We woke up at 6am this morning and quickly got ready. I’m pretty obsessive about catching the elusive morning light. Like yesterday we stopped at the coffee shop so Jen could get her morning fix and I got a bagel with egg, cheese, and bacon.
Instead of eating there, Jen drove while I ate. We drove up to Lake Louise and parked near the lake on the lower level. We walked over to the lake and proceeded to take some pictures in the very early morning light.
After I got everything set up on the tripod and prepared to take some pictures with the Sigma 15mm fisheye lens, I encountered a problem with my camera. It would not focus and the aperture showed ‘00′. I thought, perhaps, I was experiencing the infamous 20D ‘lockup’ bug. I removed the battery and put it back in – no change. I put in a new battery and still no change. I took the lens off and put it back on – no change.
By this time I was growing increasingly agitated and frustrated. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. The camera was not working. It would not attempt to focus and it wouldn’t recognize that a lens was connected. While all of this was happening, Jen didn’t know what was going on. She was having a great time and took some photos of me struggling with my camera system.
I determined that the problem did not occur with other lenses – but I was still baffled because I used the fisheye lens all day yesterday with no problem. Jen suggested that it might be with the temperature.
We departed from the lake and drove over to the Moraine Lake area. I was in a foul mood. After we parked I stayed in the car and played with the camera & lens some more. After further experimentation I was able to determine it to be a problem only when the Sigma 15mm fisheye lens focuses close to the infinity-side of the focus ring. It doesn’t matter if this happens manually or automatically – once it reaches some threshold, the camera says ‘00′ for aperture and refuses to work. It’s a very frustrating symptom but at least there is a bit of a workaround. I won’t be able to determine if it is related to the camera of the lens until I get back home.
Once I had the problem identified I was in a much better mood. We took some photos of Moraine Lake. I decided to get a better view and climbed up to the top of a large rock pile serving as a natural dam for the lake. The view up there was much better. There were a few other photographers up there taking pictures as well.
(Moraine Lake)
The light was good so I set up shop and with my camera securely fastened to the tripod, I took many photos – most of which were ones intended to be stitched together for a panorama.
While I was busying myself with photographing the beautiful scene, another photographer chatted me up. It turns out that he was using the 10D and didn’t even know the 20D was out yet. He commented that I was on the ‘cutting edge’.
Once I finished all of that, I climbed down and re-joined Jen. We began our hike which was for the Consolation Lakes trail. They had some silly restriction in effect that all hikers on that trail must be in tight groups of six or more – something about bears. We didn’t want to wait around to form some lame group so we went ahead anyway by ourselves.
It was a pretty nice trail compared to yesterday. I specifically picked it out because there is only about a 250-foot elevation change, unlike the trail yesterday which had a 3,300-foot elevation change. The trail was pretty level.
Along the first part of the trail, we were in the trees and saw some pretty interesting fungi and moss specimens. We went along a couple of side trails down to the river to see the awesome mountainside speckled with the golden-yellow larch pines.
As we continued, we talked about some of the details of our future together. We talked about Jen and I living together. Jen would move in with me and we would combine our collective assets. She would sell her house. We also talked about wedding plans.
Eventually we made it to Lower Consolation lakes. Strangely no one else was around. The lake area was basically a huge rockslide with little trees. I’m more of a meadow & tree guy myself. Nonetheless it was pretty cool to see all of the huge boulders.
A little while later a large group of people arrived. They were mostly retired-looking people and seemed a bit European. Jen and I ambled along the boulders towards the shore of the lake.
I worked my way alone towards the lake itself. It was cool to climb through all of the huge boulders. I found a spot to climb up on and set up my tripod. Then I took some more pictures of the surrounding lake area. It was still a bit cloudy in certain spots so today wasn’t nearly as good as yesterday weather-wise.
Jen sat about fifty yards away on another boulder and I saw her eating some trail mix. I joined Jen a little while later and the two of us walked back to the beginning of the boulder area.
Another large group arrived and the first group left. We waited a few minutes and then headed back too. We didn’t want to be trailing too close behind this huge group.
Actually we eventually passed them up and crossed with another large group on the way out. I guess most people take this six-person rule pretty seriously.
When we made it back to the trailhead we went down a side trail to an overlook looking out at Moraine Lake. We took some photos and enjoyed the afternoon views. It was pretty nice.
(Jen shot this photo of me looking out over Moraine Lake)
We were both pretty hungry so we stopped at the Lake Louise townsite for lunch. We ate at one of the only places there which was a lounge place. It wasn’t the best, but we were hungry.
Afterwards we drove into Yoho national park towards Takakkaw falls. Jen drove. Along the way we stopped at a place called Spiral Tunnels which is a fascinating train tunnel that spirals through a mountain in order to avoid a steep grade. It wasn’t that much of an interesting sight but it was cool nonetheless.
The falls were pretty impressive. They are glacier-fed, 1,016 feet high falls – the second highest in Canada. Takakkaw is the Cree Indian word for “magnificent”. In late spring they are roaring falls with tons of water. As the snow melts and the weather gets colder in winter, they slow to a near trickle and eventually completely freeze.
We took some photos over here. I made heavy use of my 100mm macro lens. I also, for the first time, used the AI Servo focusing mode to ‘track’ Jen as she walked towards me and photographed her. It kept her in focus the whole time which was great.
Afterwards we drove back towards Banff. We stopped by Vermillion Lakes so I could photograph the lakes in the late afternoon light with the gorgeous mountains as a backdrop. I was pretty excited about this because the lighting was great and I was very excited to photograph this. There were a few other photographers around doing the same thing.
(Me with the tripod & camera over my shoulder)
From there we drove into the Banff townsite and parked in the parking garage. We walked around a bit – looking for a place to eat. We finally decided on a place called ‘Wild Bills‘ and sat on the second floor.
Jen and I ordered a bottle of red wine. It was a cabernet sauvignon from a Canadian vineyard. We also ordered some spinach artichoke appetizer. For dinner, Jen had a soup & salad while I had the baby-back ribs. I wasn’t all that good. I still hold that the baby back ribs from Smokey Bones are the best I’ve ever had.
Nontheless, Jen and I had a wonderful leisurely dinner together. It was nice and relaxing, and we talked about lots of fun things.
(Photo of Jen using Jen’s camera at Wild Bills)
After dinner we walked around town a bit and stopped in some shops. I dragged Jen into a Louis Vuitton store and forced her to look at some of their purses. I wanted to say that I’ve been to a fancy Louis Vuitton store since, after all, they reference it in the rap songs. Strangely, they didn’t have any prices posted. Jen explained that if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
We also went into a bath shop called ‘Lush‘. Jen was excited about this store because she’s bought some bath bombs from them online. Everything smelled nice and was fairly expensive. After this we picked up some postcards and stamps and headed back to Canmore.
Back in our B&B, we showered and relaxed. Jen and I filled out the postcards. I used my cell phone + Bluetooth + grps to check email. I answered a question from a potential eBay bidder. I also checked the weather forecast for tomorrow. It showed tomorrow being sunny so we changed our plans.
Originally tomorrow (Sunday) was forecasted to be fairly rainy so we were going to take it easy and get a late start. Now that the forecast is changed, however, I want to get an early start and do some serious hiking.
