When planning last month’s visit to Alberta, one of my best friends, Jaki Good Miller, and I decided to head out early and see some spots in southern Alberta. Our initial plan was to visit Waterton Lakes National Park, which borders Glacier National Park in Montana. I had been there in 2006, but that was when my photography skills were not what they are now. Unfortunately, Waterton had a massive fire in September 2017. When I checked conditions in April, it was clear that the park was still not ready for our visit.
Thanks to fellow photographer Philip Kuntz’s amazing photos of the area south of Canmore, we had already planned to spend a couple of days in that area. We simply decided to stay a bit longer now that Waterton was out of the picture. I remember Philip referring to the area, Kananaskis County, as little Banff and he was spot on. From Canmore, we headed south on Route 742. It is a full day’s drive to its end if you stop and take photos, which we did many, many times. The road passes through Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park, Spray Valley Provincial Park, and Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. We decided to head back on the Kananaskis Trail , which is a highway that provides a much quicker return to Canmore. Along the way, we saw some amazing scenery and just had to stop for this road shot.