Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Mt. Yamnuska

All three photos posted this morning were taken yesterday, 28 June 2016, when I went with friends, Dorothy and Stephen, to Bow Valley Provincial Park They are leading a day trip out there in the near future and wanted to do a dry run and very kindly invited me to go with them. These mountains are the first ones you come to, when you drive westwards from Calgary. Mt. Yamnuska, the mountain ridge on the right, is a spectacular sight, and very popular with rock-climbers and hikers. I've never hiked up there - and am never likely to : ) The flat area at the foot of these mountains is Bow Valley Provincial Park, very popular with botanists and birders. It is less than an hour's drive west from Calgary. The view from this particular spot is so beautiful - my favourite view in Bow Valley Provincial Park. We stood for a while and soaked it all in. This Many Springs trail is perhaps the most rewarding in the park. On the way out of the park, we stopped at Middle Lake and walked down the path as far as the lake. We were horrified at how low the water level was - we had seen the same thing at Many Springs, too. We saw a reasonably good variety of wildflowers, including Western Wood Lilies, Yellow Lady's-slippers, Sticky False Asphodel, and lots of Gaillardia. Though the end of June is usually the best time to go for the wildflowers, you still never know what you will find. We barely had a spring this year, it was so hot and so dry, more like summer. Birds were much harder to find, even though we heard them. There were quite a few small birds flitting about, but our best sightings were of a brightly coloured male Yellow Warbler and some kind of flycatcher near the boardwalk at Many Springs. Both were on the move constantly, though I did manage to get a few less-than-good photos. One of my Warbler shots made me smile when I saw it on my computer. The bird was perched, with a beak full of insects, right next to a large spider's web. Kind of robbing ones neighbour. The weather forecast for yesterday mentioned the risk of thunderstorms, but we were so lucky. The sun shone all day and the sky was full of puffy clouds. Once our visit was over and we were ready to drive back to Calgary, a bit of rain did arrive. Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for such an enjoyable day! It was a real treat to go to the mountains, as I so rarely go. www.albertaparks.ca/bow-valley-pp/ The link below is a map showing the turn off to the park and the layout of the lake areas. The roads at the junction with highway 1A are quite confusing! x-powered.com/camping/maps/BowValleyPP_Map.gif

I was about to turn off my computer a short while ago, when I suddenly decided to post my "daily three" photos instead (12:45 am). My alarm clocks will be set for about 4:45 am, as I have a very early, half-day trip outside the city tomorrow. This is to someone's private property, where we have been several times over the last few years. The photo above was taken yesterday, 21 May 2015, on a very last-minute, totally unexpected trip out to Bow Valley Provincial Park. By 11:00 pm the previous evening, I still wasn't sure if I was going to be ready in time and also because I had only had about an hour and a half the sleep the night before that, I wasn't sure if I could manage it. The thought of going out there on a beautiful, sunny day was just too tempting and, after less than three hours sleep that night, I was up and ready to go the next morning. If I hadn't gone, I would have missed a new flower find (not by me) as well as a beautiful Morel mushroom, and I know I would have been so disappointed. The five friends I went with are all specialists in their fields of fungi, lichens, mosses and liverworts, so not only did they enjoy our day, but I did, too. They also know the flowers and birds of Alberta and so many other things, too. The view in the above photo shows my favourite view in the park.

The view from this particular spot is so beautiful - perhaps my favourite view in Bow Valley Provincial Park. We stood for a while and soaked it all in. The mountain ridge in the centre is Mt. Yamnuska, a popular place for rock climbers. Not sure whether I like this effect or not, but thought I'd use a different setting on my camera for a few of the shots. Depending on the subject, this setting can be quite effective, but I'm not sure about this one, ha. Maybe it looks a little like HDR, of which I am not really a fan. Two days ago, 20 July 2014, I plucked up courage to do this drive that I’d never done before. I had been that route once before that I can think of, when I carpooled with others. A good part of the drive was in familiar territory, but I’d never driven the last part of the journey myself. I had met my daughter at 9:00 a.m. and we were both eager to see a display of birds of prey that had been brought up from the Coaldale Birds of Prey Centre. We came across Dee (rockymtnchick) and her partner, there to see the owls. Great to see you both! This year, there were fewer birds, but it was great to see any at all. This year, there was a Burrowing Owl, a Barn Owl, the beautiful Great Horned Owl in the above photo, and a Golden Eagle. Another real treat that was an amusing one, was seeing a baby Barn Owl that was just 45 days old! This little ball of fluff was acting as a great ambassador, letting young kids get a close view and ask questions, and fall in love with it – and to hopefully, in the future, do everything they can as adults to protect our precious wildlife. The enjoyment of seeing these birds up close reminds one that the reason these birds are not free to live in the wild, is because of some kind of interaction with humans – such as permanent injuries from being hit by a vehicle, pesticide use, or even worse, being shot by a human! This is what happened to “Spirit”, the magnificent Golden Eagle, shot and blinded by someone. This exhibit was our first destination in the park, though on the drive from Calgary, we had stopped at the small McDougall Church at Morley (one of the photos posted yesterday). After seeing and photographing the birds of prey, we then drove to Middle Lake that’s in a different part of the park. We walked the very short distance to the edge of the lake, but didn’t walk around it. From there, we drove to Many Springs Trail where this photo was taken, and did a very slow walk around the lake, stopping to look at different flowers and photograph a few butterflies. Though slow, it was still further than I should have walked. Certain wildflowers were already finished, including various Orchid species, but there were still plenty of other species to see and enjoy. Even the weather cooperated, though the forecast had been for isolated showers. Not too hot, nice clouds in the sky and lovely to have my daughter’s company for the day. Thanks so much to the people down at the Coaldale Bird of Prey Centre (near Lethbridge, down towards the Canada/US border) for bringing your gorgeous birds of prey for us to see! I have been south to the Centre three times I think, and always long to go back again, but it's not somewhere I can drive to, so this was a much-appreciated treat!

Another view taken a week ago, when I was lucky enough to go to Bow Valley Provincial Park for the day. This area is called Many Springs and the mountain on the right side of the image is Mt. Yamnuska, popular with climbers. These mountains form the far eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains.

A handful of us hiked this area all day yesterday and, as you can see, we were blessed with glorious weather. Bow Valley Provincial Park is a wonderful wetland area along the very eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, and is known for it's great variety of wildflowers. The mountain peak in the centre of the photo is Mount Yamnuska, a popular ridge with rock climbers. Got my car back this afternoon and am now $836 poorer! So relieved to have it back in time to go and buy much-needed food ready for a strenuous hike tomorrow. Temperatures are supposed to hit 31C tomorrow, so I know the hike is going to be really tough going, especially as I hate the heat. However, there will be some new plants up there that I have never seen before, so I HAVE to go : )

This is where I spent the evening of the Summer Solstice! We walked around Manysprings pond, looking for all sorts of plants. It is such a beautiful wetland area at the foot of the eastern edge of the mountains, very rich in flora and fauna.

Another view out at Bow Valley Provincial Park, taken on a walk during the Summer Solstice. The rocky mountain in the distance is Mt. Yamnuska, a popular rock climbing site.

The Bow Valley Provincial Park is a superb place to go, especially in early summer. There is such a huge variety of wildlfowers, including various orchids such as the Yellow lady's-slipper. The mountain in the centre of the photo is Mt. Yamnuska, popular with rock-climbers. These mountains are the very first ones that one comes to on the drive from Calgary to the Rockies.