Fall Photo Weekend - Day 2

When we got up on the morning of Sunday November 10th, it was very cold, and there was a little fresh snow in the Jasper townsite.  After coffee and breakfast we packed up our camera gear and headed out.  We drove up the Maligne Road and stopped at Medicine Lake.  The temperature was about -14C in town, and it was slightly colder at the higher elevation of the lake.  There was a lot more snow up there too.   The lake was almost empty, as is the norm at this time of year.  The trickle of water left in the lakebed was mostly frozen, with just a couple of very small open patches.

Medicine Lake was created, before modern times, when a rockslide off of the Colin Range dammed the Maligne River.  In summer, the water flow from the mountain runoff exceeds the outflow and the lake is created.  In late summer and fall when the water flow is reduced, the lake drains away through the porous rock and the almost dry lake bed is left behind.

We spent a couple hours shooting here and the temperature eventually rose a little.  It was actually quite pleasant because there was no wind, and the sun came out.  After we finished shooting here we headed back down the valley and made a stop along the Maligne River.  It was much colder here as we were in shadow, out of the sun, it was very humid by the open water, and a breeze picked up a bit.  After spending an hour or so here we made our way back down to the main valley of the Athabasca.  Here there was very little snow, and in the large open valley, there was still some direct sun at this late afternoon time.  We stopped in a meadow and did a couple of shots of Pyramid Mountain.

Gabor had to work on Monday so he said his goodbyes to the rest of us, up at Medicine Lake and hit the road for home by about 1:00 in the afternoon.  While Gord, Steve, Meghan and I were shooting Pyramid Mountain, Arda and Court went down by the Athabasca and shot the ice bloom on the river.  As the late afternoon light faded, we packed up our gear and headed back to our hotel.

We relaxed and had a couple of drinks in our room, and then ventured outside again.  We made the five block walk into town and went back to a the same restaurant as the previous evening.  This was a family run Greek place called Something Else.   Just like the night before, the food was very good.  After dinner we walked back to our room and stayed up until about midnight, visiting and having a few drinks and snacks together.

Gabor wandered around with his digital camera and took snapshots of a most of the Guild members in "Action".  We were all working with our cameras and attempting to capture the scene before us on black and white film.  Gabor shared these images with the group after he got back home and gave me permission to include them here on my blog.  It was shortly after these images were taken that he had to hit the road for home.