On the weekend of May 3rd and 4th the Monochrome Guild went on our annual Spring Photo Weekend. This time around there were only a few of us that were able to go. Steve and Tanja met at my place and travelled with me. Margarit came along this year as well. Mark also joined us, but he had to leave a little later, and was staying a day longer, so drove separately. The rest of the gang were not able to join us this time. This year we were travelling to Fairmont Hot Springs in British Columbia. Guild member Andy's family has a house there, and generously allowed us to use it, even though he wasn't able to make it.
We left on Friday afternoon, right after work. It was about 9:30PM when we stopped in Canmore for something to eat. By the time we finished up a late supper and a beer, it was around 11:00PM. We continued on towards Fairmont but when we got up onto Vermilion Pass it was foggy and snowy with limited visibility. Conditions improved a little when we got down into the Kootenay Valley, but then deteriorated again when we climbed up over Sinclair Pass. Once we got down in the Columbia Valley it was a lot better. I think it was around 1:00AM when we finally rolled up to the house at Fairmont.
We got our stuff inside and got organized and the girls were feeling tired and headed off to bed. Steve and I stayed up for a while and had a couple of nightcaps before turning in around 3:00AM.
At about 7:30 in the morning my phone rang... It was Mark... he had stopped for the night in Banff and hit the road early in the morning. He needed directions to the house in Fairmont. It had rained lightly through the night, and was still raining by this time in the morning. I decided to stay up, put the coffee on, and set about having some breakfast. A short time later Mark arrived and a little while after that the others got up.
By mid-morning we headed out for the day, hoping to make the best of the less than ideal weather conditions. We drove up the valley, through Radium and on to the Bugaboos road near Brisco. A short distance up this road was a spot that we had photographed at before, though never at this time of day. Right beside the road Dunbar Creek and Templeton River met, and a short distance up the river was Templeton Falls. This was a neat spot with a small waterfall and a lush canyon. Margarit had never been here before and quite enjoyed it. The river bed was pretty torn up with some deadfall and washouts and it was evident that there had been some pretty high water levels here since our last visit. Probably a result of the heavy rains and flooding that hit the front ranges last summer.
When we finished up shooting at Templeton Falls we made our way back towards Fairmont. We stopped at an old abandoned amusement park near Invermere, called Playland. It was probably a happening place back 20 years ago or so with a giant slide, bumper boats, mini golf, a burger stand and a few other attractions. Now it was all in ruin, vandalized and left to the elements. We explored and photographed here for a while, but by this point the rain had picked up a little.
Late in the day, as we made our way back to the house, we made a brief stop along Dutch Creek, at the base of Hoodoo mountain. We explored here a little before heading back to the house for an evening barbecue. After dinner we were all tired and worn out from a busy day, and the late night driving out. One by one we went down for the count. It was about 1:00AM, and Steve and I had put a sizable dent into the bottle of LaPhroig scotch that he had brought along. Finally we called it a night as well.
The next morning we slept in a little, but the day dawned a lot clearer and brighter. It took me a while to shake off the cobwebs as we packed up and tidied up for our departure. Eventually we locked up the house and hit the road. We headed over to the trailhead for Hoodoo Mountain. This trailhead was around on the backside of the mountain, and lead up to the plateau on top. We hiked around up here for a couple of hours and made more photographs. It is quite an exceptional place and there were numerous other hikers out on this Mothers Day. By mid afternoon we made our way back down to the truck and reluctantly packed up for home. A brief stop at the dump to drop off our garbage, and then some lunch at a pub in Radium. After that we pretty much pounded the pavement all the way home, eventually getting back into the city around 9:30PM.
Mark followed us part way back but he turned off at Castle Junction and headed south to Banff. He had an extra day off from work and was going to spend Monday photographing in and around the Banff area. The rest of us were all jealous...
I forgot to bring my digital camera with me on this trip. I managed to shoot about 25 sheets of film with my view camera, but had no opportunity for any snapshots. I did take a couple with my phone, and have included them here. I will post some of the large format images from this trip as I process the film over the coming weeks and months.
This is Hoodoo Mountain from along Dutch Creek.
This was taken with the panoramic feature on my iPhone.
One of the attractions at Playland...
A view of Columbia Lake from the plateau on top of Hoodoo Mountain.
Margarit on a rather precarious perch, photographing at Hoodoo Mountain plateau.
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