The clouds dropped deep into the Slocan Valley.
As part of our move to the western end of Canada we stayed for a month in Nelson, BC. Nelson is a pretty little town tucked away on the side of a mountain on the shore of the west arm of Kootenay lake.
A view into Nelson and the sort of famous Big Orange Bridge from the rail trail.
As it was just the start of winter, it can be a challenge to get places to shoot nature. Most travel from Nelson requires traversing at least one mountain pass which can and most likely will have some significant snow and ice and can also be rather treacherous to drive. That being said, these times can result in some spectacular locations for shooting landscapes.
In the East Kootenays there are a number of hot springs that can take the cold out of your bones. One such area in which we managed to get some very pretty shots was at Fairmont Hot Springs in the Eastern Kootenays. This first shot was taken above the old hot springs overlooking the western mountain range as the sun was setting. The steam from the hot springs really seemed to just fit with the clouds both below and above the mountains.
Although this view was pretty amazing, looking behind us showed off some amazing looking mountain peaks. The photo below was taken with some lovely side light hitting the furthest mountain range. I tried to wait for the optimal lower cloud coverage to add in some more depth to the shot but had to temper that with the light disappearing behind the clouds.
Back in the west Kootenays we travelled up the valleys a number of times and found a few interesting locations to shoot. One in particular seemed to be good for Bald eagles along the river edge. With nearly constant cloud inversions isolating the eagles from the background was not difficult at least in some cases. The difficult part was getting just the right amount so that there was some background and not just another high key bird shot.
Moving up the Slocan Valley we stopped at the small town of New Denver. This town is on the eastern side of Slocan Lake with beautiful views in nearly every direction, this view north was pretty amazing. There are so many places to go from New Denver.
North heads to some larger mountains and pretty little mountain lakes, this shot was taken on the edge of Summit lake. East takes you across a pass again towards Kaslo. This is an area we will go back to explore again both in winter and summer.
The area around Nelson itself is beautiful. In the winter it can be rather warm one day and in a few hours you could be wandering through a foot of snow. Beautiful, but even in town where the streets are all on a slope it can be sketchy driving or even walking sometimes. The rail trail above town has some of the most pleasant walks in the area. Of course the picture below shows what that trail can be like after a little heavy snow.
Down closer to the lake we did get to explore Kokanee creek provincial park, at least the lower portion. This pretty park is a good place for hungry bears in spawning season but at this time of year it was just us…at least up at these little falls.
This was a quick view of the Kootenay region from our short time here, my next article will look closer at the wildlife in the area that we were able to see in the area.