Photo Weekend in the Badlands

Last week my friend Rob and I met down at the shop in East Coulee.  I had left the trailer there the weekend before and it would serve as our base for a weekend of photography.  Rob was driving out from the interior of British Columbia and I headed out after work on Thursday.  I had booked Friday off work, which would provide us with a long weekend for some serious photography.  It was fairly late in the evening by the time the two of us met up in the badlands.  We visited for a while and then turned in, with plans to get out shooting in the morning.

There were some severe thunderstorms in the area on Thursday evening as we both drove out and we were hopeful that they would pass through overnight and that weather conditions for the rest of the weekend would improve.  That was not to be as it rained through most of the night and was still raining when we got up on Friday morning.  We headed out anyway, hoping to be able to do some shooting.  It soon became very warm and humid, but the skies remained mostly overcast.  It was still very wet from the night before, and showers threatened through the day.  Anyone that has ever been down in the badlands of southern Alberta after a rain knows that the bentonite and clay turns to grease when it is wet and anything but a completely horizontal surface is just about impossible to negotiate.

Our first stop was just down the road from East Coulee.  The badlands were glistening in the subdued light.  We put on our boots and attempted to wander around.  It wasn't long before both of us had wiped out in the greasy muck and become covered with mud.  We made the best of it and pressed on to make some photographs.  As the morning warmed up, the heat and humidity became stifling, and the mosquitos came out in hoards.  It was not to be a very pleasant day....

After a couple of hours at this spot we packed up, tried to scrape the mud off of ourselves and our gear, and continued up the valley to town.  We made a brief stop in town for lunch and then continued further on up the valley.  We stopped at the Orkney viewpoint and had a look around and then travelled further on to the Bleriot Ferry.  After crossing the Red Deer River on the cable ferry we continued around on the Dinosaur Trail and made our way to the viewpoint overlooking Horse Thief Canyon.  By this time it was drying off a little so we decided to attempt another short hike.  By this time the temperature had risen to around +27C, and the humidity must have been near the dew point.  It was very hot and uncomfortable, but we made the best of it and headed down into the canyon.  We spent the afternoon here making some photographs before eventually hiking out and making our way back to town.  We stopped for something to eat and a couple of cold ones in town before eventually making our way back out to the trailer at the shop at East Coulee.  We were optimistic that the next day would be better......