Day Two in Crowsnest

On the morning of Wednesday October 13th I checked out of my hotel room in Coleman.  I didn't get up all that early, as it is too dark and too cold to do much photography in the morning at this late point in the season.  All of the construction workers booked out of the hotel earlier than I did, so I was able to pull my truck up close to load up all my gear.

I headed over the to the Tim Hortons in Blairmore and met Fred there for a morning coffee.  It was a lot warmer than the -13C that had been experienced the morning before.  It was actually a couple of degrees above freezing, but it was heavily overcast with no sun, and there was still a rather brisk breeze.  

We decided to head back over to Lime City, where we had left off the evening before.  The skies were not as clear, but there was a soft diffuse light.  We spent a couple of hours photographing here.  Once again I shot with both my 4x5 and 8x10.  I also visually explored some aspen trees that were still clinging to the last of the fall color.  I'm hopeful that the soft subdued light might yield a good negative.

After we finished up here, we headed over to the old tipple at Bellevue.  I believe this tipple belonged to the Monarch Mine, and I'm told that it suffered a fire at one point.  It is now heavily vandalized and almost every accessible surface is covered with graffiti.  It is quite a bit worse in  recent years and the change is obvious from when I first photographed here about nine years ago.

The light was not great, and the breeze rather unpleasant.  So I decided to head for home.  Fred and I said our goodbyes and I hit the highway for the drive back to Nordegg.  Fred was planning on staying in the valley for at least another day or two and continuing with some photography.  The forecast was calling for improved conditions, so hopefully he is able to accomplish something.

It was shortly after 12:00 noon when I hit the road, and I made it to Rocky Mountain House by about 4:30.  I passed through showers and drizzle almost all the way back, and never really saw the sun.  I made a quick stop at the Co-op Building Center in Rocky and picked up a few electrical supplies.  It was right around 6:00PM when I rolled back in to the cottage.  I passed through more rain and drizzle on the drive out on the David Thompson Highway, but no new snow.  Moments after I arrived back at the cottage it started to snow, and for a while was coming down quite heavily.

I plan on continuing with some electrical rough in for a day or two, so hopefully the weather improves overnight.