My Favourite Sunset Spot

This weekend the prospects for a sunset at my favourite location caused me to make a fairly unusual weekend foray into kananaskis.  I tend to avoid weekend visits to kananaskis because of the crowds that fill this beautiful place at such times.   Don't get me wrong, I'm not entirely antisocial but I have the option to go when most others are back at work in the city .  So why bother trying to dodge crowds and wait patiently for people to move out of shot (or photoshop them out later) when I can just go at less busy times.  

But saturday evening looked promising and recent temperatures meant there would likely be liquid water at the inlet to the lower lake.  Wintertime rarely provides opportunity for reflections in kananaskis so I was tempted into making the journey. 

I arrived in good time and went to the upper lake first where I found some nice shots of the methane bubbles and sculpted snow along the pristine shoreline.  I almost got carried away before realising it was time to head to the lower lake for sunset.  A somewhat hurried dash back across the frozen upper lake and a short hop in the truck saw me arriving at the lower lake by 4pm for the 4:55 pm sunset.   

I gathered up my gear and made a short hike north beyond the hydro plant on the western shore of the lake.  It was fantastic to see some liquid water leading from the inlet and some shape to the frozen shoreline.  Now it was a simple matter of choosing the spot, setting up the tripod and waiting.   I used the wide angle at 16mm to take in the beautiful long reach of the mountains opposite and a nice foreground curve along the edge of the ice.  The clouds added another dimension as they mirrored the path of the mountains in the darkening skies above.    

I had hoped to stay for the milky way as I often do when I'm down here for sunset, but the clouds combined with a waxing gibbous moon to kill off any chance of that this evening.  It didn't matter, just being here to watch the sunset and soak in the incredible beauty of this place is reward enough, and the images aren't too bad either.