Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Landscape Photography Locations => Topic started by: Raymond Toal on August 22, 2003, 01:31:04 am

Title: Waterton Lakes National Park
Post by: Raymond Toal on August 22, 2003, 01:31:04 am

Les, I cannot advise you on techniques for photographing in smoke but about locations in Waterton:
In the Park the Red Rock Road,a little East of the town, is beautiful..it runs up the Blakiston Valley to Cameron Lake and you can hike off the road anywhere. Be aware that this is bear country !
Try the road South towards the Chief Mountain border crossing..it rises to a plateau at Sofa Mountain and there are magnificent vistas.
At this time the Forestry Reserve north of the Park and west of highway 6 is closed due to fire risk but it may be open at the time of your visit..any of the roads (all gravel) West from No.6 lead into beautiful country and you will have it all to yourself.
I understand your horror at the fires, I have a weekend place in the Crowsnest Pass and I could weep when I think of the devastation South of it.

Have a good trip
Raymond

Title: Waterton Lakes National Park
Post by: Eric on August 29, 2003, 02:02:54 am

I just returned tonight from a hiking trip in the Rockies, and I was in Waterton Lakes NP for 5 days.  The hikes we did and photographic opportunities in my opinion:

Crypt Lake - great hike, tedious ascent below treeline though.  lake isn't that photogenic due to lack of icebergs and snow.  waterfall is nice.

Carthew Alderson - really great hike, with plenty of photo ops.  we hiked an additional 200 vertical metres to the summit of Mt Carthew, which has a nice view of the Alderson lakes and surrounding area.

Rowe Lakes trail - we only hiked up to the base of Mt. Lineham, and then scrambled to the summit, so i can't comment too much on the rest of the hiking trail.  the view from the summit was great, with impressive peaks in the US looming in the background.  

Wall/Forum lakes - we wanted to do the Akamina Ridge trail, but it was closed, so we just explored a little ice block above Wall lake.  if you decide to check it out, the photo ops there are incredible.  the ice is hollowed out, and it constantly drips from the ceiling in a large cascading waterfall.  

We were there Aug 20-24 and conditions steadily improved from bad on the 20th to excellent on the 23rd.  Conditions do vary but I wouldn't expect that much smoke left in the area. We had crazy winds that pretty much blew all of the smoke away from the park.  

The nicest part of the smoke photo-wise is that you get sunset hues when the sun is still very high in the sky.  We stayed at the Crandell Lake campground and got nice views of the surrounding mountains every day.

I haven't yet prepared my photos for viewing yet, but I can let you know when I do (within a week, hopefully)

My email is eric.degiuli ( at ) utoronto.ca

Good luck,

Eric

Title: Waterton Lakes National Park
Post by: Les Willis on August 21, 2003, 09:48:31 pm

I'm looking for advice on potential shooting locations in Waterton Park and some advice on shooting under smokey conditions. I'll be in Waterton for 3 days near the start of the second week in September. I can't really reschedule the trip and unfortunately there are a large number of forest fires in southern British Columbia. (As a matter of fact a very large one is looming out my front window on the opposite side of Okanagan lake. I live in Penticton and most of the Okanagan Mountain Park is now gone (about 13,000 hectares). The smoke has made for colourful sunsets and sunrises and the flames were often 100 or more feet in the air, but it is a frightening scene to watch.

Closer to Waterton the Crowes' Nest Pass area is currently on fire. Does anyone have any specific suggestions for shooting under smokey conditions? Lenses, filters, exposures? Are there ways to take advantage of the smoke? According to my Starry Night I should be able to film the moon in daylight on the first evening of the trip. Any tips on good hikes and photo locals (day hikes only probably) would be very appreciated. I'll be staying in the town itself for all 3 days.

Thanks very much in advance.

Les.

Title: Waterton Lakes National Park
Post by: Les Willis on August 23, 2003, 01:35:00 pm

Thanks very much for the info Raymond.  I found a NASA site with aerial photos of the fires in the province. Check out: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Natural....d=11647 (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=11647)

Thanks again for the locations, Les.