And now, for a change of pace--balloons!

My buddy Geri Tzimoulis called me because someone she knew was involved in putting on a balloon festival here in Vegas. When I arrived, the first of fifteen balloons were lifting into the morning aky, while more were being inflated.

People were setting up one balloon after another:

 

It is a three-day mass balloon ascent (15 balloons). The weather has cooperated perfectly on the first two days.

 

 

 

And then we add motion!

 

 

For a YouTube video of the entire festival, just click on the YouTube icon on my web page www.divexprt.com 

 

After three mornings of perfect weather for ballooning, the wind came in the next day! Here's a sample:

 

 

The events organizers did a magnificent job, and luck was definitely with them! 

 

Triumph and vindication...

 

Oh, well, let's not go overboard. I did get up at 2:30 Tuesday morning and stepped out of my motel room. The sky was full of stars!  Game on! I loaded the car and took the hour drive down to Maroon Bells (you have to be there by 5:20 or 5:30 or the close parking lot is full).

By 6:00 or so, the first faint blushes of sunlight touched Maroon Peak. I admit that Maroon Bells is a one-trick pony, but it is a helluva trick! Best of all, the two stormy days had put new snow on the peak!



Beautiful, subtle colors! Unfortunately for me, I hardly noticed because after an hour  in this deep freeze I was freezing to death. Heavy gloves, wool short, muffler and heavy jacket simply didn't work as the three and a half hours ticked by. B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-...

Ah, but the colors got better by the minute as the Sun slowly rose.

About now I was shaking, and couldn't use  my hands. The next time somebody says 'global warming' to me I'm going to pop them. Hmm. Maybe I'll just suggest they go to Maroon Bells at Dawn in September...

Then the sunlight got to my spot, and within a few minutes I had to peel off all the cold-weather gear. It was really balmy, especially when the wind stopped. After a half hour I even regained the use of my hands!

I have the complete sunrise sequence, which will eventually go up on YouTube and my web site. I could only stay there until 10:00 A.M, because I had a nine-hour drive back to Vegas.

Meanwhile, this gives you an idea of why this is the most photographed site in Colorado.

Desperately seeking Sun, not finding any...

I came here at precisely the same time last year, and wore polo shirts and shorts.

I therefore have definitive evidence for the IPCC that the world is cooling!

Since there were no pictures worth taking, I went exploring after I saw about 70 private jets on the local airport. Sure enough, all along the side roads were secluded private lakes and looooooong driveways, some with huge but rather hidden  mansions.

Unfortunately, the conditions on the roads were the kind you find on a polar expedition. So much for photos at Dawn or any other time...

I intended to go up over Independence Pass  http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/2012Colorado/2IndependencePass/IndependencePass.html   , but turned back as I thought about what road conditions would be at 10,000 feet. The wisdom of age...

Wait! Isn't it still September?

One more try for Maroon Bells at dawn. Then it is ten hours from there to Vegas.  Hmmm. wonder if I could hitch a ride on one of those jets...

Isn't it great being a photographer?...

When I woke up this morning, the skies were clear in Vegas. Since I had 600 miles to go today, the Colorado weather forecast (Sunny, 0% chance of rain) was welcome.

Everything went well for about 350 miles. Then I went under the biggest, blackest cloud I've seen in twenty years (I do remember a famous one that almost sank us out in the Coral Sea). Twenty miles later, I took a picture back at it:

That cloud was the first of two in Utah and a third in Colorado. All had giant lightning bolts flying around, machine-gun-like hailstones, and sound that made your ears ache.

From sunshine to this in a couple of minutes:

Gee, I wonder if it will be nice and clear, with 0% chance of rain again at Dawn tomorrow?

The Photo Journey concludes...

Yesterday was a weather wipeout, but today dawned clear. Saturday morning, and Canadians know that you will freeze your butt off down by the water at Lake Louise, so they come later. I was the sixth car in the lot, and was rewarded with seeing the first kiss of sunlight on the glacier:

I waited as long as I could at Lake Louise, getting as much light on the scene as I could:

Parenthetically, there is another one of those small, unostentatious bungalow resorts on the shore at Lake Louise. The Canadians seem to specialize in these:

My friend Rick said that I should get to nearby Moraine Lake early, because the parking lot was quite small. I imagined a remote lake with crickets chirping, and when you stood on a parapet to get the scene recorded, you would think it was just like that. the lake doesn't have a lot of boats and people, as you see in the picture.

No, they are all on the parapet behind you and scrambling over the rocks to get into your picture.

