes winter, AGAIN!

Spent a lovely day in the mountains yesterday, a rare treat for me. This is the location for the Golden Eagle Migration Count, near Mt. Lorette (close to Barrier Lake) in Kananaskis Country. These powerful raptors become mere specks in the sky as they follow each other just above the mountain peaks, flying across this valley from right to left and directly over Mt. Lorette. Very nice to meet new folks (who, believe it or not, happen to be Flickerites, too, LOL - Ian (who was kind enough to give me a ride there and back) and Ian #2 and his wife! Such friendly Scottish people : ) Rather a disappointing batch of photos, even though I was given beautiful scenery and a perfect day! Not sure what happened, LOL. The following was written by Peter Sherrington: "The visitors that day were just a few of the 1,500 people who came last year to witness the amazing spectacle. But they would not even have known about the site had it not been for a single bird -- a Golden Eagle -- that soared over the valley on the morning of March 20, 1992, as I was conducting a bird survey in the area with my friend Des Allen. The eagle was followed by another and then another. Quickly we realized that the birds were moving systematically along the ridges of the Fisher Range, crossing the Kananaskis Valley to Mount Lorette, where they'd soar briefly before disappearing to the northwest. At the end of the day, we had counted 103 Goldens, and I was convinced that we had discovered a previously unknown migration route. Two days later I returned to the area with a small group of observers, and in a single afternoon we counted 247 eagles moving along exactly the same route." I have been out to this location twice now and watched a trail of teeny black specks that are Golden Eagles. Fascinating that these birds know exactly where to fly on their migration route. Peter Sherrington does absolutely amazing, dedicated work recording every single one of these Golden Eagles each migration period.

The lighting was quite amazing when I drove a few gravel backroads south east of Calgary on 17th March. A mixture of bright sunlight and dark, ominous clouds. I love the colour of the fields at this time of year.