Our photo outing had originally been planned to Chester Lake in the Spray Lake Valley, but due to grizzly bear activity this trail had been closed, so the Photo Outing Committee decided to change locations and hike the Ptarmigan Cirque trail at the top of the Highwood Pass.
The morning started out early, leaving at 6:00 am from Cochrane. The drive out to the pass was incredible with clear skies, a black bear and coyote sighting along the way. We arrived at the pass to a lovely warm summer morning and readied ourselves for the 250m assent to the meadows of Ptarmigan Cirque.
When we arrived at the top, we were greeted with meadows of yellow lilies and white crocuses. If you got down on your knees to take a closer look there where so many other varieties of wildflowers in colours that ranged from white to scarlet red. There were waterfalls that had lush green moss around the rocks that made for a photographer’s paradise.
Once at the top of the alpine meadows our group quickly dispensed and folks enjoyed photographing what they found to be captivating. There were several different lens used. Several folks had macro lens, but there were also wide angle and even telephoto lens that were also used during the hike. Folks experimented with different apertures, everything from f2.8 up to f22, as well as many variations of shutter speeds.
We had our lunch by one of the waterfalls and then made our way down the mountain. It was an incredible day, just the right temperature and very little wind.
We hope that you enjoy some of the photos that our group took.
Hope to see you on our next photo outing to the Dinosaur Provincial Park in the latter part of August. This outing will be led by Pat Johnston, the club’s past president.