Fall in the Mountains

As in Saskatoon, autumn has arrived in the mountains. There is snow on the peaks, and not just the peaks. Although there was no snow in Banff there was plenty on top of Tunnel Mountain.



Fall wasn't quite as far along in the Columbia Valley but the cool rainy weather in the valley was also leaving snow on the peaks. We're hoping to squeeze in a few last paragliding flights but that will depend whether the weather gods favor us. We hiked up Mt. Swansea to check out the launch. You can drive almost to the top but the road is borderline with our zero clearance Prius. And besides, we needed the exercise. However, we could have lived without the rain. We didn't linger on top!



The next day, waiting for the weather to improve, we went for a walk on the Old Coach Road near Dry Gulch.





I noticed a dragonfly on the ground. It looked intact but wasn't moving so I wasn't sure if it was dead or not. But it struggled when I picked it up, so I guess it was just cold and wet. (Thanks to Shelley for holding it while I took photos.)



It had an interesting purple pattern on its abdomen.



For something to do in the rain, we drove up to Panarama. In a brief spell of sunshine I took a bunch of photos of the fast flowing water in the creek, alternating between a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion:





and a slow shutter speed to smooth it out:





See all 15 photos