Back to Maligne Valley

On Saturday November 14th, after packing up at Athabasca Falls, Steve, Jon and I headed back up the Maligne Valley.  We drove up to the viewpoint at the north end of Medicine Lake.  We all wandered about for a while, making photographs in the afternoon light.  Mostly I wandered up into the burnt lodgepole trunks, the aftermath of the Excelsior Creek fire.  I took a couple shots here with my view camera, and then wandered down to the edge of the lake.

There was a little hawk owl, that kept flying back and forth to a snag, and I managed to get a digital snapshot of the little guy.  As the day was winding down, we headed back down the valley towards town.  We made a stop along the Maligne River and wandered around for a little longer.  I took a bunch of digital snapshots here.  In hindsight I should have pulled out the view camera and taken a shot of the snow pillows on all the rocks beside the river.....

We headed back into town as the light faded.  We saw a herd of elk beside the highway near the townsite and stopped briefly for a couple snapshots, before continuing back to our hotel.  After unpacking our gear and relaxing for a while we walked into town and went to a restaurant for something to eat.  Later we headed back to the hotel and visited for a while before turning in. 

In the morning when we got up it was snowing heavily.  We made some sandwiches for a lunch on the road, checked out of our room, and headed out.  The snow was just too heavy and it was obvious that getting out and taking any photographs would be nearly impossible.  We headed east towards the park gate hoping the weather might break a little and we might be able to get out a little.  It was not to be the case and it was a long slow drive back to the city, through snowfall that was heavy at times, and with the highway fairly snow-covered in places.

We made it back to Edmonton by evening, without having taken the cameras out on this day.  Despite that, we enjoyed the opportunity for old friends to get together, and to get out and explore and photograph, even though conditions limited our options.  This brought to an end the 15th Annual Fall Photo Weekend, but we are all looking forward to the 16th....