Week 34: A Mountain of Mountains

landscape

The topic for week 34 was actually supposed to be a black and white landscape but I don't have any decent black and white software to develop the photos so I am going with just landscapes.  Week 34 began when I left Levi at his friend Sebastian's place in Kamloops (leaving took a little longer than expected as Seb's mom and I chatted in the driveway for quite some time just like the old days when they lived here and we would pick up the boys at each other's houses - we would tell the boys to get ready to go, then stand at the door chatting on and on until the boys went off and did their thing until we called them back).  I spent two days in Whistler, then traveled to a campground near Hope then  on to Okanagan Lake.  I picked Levi up again and we headed to Jasper then Lake Louise.  

So considering where I spent my time, all of the landscapes are likely to be mountains!

These first photos are from the top of Whistler Mountain during a chilly morning.  My B&B host checked the weather on the mountain for me...it was one degree with an expected high of ten.  I was deciding between shoes (which I hate to put on in the summer) and sandals and I went with the sandals.  It all started out okay...the gondola up to the first stop was enclosed.  As long as I kept moving up there I was fine.  The very top of Whistler however is accessed by a chair lift.  Yes, an open air seat going higher and higher and thus colder and colder.  I mastered getting on the seat okay but I hung on for dear life as the chair brought me up to the top.  I will admit that my toes did get cold.  They warmed up quickly as I started to walk around.  Did you know that mountains are hilly and the so-called easy hikes are also hilly?

The sticky-up part is called Black Tooth.

If I recall correctly, the little lake down there is called either Hidden Lake or Hidden Pool...or maybe nothing at all like that.

I had signed up for a sunset photography tour while I was in Whistler.  All I knew was that the photographer would take us up roads not available to the public, stop along the way looking for wildlife and photograph sunset.  As it turns out, we did go up roads not available to the public (we saw a few black bears but they were skittish and we didn't get to photograph them) but we went right back up to where I had been that morning - the top of Whistler Mountain.  Oh well, it was a completely different world at sunset and the lifts closed at 5:00 so it was just us up there in the freezing cold air.  This time I had brought socks and shoes and they were definitely needed.

The sunset photo at the beginning is from that evening.  So are these...

There were so many colours compared to what I saw in the morning.

Trying to capture the sun rays in the fog was tricky but with a digital camera and a huge SD card, you can take 50 or 100 shots to get "that one."

When I was up in the morning, people were climbing all over the inukshuk for photos so it was nice to see it on our own.

This is the eastern sky right after the sun went down in the west.

The turquoise water was fantastic.  My brother has told me the water is this colour because of copper in the water.  This lake was on highway 99 north of Whistler.

When we got to Jasper, we took a scenic drive to Moraine Lake (crap - I might be mixing that up with Maligne Lake).  This scenic view is on the way.  Too bad about the weather - rain and fog.

This is Moraine Lake (I think).  I would have killed for a sunny sky and some reflections in that gorgeous water.

Okay, this one isn't so much a landscape as it is a treescape.  When I headed back to Kamloops, I had lots of time to explore so I stopped at an ornamental garden.  The flowers were past their peak and it was hot so I headed to sit on a bench in the shade.  As I was walking toward the bench, I noticed that it was sitting under this fantastic tree.  Instead of sitting, I photographed.

That's this week done.