The beautiful lake is surrounded by tall peaks and immense forests:

However--you would be wrong about the crickets at Moraine Lake. When the sun came out and it got warm, this was the scene leaving that parking lot:

I have four and a half minutes of that, hundreds of cars lining the approach road for at least a half-mile. I did try to go back to Lake Louise at Noon, but the parking lots were full, the approach roads were packed with cars, and there was a hundred-car line-up on the Trans-Canada Highway just to get off at the Lake Louise exit!

Heading back for home tomorrow morning, via Waterton Lakes, East Glacier and Pocatello. Expect me in October...

Wonders in the sunshine...

I spent yesterday again desperately trying to hit key attractions while the sunshine continued. My friends had suggested the Spray Lakes Loop near Canmore, so I tried it first thing in the morning. Sure enough, the morning light enhanced the view:

All along the road, there were overlooks where one could drink in the work of Nature, the Master Designer:

I could have relaxed here all day:

However--there were other important sites to hit and time was limited, so I went on to Johnston Canyon, where Parks Canada has built a walkway through a deep, narrow river canyon.

 

The Canyon has two falls, one easy to get to and the other miles away. I went to the closer lower falls, which were pretty powerful in a confined space:

 

 

There is a small cave you can enter to get right next to the falls in a confined space. This is where you appreciate the power of moving masses of water to carve through the hardest of rocks:

 

 

Moving on, I returned to Emerald Lake to shoot without all the cloud shadows of my earlier visit. This picture will be the left side of a three-image panorama of the entire lake when I get time to do it:

 

 

For the final important target of this day, I returned to Takakkaw Falls to be sure I did it justice. I went closer than I did on my earlier visit, but the camera starts getting wet from all the spray at about this point:

 

 

By the way, if you ever get to visit Takakkaw, you will have the fun of navigating this canyon with two hairpin turns...

 

 

The Toyota looks as if it were sent for and couldn't come, a relic of Grapes of Wrath, but I haven't seen a car wash (or cell phone service, or much else) out in the places where I've been spending all my time.

 

Off this morning to a beautiful lake which only issues only twenty permits per day to visitors. Can't wait!

 

 

The power of sunlight...

My friends were right about the glories of the Canadian Rockies--it just took sunlight to see them. The final morning in Jasper dawned with the first clear skies after ten days of clouds, and what a difference!

After the obligatory breakfast with my close friend Buck:

I took off to capture the images which have been eluding me. First, Sunwapta Falls, which flows past a small island before plunging into a deep gorge:

 

The day was a sprint. So many places to capture while the sky was clear! This is Waterfowl Lake:

As you can imagine, the Columbia Icefields gleamed in the Sun with their new coat of snow from the recent weather:

and a lake I had been hoping to see in ideal conditions was all one could have wished. This is the view of Peyto Lake from the Bow Summit:

 

Mountains, mountains everywhere!

 

 

Our old friend Bow Lake seemed positively invigorated!

 

 

As I neared Banff, a member of the local aristocracy came out to greet me:

 

 

A new beginning, and not a moment too soon! Off to find more subjects today--I have a long list!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather clears, but only slowly...

Still, waking to a clear morning puts spring in the step. I take off for my morning rendezvous with the Wild Buck. Sure enough, he's right there at Talbot Lake:

I have to get closer! easing down through the brambles, I rip my legs open, but:

Even around Jasper, the majestic mountains are beginning to be visible, though blotched with cloud shadows. The day will be spent dodging clouds again, but it is well worth the effort. I wish I had another day with fully clear skies, but this morning I begin the drive South to Banff:

 

A hundred kilometers South, I check out the dusting of new snow on all the high mountain tops from the recent weather:

 

 

I have hundreds of picture sets to make wide-screen panoramas, but time is short, so anything I show here is just a sample of each place. These are amazing vistas when the sunlight hits them:

 

Along the way and especially around Jasper, there are dozens of beautiful lakes nestling in the forest. These are Annette Lake and Edith Lake, which were practically devoid of people when I photographed them:

 

 

Heading back into Jasper, I find that the Athabasca River is always with (the road was built in the river's valley) which makes for nice scenes such as the mountains of Jasper with the milky waters of the river flowing below:

 

 

Finally, not to be outdone by the Wild Buck, the Big Horned sheep family are in their accustomed place, people watching again. There were a dozen cars and RV's here, and the sheep just watched with a bored expression:

 

 

Lots of driving today, so perhaps the blog won't be posted for a day or two (that will be a good sign)...

