Any good places in Alberta? Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise

I'm going to Calgary to visit my family. Does anyone know of good places for

photos in Alberta? I've only heard of Banff and Lake Louise. Thanks.

There are many more. Continue from Lake Louise up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper National Park and Jasper Alberta. The road is a photographers dreamland. It takes you directly to photo ops on both sides of the road. It was built for tour buses with sighseeing in mind. You could easily spend anywhere from 5 days to two to three weeks on this trip. When are you going to be doing this trip? How much time do you have? Then the experts can give you better advice. Joe Smith

Fieval, buy a copy of the latest Frommer's or Fodor's guide to the Alberta and the

Canadian Rockies if you need some help with basic info. Either will do the trick. You'll

definitely have no problems finding somethng to point your camera at. You'll find some

great shots in downtown Calgary. Banff and Lake Louise are world-renowned tourist

destinations for a reason! At Lake Louise walk along the shore of the lake and then leave

the crowds behind and walk up the Plain of Six Glaciers trail to the tea house overlooking

the Death Trap- incredible views along the way. On the way back take the trail to Agnes

Lake and another tea house. The next day ride out to Moraine Lake and walk up to the

Larch Valley and Sentinel Pass. (You do need to join a group of at least six walkers for

this because of the bear sightings in the neighbourhood.) Back in Lake Louise, go to the

Gondola which takes you to the top of Whitehorn Mountain for awesome panoramic views

of the Bow valley. Back near Calgary maybe stay for the Stampede (talk about photo ops

there!) or drive out to the Badlands and the Drumheller Dinosaur Museum. Wow. Lucky

you...point and shoot!

I'm in Calgary now. In the city, the zoo, inglewood bird sanctuary, fish creek park, umm... not sure which others really stand out in my mind. I'm actually getting a little bored of fish creek myself, or at least my end of it, specially since the flood took out the bridges making it a little hard to get to other sections. I also don't feel like dealing with mud. Maybe nose hill park. There's some good sites along the bow river.

 

For non-nature things, there's 1988 olympics facilities, devonian gardens is pretty. I'm not really sure what else to recommend. Down town core of any city is usually interesting. Compared to other cities, our china town really isn't that exciting.

 

Around Calgary, I pretty much agree with the sites already listed. I'd add Kananaskis to the list for sure. It's a good portion of the scenary in brokeback mountain.

 

Other stuff I'm not to sure about if I wasn't going to spend a lot of time here. Writing on stone provinicial park sounds interesting. I haven't been there, but the name sums it up. It's a world heritage site. Head smashed in buffalo jump might be worth a look. The scenary there doesn't hold much meaning to people who haven't toured the museum, or hunted buffalo with a cliff. It's a good museum if you're interested in that sort of stuff. If you're really intent on driving around, west edmonton mall is worth checking out simply for the variety of things all under one roof. Mackay's ice cream shop is kind of interesting for the number of people around holding ice cream. I wouldn't go out of my way for that. There's also ice cream there. There's a bunch of star trek stuff in Vulcan. It's pretty tacky. If you're willing to go a bit further, there's Cody Caves in the BC side of the rockies. There's also a wolf preserve not too far from alberta that might be worth a side trip. I can't remember the name at the moment.

There is an African wildlife refuge near Edmonton. I don't remember any of the details, though.

Are you kidding? The place is great! It's one of those regions where it's hard to go wrong. The icefields are my personal favorite.

 

 

Kent in SD

Anyone know of any photo guides for Jasper NP? I've been planning to go there for a while;

maybe 2008 will finally be the time.

 

Thanks.

OK everybody. Since no one uses the Search facility, here is a shortcut for you. Go to this web site and check out all of his Canadian Rockies images and his book. Guide to Photographing the Canadian Rockies. I used it as my guide in 2005. http://www.darwinwiggett.com/main.html

 

Mt Edith Cavell near Jasper is one is the most fantastic places I have ever been to.

