MikeLastPhoto

Spent last weekend just off Georgian Bay in beauty Collingwood. Drove up mid day Friday for a two night stay at the Weston Trillium Resort. Perfect sunny day when we arrived, should have known it wouldn’t last. Grabbed some Creemore’s and got settled into our room, spec’d out what to do during our stay. I was hoping to get a day of downhill mountain biking in, but that wasn’t to be. Woke up Saturday morning to a thick fog and light mist, but electric greens in the trees. The bike trails were closed so the hiking boots were on and F-Stop Satori was loaded up. Decided on the Cascade Trail as it was the closest trail head to the hotel. Lucky guess for sure. Only passed one other person on the trail, but awesome water flows the whole way down. The thick fog made for some awesome photos the whole way up and on the summit. Note for anyone hiking Blue… free rides down the Gondola if you hike to the top.

On the road home from Blue, decided to take the long way and check out Eugenia Falls. Not many vantage points of the falls from the top that don’t include trees. Time for some rock climbing lessons so I can get to the bottom.

Enjoy.

There is a selection of 25 images from my recent trip to Wyoming.

Some notes about this trip and the photos.

Lodging – The Four Seasons in Teton Village is unreal. That is a level of service I have never before experience.
Meals – Had amazing dinners in 3 places. First, the Snake River Grill in the town of Jackson. Order the pork shank, no question. Second, the Roadhouse Barbecue just outside the Teton Village. Order the baby back ribs and be amazed. Quality ribs smoked for 2 hours, poached in beer for another 2 hours, then grilled to perfection. The final choice was The Peak Restaurant actually located at the base of the mountain. Amazing 14oz Bison steak.
Wildlife – I will agree that there was an abundance of wildlife to be found in the parks. Usually it isn’t too hard to spot as most people have stopped their cars and there are huge traffic jams of people with their dinky point and shoots trying to get an elk photo 500 yards away. So they move closer and closer in, kids yelling and screaming, and the animal disappears back in the forest. This cycle repeats itself. The only animals who don’t give a shit are the bison. They could care less and prefer to wander in the middle of the road creating a huge traffic jam. On my final day, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to try and catch some large rack male moose in the swamps of Grand Teton NP. After waiting for an hour and a half… not one. Thems be the breaks of a nature photographer. Apparently the morning before there were so many you were tripping over them. Efff.
People – There are certainly some characters to be found on any road trip. Highlights of this trip include: the couple renewing their wedding vows after 50 years, the ever present child who swarms to me and decides to throw rocks into the water two feet beside me while I’m shooting in that water, and the old guy forced to take care of his two miniature dogs.

Enjoy.

On my quest to get all sorts of photos I would never see in Ontario, I took an evening hike up to Cecret (or Secret) Lake in the Albion Basin at Alta. An awesome spot, and the hike up is only 30 minutes and fairly easy to do.

I knew something was up when the parking lot was full at 6pm on a Tuesday night. Turns out there were a lot of people up there already, or on their way up. Not ideal for shooting landscape photos, but it was only 30 minutes, no big loss. I was sure as the sun started setting, people would be heading home.

On the way up, I heard rushing water coming from the side of the trail… gotta check it out. Snow in July, Utah is awesome for that.

Another 10 minutes from that spot and I’d made it to the top. Turns out there was a god damn frenzy of people up there. Little kids screaming at the top of their lungs, middle-aged women with bottles of wine, teenagers throwing rocks at the water… all the good stuff you need for landscape photos. So here I am standing on a small rock in the lake, when some kid asks me to move so he can catch salamanders. Hmm… ok, I’ll indulge this for a few minutes. I ask him to watch out for the camera. No such luck… child starts bumping into my lens and almost knocks the tripod and camera in to the lake. Wicked. Alright kid, I’m Kenny Powers, and you’re fuckin’ out!

Thanks for getting outta the way, back to making some bangers.

People finally left, so I hiked up higher to catch the sunset as it was going down over the mountains.

And time for the road home with a bit of sun left in the sky.

Finally, I passed a bull moose and a family of 3 deer on the way home, but the light was gone. I guess I’ll have to visit them another day.

Just a leftover from the Rocky Mouth Falls visit the other day. Definitely a cool place to check out. Updated blog templates, website is coming along and trying to get it out as soon as I can… Moab in a few days with the girlfriend. Should be a photo op or two involved.

Another day, another hike… this time was up Rocky Mouth Trail to the Rocky Mouth Falls. Definitely a cool place to check out but be warned, there seem to be a lot of butterflies and hornets around and a few beer cans in the stream. Not sure what that’s about. The falls are definitely cool though.

The third one is actually from a 45 minute hike above the waterfall. I was trying to find some way to get to the top of the falls and look down on them, but this mountain just kept climbing up, so I shot a panorama instead looking over Sandy and Draper down below.