Take Highway 1 from Calgary and turn right at the first Banff exit. From here follow the signs for Two Jack Lake.
Shot at 35mm, f/11, 0.6s, and iso 100.
Vermilion Lakes is a short 5 minute drive NW of Banff. Take Mount Norquay Rd from downtown towards Highway 1. Then turn left at Vermilion Lakes Drive.
With the fresh snow fall I decided to head to edge of the last vermilion lake. With the warm temperatures lately there was open water in much of the swampy areas here.
Vermilion Lakes is a short 5 minute drive NW of Banff. Take Mount Norquay Rd from downtown towards Highway 1. Then turn left at Vermilion Lakes Drive.
A very cold sunset at Vermilion Lakes this past weekend. The lake is entirely frozen except for a few sections with moving water from nearby creeks.
From Canmore follow the directions in town towards the ‘Nordic Center‘. Continue on around the reservoir and dam until you reach the ‘Goat Creek‘ trailhead parking lot.
All shots were with a 24mm at F1.4 and iso 12800 handheld. The only issue become actually focusing the camera in such low light. I would get somebody to hold up a flash light and use this to focus and then turn the flash light off when I was ready to shoot. To ensure sharpness with such low shutter speeds, I would take 4 or 5 shots in rapid succession to increase the chances of getting a shot that was usable.
We arrived at the Goat Creek parking lot just before midnight and began getting our freshly rented skis ready to go.
The full moon made for an eerie almost daylight like appearance to the landscape. The moon light was so bright that it was casting strong shadows across the trail.
Despite the cold temperatures, all the physical activity had us shedding layers only a few km into the trail.
Reaching the largest bridge on the trail marked the end the downhill section. From here it’s mainly up hill until you reach Banff.
The further we made it in, the greater the accumulated snow fall seemed to be. There were huge clumps of snow still hanging from the low lying trees.
Adam officially won the coveted most frozen beard award.
Vermilion Lakes is a short 5 minute drive NW of Banff. Take Mount Norquay Rd from downtown towards Highway 1. Then turn left at Vermilion Lakes Drive.
November is one of my favorite times of year to take photos, as the lakes have just begun to freeze and there is plenty of foreground interest.
This is the sunrise from the 3rd Vermilion Lake at the end of Vermilion Lakes Drive.
This is the sunset from the second lake, with Rundle in the distance.
Vermilion Lakes is a short 5 minute drive NW of Banff. Take Mount Norquay Rd from downtown towards Highway 1. Then turn left at Vermilion Lakes Drive.
After nearly 4 weekends in a row of cloudy weather and missed sunrises, it finally came together this past Saturday morning. There was still heavy fog in the prairies to the east, which may have contributed to the amazing colours.
