Canada Sightems

June Events - Canada  2024

Private Road - Canada  2024

Photos taken on the drive back to the US border. 

Canadian Pacific

Canadian Pacific (Fernie) - Canada  2024

Raining. I think some drops might have gotten on the Canon's lens. I don't recall the makeup of the rest of the train. 

By the way, I just found out that Fernie is located quite close to some open-pit coal mines. Trains travel to west coast ports for the coal to be exported.

Monday Horse Blogging

Horses - Canada  2024

Picturesque Canadian horses in British Columbia.

Lest We Forget

 

Statue (Fernie) - Canada  2024

World War I memorial in front of the Fernie Court House.

More information : Fernie Cenotaph

Fernie Dumpster Art

Dumpster Art (Fernie) - Canada  2024

Dumpster Art (Fernie) - Canada  2024

When I arrived at the town of Fernie it started to rain. 

Rest Area

Truck, Rest Area - Canada  2024

Gravel pull out. There was an RV parked near my car that was idling the whole time I was there.

Signs at Rest Area - Canada  2024

Rain

Road, Rain - Canada  2024

Trees, Mountains, Rain - Canada  2024

Not only rain, but a smattering of hail. 

Canada Sightems

Lumber, Mountains, Snow, Clouds - Canada  2024

Road - Canada  2024

The road north went past pastoral rural scenes, then forested mountainous areas.

Canada

Leaving USA - Montana  2024

Welcome , British Columbia - Canada  2024

I had noticed that Kalispell was fairly close to the Canadian border, so I brought my passport along on the trip, just in case. I decided to travel to Fernie, a small tourist town not that far from the border.

The interrogation at the border was surprisingly robust! (Me: "Oh, I'm just going to drive north for a few hours and take some photos." Her (riffling through my passport): "Well, are you planning on selling any of the photos you take?" Me: "Alas, I don't think so."

Maybe there's some sort of copyright issues on photos taken in Canada. Don't know. In any event I was finally allowed to enter the country.

Monday Horse Blogging

Horse (Kalispell) - Montana  2024

Rural structure just outside the motel's parking lot. Interesting.

Two Medicine Lake

Two Medicine Lake, Mountains, Snow, Clouds - Glacier National Park  2024

Nice pull out spot! I'm pretty sure that, actually, that's "Lower" Two Medicine Lake. Also, I think that the mountain on the right is "Rising Wolf Mountain." Maybe.

Photo taken with a Nikon Z7II / 24-200mm zoom lens, then converted to black and white in Photoshop. Click to enlarge!

Road, Aspens / Fritos & Beer

Road, Aspens - Montana  2024

It was threatening to rain, but it didn't . . . just a few large drops now and then.

I figured it was about time for lunch. Cheese, crackers, and, of course, Fritos and beer! (Korean beer from H-Mart.)

Fritos and Beer - Montana  2024

Aspens (iPhone)

Aspens - Montana  2024

My normal go-to camera for scenic shots was a Nikon Z7II. Sometimes I'd also take an iPhone photo of the same scene. Needless to say, sometimes the iPhone photo looked better, usually due to the composition. Above photo taken with an iPhone 12 Max.

Aspens

Flathead River, Aspens, Hill, Clouds - Montana  2024

Aspens - Montana  2024

The day turned out to be heavily aspen-centric. Some bare, some starting to leaf out.

No, not as spectacular as autumn aspens, but still quite nice.

Flathead River / Meadow, Aspens, Snow

Flathead River, Trees, Clouds - Montana  2024

Meadow, Aspens, Mountains, Snow - Montana  2024

So, the second day exploring the Glacier National Park area. This time I was driving east, away from yesterday's main entrance visit, on Highway 2, paralleling a fork of the Flathead River. 

Right away my route was way more scenic. Yay!

Downtown Kalispell

Cowgirls (Kalispell) - Montana  2024

Antiques (Kalispell) - Montana  2024

After my morning visit to Glacier National Park (the eastern entrance), which, to be honest, wasn't all that great, I decided to check out downtown Kalispell. Took some photos, but didn't see anything all that special. 

There's a nice modern Starbucks there, so that's something.

Monday Geese Blogging (Idaho Falls)

Geese (Idaho Falls) - Idaho  2024

Seen across from my motel enjoying themselves on manicured lawns, Snake River in the background.

Mountain, Snow, Lake McDonald - Glacier NP

Mountain, Snow, McDonald Creek - Glacier National Park  2024

Lake McDonald - Glacier National Park  2024

A nice view upstream towards this unknown mountain (unknown to me, anyways). 

