The mountains at sunrise

This photo was taken at 6:47 a.m. on 28 August 2014, the last morning of a three-day trip down south of Calgary, with friends, Cathy and Terry. The first two days were spent in Waterton Lakes National Park We were up and ready to leave very early on the third morning, as we wanted to do a long drive eastwards before driving all the way back to Calgary. It's roughly a three-hour drive directly from Waterton to Calgary. Before leaving the park, we took a short drive part way along one of the roads within the park, the Chief Mountain Highway, from where we caught the end of the sunrise. The mountains and clouds looked so beautiful, bathed in pink. Waterton village (or hamlet?), where we spent the two nights at the Bear Mountain Motel, is some distance off to the left of the photo.

Little did we know that this was such a different sight from the one we were to encounter late in the afternoon, when we saw a menacing cloud approaching and bringing with it a mesocyclone! We were soon engulfed by it when it came down to ground level, bringing pounding hail and tremendously strong winds.

During three days away (26, 27 and 28 August 2014), we saw so many things, including breathtaking scenery, 4 Black Bears (including one that was swimming in the lake), Bison, Deer, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, various bird species including endangered Burrowing Owls (way east of Waterton, on our last day), a few wildflowers, several Yellow-bellied Marmots (a first for me, and also way east of Waterton Park!), a few different insect species, and a family of Dusky Grouse that are uncommon in the park. I even got the chance to see three or four new-to-me old, wooden grain elevators. Definitely a great trip!