Back to Abraham Lake

On January 2nd I was up fairly early.  It was a cool morning, so I hung around the cottage for a while in the morning, having coffee and breakfast.  I decided that I would take a drive up to Abraham Lake again, and see if there would be an opportunity for any photography.

This time around the clouds were heavier, the temperature was cooler [around -5C] and there was a light breeze.  But I set out anyway, hoping for the best.

Once I got up to the lake the breeze was a little stronger, as is typically the case.  But this time around, it was not nearly as strong as it was on the previous visit that Margarit and I attempted.  I headed further up the lake, around the elbow.  There were a lot of cars parked at most of the turnouts... even more than the last time.  I stopped along the highway at the spot where I had photographed the flooded aspen trees in the fall.  The water level was much lower now... and there was no one around.

As I wandered down onto the shore I found a pair of traction cleats that someone had left behind.  I strapped them onto my boots and made my way down to the edge of the ice.  The wind was a little more than a breeze, but not nearly as strong as it was last time.  I managed to set up my view camera four times and took some shots of the ice crusted shoreline, and some ice slabs.

It was about 2:00 when I packed things in and headed back to the cottage.  Being the last day of the Christmas Holiday season it seemed there were a lot of people out for the day.  The parking areas along the lake were all full, and lots of people were down on the ice, checking out the bubbles, and skating.

I saw a couple of small herds of Bighorn Sheep along the highway, but no wild horses this time.  I made a stop part way back to Nordegg at Snow Creek where there was a little open water.  I set up the view camera one last time and took my last shots of the day.

When I got back home I spent a couple of hours in the guest cottage working on the cabinets.  I got the new panel that I made for the floor of the first cabinet finished, and also got a second coat of paint on the interior surfaces of all the other panels.  I also cut a couple of strips of plywood and primed them.  These pieces will be used at the top of the cabinet to secure the counter top.

After that I continued on some chores around the cottage.  I put the battery maintainer on my snowmobile, brought in some firewood and tidied up around the cottage a little.  I had a dinner of leftovers and started packing up for the drive home to the city in the morning.  No matter how long I stay out at the cottage I always seem to have a bit of a down mood when it is time to pack up and get ready to leave the mountains...