Northern Lights Birds Hill Park

It's been awhile since I have sat in front of my computer.  A trip to Iceland, selling a house, buying a house, moving, a return trip to the Jasper and Banff, a night photography workshop in Pigeon Lake and general laziness have kept me from my computer.  

The much talked about Northern Lights display of the past few nights prompted me to dig out the camera.  Lori and I took the 10 minute drive to Birds Hill Park for some alone time with mother natures light show.  As it turned out we were not alone as there were hundreds of cars parked along the road and in parking lots.  We found a spot relatively free of car lights and people.  I set up the tripod and pointed up while trying to get something in the foreground.  Pretty happy with the results.   

While the northern lights were visible with the naked eye they were generally whiteish grey streaks in the sky with hints of colour however the sensors in the cameras really bring out the colours only faintly visible to the naked eye.  

Edith Ann traded in her chair for a bench.

Some of the equestrian jumps from the '67 Pan Am Games
are still in place.  Made a good foreground.

White Pocket, Part 2

This will be the last of my posts for a few weeks.  We leave for Iceland on May 25 and return June 10.  It's a self driving tour so our accommodations and car rental are taken care of.  We just have to decide what stops we will make during each days journey to our next nights accommodation.  We start with 3 nights in Reykjavik and have booked tours for each day.  We are looking forward to this new adventure.  

Now for the last of the pictures of our White Pocket excursion.  

Kanab, Ut. - White Pocket Hike

After we finished with the Canyon X tour we took a quick trip over to Glen Canyon Dam and then drove over to Kanab, UT.  We had booked a full day excursion to see White Pocket which is located in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.

To get to White Pocket we booked a tour which involved a 2 1/2 hour drive from Kanab up through the pine forests to Jacobs Lake.  Jacobs lake is the gateway to the north rim of the Grand Canyon and the road to the Grand Canyon was still closed due to snow.  

From the elevations of Jacobs Lake we descended to a desert plateau for a long dusty and very rough ride to the White Pocket rock formation and our hike.  I was glad I wasn't driving and that it wasn't my vehicle getting beat up on the roads.  

White Pocket isn't a large area but the many colours in the rocks swirl through the hills making for a beautiful photo experience.  

A pano of Glen Canyon Dam

Our view from one of the few stops
along the way that had facilities.

You may recognize this shot as Apple used it as a
screen saver for one of their OS platforms.

More to come