 

 

 

 

 

Location, location, location...

It seems that the high mountains around Jasper and South along the Icefields Parkway are elevating moist air and creating their own local weather problem. Jasper has been socked in for two days. Nice place to get $5.50 a gallon gas but I haven't even seen the town yet.

A bit to the East where I'm staying, there is much more frequent Sun. Traveling in to Jasper, there was our old friend, the Wild Buck!

Alas, when I reached Jasper, it was under a positively Mordorian sky.

No matter. The day was young, and I headed South on Icefields Parkway. The first break in the cloud cover was at 11:00 A.M. or so over the Icefields, 100 kilometers south of Jasper:

Looming in the distance above the milky Athabasca River, it looked like Valhalla.

Had to drive on to see it again!

Driving back toward the North, I was heartened that there had been breaks in the !#!$!%! clouds at least in one place. For example, there was a bit of color here along the river:

When I got to the Athabasca Falls, there was some sunlight there, too. It brought out the milky color of the river's water:

As I drove out from my fifteen minutes of sunshine, I looked at the sky. In all directions there were dark clouds! I'm putting in for a raise and a bonus for my Make-a hole-in-the-clouds angel for at least getting me a decent session at the Falls!

Driving East out of Mordor, er, Jasper, the skies cleared as if by magic:

Along the road was this lake of a startling green color! No, this is not Photoshop! It is this brilliant green!

I saw a commotion ahead, with some cars stopped. that means an animal jam! Sure enough! Three Big horned sheep were feeding by the side of the Trans-Canada highway.

Why did the chicken, er, Big Horn, cross the road?

Another day of prayer and sacrifice to the weather gods ahead. Eleven days of this and counting...

Banff to Jasper on the Icefields parkway

It started so well as I left Banff. There were breaks in the clouds, and surely the overcast would burn off in the Sun.

Oh, wait! It's Summer in Canada, where even the hotel staff are complaining about the persistent rotten weather. Soon I'm driving in this:..

 

Reminds me of San Francisco, where the top-selling Summer gift is sweaters!

 

Bow Lake seems positively gloomy!

 

 

But wait. This is a good day to go to the Columbia Icefields! Several glaciers pour over the mountain passes here:

 

 

That glacier on the right rolls in like surf!

 

 

Except for the stiff wind and resulting chill from all those ice cubes, it is a beautiful place!

 

 

Then, closer to Jasper, I stop for a visit to Athabasca Falls:

 

 

I can't wait to photograph some of these places in rich sunlight!!

 

On the way to my hotel outside Jasper, I saw a commotion by the side of the highway and pulled over to investigate.

 

 

A buck was feeding right off the Trans-Canada Highway, completely dismissing the cars and trucks roaring by, not to mention the gawkers sticking cameras out their windows mere feet away...

 

 

Amazing how little it takes to make a photographers's day!

 

Off to more adventures!

 

Why photographers age prematurely...

Yesterday as I left Slocan Lake and my friends the Tegelers, the haze began to lift:

 

I spent the morning driving to Revelstoke, enjoying the ferry ride:

Note that the clouds are following me, and getting bigger. Stopping at Emerald Lake, I discovered blown-out skies and hills under shadow. I'm going back when there is a clear day to get this one right!

 

 

I finally caught a break at magnificent Takkakaw Falls:

 

 

After all day driving, I awoke next morning for a placid drive down he Spray Lakes Loop. The day was very promising:

 

 

At one point, I stopped for four elk by the edge of the road.  Just as I zoomed in on them with my lens,

 

 

A car scattered the elk, almost hit two of them, and raced off down the road. It was Saturday morning, and every boy and his dog would be heading to the lakes!

A few more cars raced by--there would be no big wildlife on this road today!I turned around and headed for the Icefields Parkway going North, still dogged by a growing cloud layer:

 

Desperately searching for any holes in the clouds, I stopped at Hector Lake, and was rewarded with the stub of a rainbow!

 

 

Still, the clouds were gaining on me. I stopped at Bow Lake:

 

 

Oh, aaarrgghh! Deciding to give un scenes with no color, I started back South toward Banff.

 

But wait! Was that a small break in the clouds, drifting toward the lake? I raced back, and sure enough some sunlight weakly appeared:

 

Even a little sunlight makes a difference!!

 

Arriving back in Banff, I dropped in at a small local hotel where we swells hang out:

 

 

Today will be another long one, driving North to stay in Jasper National Park and the northern end of the Icefields Parkway. Perhaps another blog in a day or two.