Lake McDonald is pretty large, so it's puzzling why I had trouble finding it. I finally had to ask a traffic control person, who directed me down a paved road where the lake was visible through the trees. After a short walk I scrambled down an embankment to take this photo. A little hazy that day, but luckily Photoshop has a Haze Filter.

As I was leaving the Lake McDonald area I was able, once again, to run into a substantial traffic delay.

Aspens, Pine Branches - Glacier NP

Aspens - Glacier National Park  2024

Pine Branches, McDonald Creek - Glacier National Park  2024

Once I left the popular trailhead area I drove back down losing both elevation and the crowds. There were pull outs were one could enjoy the river on one side and aspens on the other.

Traffic, Glacier National Park

Lane Striping - Montana  2024

Parking Lot, Visitor Center - Glacier National Park  2024

My first visit to Glacier National Park featured lots of traffic delays. At the beginning, there was a backup due to lane striping taking place. Went on for quite some time.

Then, inside the park: road construction featuring multiple one-lane closures. Not fun.

The visitor center itself was nicely uncrowded, though. I talked with a ranger about solo hiking in the park (had read that solo hiking wasn't advisable due to bears). She said that if one was normally comfortable with solo hiking that it shouldn't be a problem. Her experience with bear spray: she had it out of its holster once - but hadn't had to use it. By the way - bear spray is expensive, around $50 per canister. In the end I didn't do any hiking in the park.

The Going-To-The-Sun road hadn't been cleared yet, which I expected. But you could drive up to where it was closed, which I did. Alas, it was a mob scene up there. It seemed that, although the park was relatively uncrowded in May, a lot of the visitors that were there were trying to park somewhere, anywhere at the end of the road. So I turned around and escaped downwards.

Kalispell Motel

Motel Window View (Kalispell) - Montana  2024

Toyota, Recycle Plant (Kalispell) - Montana  2024

Usually the motels I visit are located on the outskirts of towns. Not this one though. (As far as I could see, there isn't a "motel row" in Kalispell.)

 A large recycle plant was situated on the other side of the motel parking lot . . . lots of noise and little pieces of fluff floating in the air. A big Volkswagen dealership on the other side.

I was able to do a few early morning walks though.

Morning Walk (Kalispell) - Montana  2024

North through Montana - 6

Grass, Snow, Mountains, Clouds - Montana  2024

This is the final entry in the "North through Montana" series. Unless I find some more hidden in my May, 2024 files. Another Nikon Z7II black and white conversion.

Later in the afternoon I got caught up in some road repair delays and finally made it into Kalispell and the Best Western motel there.

North through Montana - 5

Mountains, Rain, Clouds - Montana  2024

Ranch Buildings, Horse, Mountains - Montana  2024

Photos were taken within a few minutes of another. These photos were taken with a Nikon Z7II, which at one point was Nikon's top-rated camera. (Now there's a Z8 and a Z9.)

I must say that the files do very well when converting the original color to black and white.

Monday Cow Blogging

Cows - Montana  2024

Seen from a side road that I was directed to by Google Maps. I slowed down, rolled down the passenger window and took this photo with a Canon G5XII. 

The side roads were supposed to get me to my destination faster, but then there were more photo ops. So, probably not faster at all.

Google Maps on iPhone - Montana  2024

North through Montana - 4

Church (Avon) - Montana  2024

Shed, Hills, Clouds - Montana  2024

Top photo: Avon, Montana. "Avon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Powell County, Montana, United States. The population was 124 at the 2000 census."

All photos were taken in color, of course. But a fairly large percentage of my Montana photos seem to do better in black and white. As always, click to enlarge.

North through Montana - 3

Fence, Rain, Snow - Montana  2024

Cows, Hills, Clouds - Montana  2024

Probably the most dramatic day of the trip, weather-wise. I took a random I-15 off-ramp for the top photo. Raining! I had to dig around in the back seat duffels for my parka. Cold, too.

Same thing (random off-ramp) for the next photo. Had some annoying telephone wires that I had to take out.

North through Montana - 2

Mountain, Clouds, Snow - Montana  2024

View from the Divide rest stop off of I-15. I scrambled up a grassy slope in back of the rest area to take this photo.

Wake Up America

Wake Up America - Montana  2024

Signs seen on the way to Glacier National Park. To be honest, one could most likely find similar signs in California. I had thought that I'd see a lot more political signs than I did.

North through Montana - 1

I-15 North, Rain Clouds - Montana  2024

Fence, Hills, Clouds - Montana  2024

I-15 starts in California and ends in Montana. Leaving Idaho Falls I drove north on I-15, entering Montana at Monida Pass, crossing the Continental Divide. Huh. Interesting! I saw the sign as I sped past, so no photo. But there's a Google street view photo available:

Continental Divide - Montana (Google)