Monday, my Mum and I took a day trip to Kananaskis. The whole purpose of our trip was to get in the car, have our cameras, and stop and take photos when ever the mood struck.
And the mood struck. Quite a bit. So we pulled over and took photos. It was awesome.
We headed south out of Calgary, went through Okotoks and Black Diamond. There we got onto Highway 22, and headed towards Longview. There is a section of road, just south of Longview, [which I can only assume has been done by the rancher that owns the land] that has nailed hats along all the fence posts. It goes on for at least a kilometer. Maybe even two. The majority of the hats were baseball caps, but I saw quite a variety: hard hats, bucket hats, sun hats as well. It's very cool to see.
I'm passionate about photography. I'm most passionate about people pictures. Pictures that tell stories. So, to go out and take scenary pictures, it's kind of new for me. Kind of out of my element. But I still love it.
All the photos I took were taken in either Manual or Aperature mode. I've been practicing and getting better at understanding my camera. I've steered away from 'auto' I only turn to it in panic situations. When I want to ensure I get at least ONE good photo. Usually it's when people, or a celebration is involved. There are only 2 photos that have been altered, I'll make mention of which ones, when I get to them. The rest of the pictures are straight out of the camera. Saved as .jpegs. I don't do RAW.
It was an overcast day. We saw everything today. Sun. Rain. Snow. Fog. When we got to the hats, it was a dense, low cloud cover. You should be able to see the spectacular mountains in the distance of a couple of these photos, but they were covered with clouds.
This little bird, sitting atop the Calgary Flames hat. I looked in my bird book when I got home and think it might be a Savannah Sparrow.
Close up of our little bird friend.
And come on... I mean, it's the Calgary Flames after all.
We headed onto the Highwood Pass Highway, entering Kananaskis. We were super lucky, the highway had only opened the day before. It's closed during the winter. We were both shocked to see how much damage has been done, through the Highwood River area, with the floods of 2013. Many of the places along the road are still closed. I'm sure whole areas have been washed away. Even now, 2 years later you can see the destruction. We pretty well had the highway to ourselves. It was wonderful.
On our way we found an abandoned caboose. In the middle of nowhere.
We stopped at Rock Glacier Trail. [Where the weather took a turn for colder and it was snowing] and caught a picture of this Pika. These little guys are found in mountainous terrains, and it said they rarely travel more than 10 m from these types of places. Lucky to see him. Glad Madelyn wasn't there, because the resemblance to a Chinchilla is undeniable, and I'm certain she would have tried to catch it... And after watching two women just about get into a fist fight about 'chasing the Pika', I'm pretty sure Miss Madelyn would not have been welcome here...
This is where we stopped to have lunch, on the Lower Lake of Kananaskis We were the only ones there. It was quiet and breathtaking. I know it gets so busy during the summer, so we felt fortunate to have the whole place to ourselves.
And then this happened, shortly after we got back onto Highway 40, heading towards the TransCanada highway...
These are the only 2 photos I altered. And I did so, because in my shock and mad scramble to grab my camera and start taking photos, I forgot to set anything [shutter speed/aperature] in manual. I just started snapping. So these pictures were
extremely under exposed. However, I was able to salvage them, and I think I did a pretty good job. Also, these pictures were taken through the windshield of the car.
People. We saw
a grizzly bear. And he
sauntered across the road... Not a care in the world. It's the longest I've ever seen a bear, that lives in the wild. [Meaning- not a bear in the zoo, which I've spent a lot of time looking at over the years] It was pretty exciting. And also, pretty scary. Because I have this unhealthy fear of bears... It was a mere 15 minutes away from the place I'm supposed to go camping this summer... And I'm attempting to be very brave. But I'm now, a lot more nervous than I was before. I know they live in the woods. And believe me, I do have a healthy
fear respect for them...
I've shown this picture to lots of people, and some have commented that they believe it be a juvenile grizzly. And having a boy on the cusp of 13... Well, I'm familiar with the term 'juvenile' and don't much like the sound of it. Apparently, you need to be even more careful of the juvenile bears, because they're more curious... And in the case of a nearly 13 year old, don't necessarily always make the best decisions... Eeks... Hoping this juvenile doesn't become delinquent. Especially the 3rd week of July.
Once my heart slowed down, and began to beat at it's proper resting rate again, we braved another stop. This time, we stopped at Wedge Lake. It was lovely. Quiet. Serene. I do love the outdoors. But now, after our earlier incident, I'm on the look out for critters...
And this guy totally counts as a critter. The kind I'm much more comfortable around...
Someone else told me that seeing a grizzly bear, was like one chance in a million... She's an avid hiker and has never seen one. So, I hope that my one grizzly sighting,
from my car window, is my one in a million. I should also head to pick up lotto tickets.
