We got up on Sunday morning, again at a pretty reasonable hour. Andy needed to be back in Edmonton by evening as he had to work the following morning. Peter decided that he would travel back with Andy. I had booked Monday off from work and was staying an extra day. Steve is now retired, so he decided to stay. Daniel just finished his final exams at University and was also free to stay the extra day.
We packed up in the morning and headed out for the day. Andy and Peter slowly made their way home, shooting along the way. The rest of us set out to hike up to the top of Hoodoo mountain. The weather had been pretty good throughout the weekend with a mix of sun and clouds, and afternoon high temperatures getting up around +15C. I've become a little careless in recent months and starting throwing too much gear into my backpack. It must be up to over 40 Lbs now and my back reminded me that the long walk into Lower Bugaboo yesterday, combined with this hike up to the summit of Hoodoo Mountain was getting to be a little much. I think I have to go through my gear and lighten things up a little bit. We spent the entire morning up on the summit making photographs and it was early afternoon by the time we hiked down.
We continued on up the West Side Road for a drive, looking for any other photo opportunities. We made a stop at an old beaver pond where there were a number of dead stumps in the water. A couple of light showers passed over us in the afternoon but nothing too serious. After shooting here for a while we explored for a bit up near Invermere and eventually made our way back towards Fairmont. We made a second attempt at shooting from the base of Hoodoo Mountain, along Dutch Creek and this time the evening light was better. It was about 4:30pm by the time we finished up here. We dropped our gear off back at the house and then headed over to the Hoodoo Grill. This is a small pub in the settlement just outside of Fairmont, below Hoodoo Mountain. We had burgers and beer and watched Steve's beloved Toronto Maple Leafs lose their first round series to the Washington Capitals.
We continued on up the West Side Road for a drive, looking for any other photo opportunities. We made a stop at an old beaver pond where there were a number of dead stumps in the water. A couple of light showers passed over us in the afternoon but nothing too serious. After shooting here for a while we explored for a bit up near Invermere and eventually made our way back towards Fairmont. We made a second attempt at shooting from the base of Hoodoo Mountain, along Dutch Creek and this time the evening light was better. It was about 4:30pm by the time we finished up here. We dropped our gear off back at the house and then headed over to the Hoodoo Grill. This is a small pub in the settlement just outside of Fairmont, below Hoodoo Mountain. We had burgers and beer and watched Steve's beloved Toronto Maple Leafs lose their first round series to the Washington Capitals.
After the hockey game we headed back to the house and capped off the evening with a fire and a glass of scotch.
The next morning we were up and getting packed and cleaned up for the departure from the house. The weather had taken a bit of a turn and it was cooler with heavier clouds. We locked everything up and shut things down and hit the road. By the time we crossed over Sinclair Pass into the Kootenay Valley of Kootenay National Park, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. There were rain showers, with snow at higher elevations. We continued on to the Vermilion Valley and made a stop there to photograph for a while. In the upper reaches of the valley, at Numa Falls and Marble Canyon there was still quite a bit of snow, and we didn't bother to try to hike any of the trails. Once we got over the Vermilion Pass, back into Banff National Park and Alberta, we turned north towards Lake Louise. I was driving up to Saskatchewan Crossing and then on to home through Nordegg and Rocky Mountain House. We made a stop at Crowfoot Glacier for some photos and it was actually quite pleasant as the sun had broken out for a while.
By the time we got into the North Saskatchewan Valley and Abraham Lake it was quite cold, and like usual, the wind was howling through the valley. We stopped a couple of times to check out the ice conditions on Abraham Lake but the spring melt was too far along to make viewing of the ice bubbles possible. I made a brief stop at our property in Nordegg and then we just continued on to the city. We dropped off Steve at his place and I made it back home by around 8:00pm.
All in all it was a pretty successful trip with poor weather conditions only hampering us a little at the very end. I haven't done an exact count yet but I think I shot about 40 sheets of film.
I've been away from home a lot lately, between the Easter trip for the ghost town documentary and now this one with the Monochrome Guild, my poor wife Margarit has been stuck at home with the girls a lot lately. To make matters worse, she suffered through a bad migraine while I was away this time. She is pretty tolerant of all of my crazy projects and I'll have to make this up to her by being more involved with the girls and giving her a break over the next few weekends.
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