 

Joe Smith

Here is a list of the places you should go to on your way to Jasper:

 

BANFF NATIONAL PARK

Mt Norquay Drive

Cascade Ponds

Bow River Falls

Tunnel Mountain Road

Vermilion Lakes--at end of day and at sunrise

 

BOW RIVER PARKWAY

Muleshoe Picnic area

Hillsdale Meadows

Pilot Pond

Johnston Canyon

Castle Mountain Bridge

 

LAKE LOUISE

Moraine Lake

Larch Valley Trail

Lake Louise

 

ICEFIELDS PARKWAY

Herbert Lake

Bow Lake (at sunrise) and

Simpson?s Num-Ti-Jah Lodge

Peyto Lake Viewpoint

Waterfowl Lakes

Columbia Icefield -Athabasca Glacier

Beauty Creek and falls

Sunwapta Falls

Athabasca Falls

 

JASPER NATIONAL PARK

Pyramid Lake

Patricia Lake

Medicine Lake

Maligne Lake

Athabasca River views

Maligne Canyon and bridges

Maligne River

Mt. Edith Cavell

Cavell Glacier

Angel Glacier

Highway 16 views

 

Joe Smith

Head south on Highway 2 towards the US border

 

Nanton - Lancaster Museum, its right on the highway as you drive through town

 

Fort McLeod, Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, just off highway, then Fort Museum again right on the highway, downtown Fort McLeod. Check to see if any PowWows on in the area Then Highway 3 to

 

Lethbridge - High Level Bridge, Japanesse Gardens, University of Lethbridge, then Highway 4 south to

 

Milk River - Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park, Sweetgrass Hills, then Secondary Highway 501 west through Del Bonita to

 

Cardston - Mormen Temple, then through Mountain View to

 

Waterton/Glacier International Peace Park - Prince of Wales Hotel, Red Rock Canyon, Cameron Lake, Crypt Lake, Chief Mountain

 

Road to Pincher Creek from Waterton - IMHO one of the top three beautiful drives in the World.

 

Forestry Trunk Road up through the Kananaskis,.

 

That gives you a circle tour that has a mix of scenery from windswept plains, through foothills, and mountains. Two world heritage sites, lots of history, and you don't have to drive miles to get away from the crowds anywhere along the way. YOu could do it in a day of hard driving - but you could also take the rest of your life in the area and still not see everything.

 

Depending on time of year - you should be able to catch a rodeo and or a Pow Wow somewhere along the drive.

Hi Fievel,

When are you visiting and for how long? I know the first thing that pops in everyones mind is Banff and Jasper, however we sure have a lot more up here. If you looking for something really different come down to Dinosaur Provincial Park. You can google a web site for them. Great bus tours and mindblowing landscape. The badlands are truly amazing. My two cents.

Jeff

Wow, thanks so much guys!! I'll try to go to as many areas suggested as possible. I've got 3 weeks.

I'm there from April 20 to May 13

The road to Mt. Edith Cavell near Jasper will probably still be closed. I do not know if the Icefield Parkway will be open. With three weeks, I would definitely give it a try. If you rent a car, get one that will work well in snow. Just outside of Banff, Vermillion Lakes is just a photo dreamworld in almost any kind of lighing conditions. You have water, mountains, clouds and light all about five miles from Banff. When you drive to Lake Louise from Banff, take the old highway. There is more to see along it than the faster highway. Check out these pictures. They will give you an idea of what you will be seeing when you get there: http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/photos/Canadian_Rockies/index.htm

 

Joe Smith

I have a fairly detailed account, linked below, of many of the places in this region with possibly the most pictures in one place, which should assist to serve as a guide for anyone's travels as well. Darwin's book is certainly the only thing you need a hard copy of.

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<a href="http://www.mycolorado.org/canada_2005/canada_05.html">http://www.mycolorado.org/canada_2005/canada_05.html</a>

Both Jasper and Banff are amazing..buy Darwin Wigget's book for a guide - exceptional.

Also, another tip - go to Mt Robson Park - just outside Jasper - pretty cool place - not too many photographers. Also try Yoho national park - all these places are amazing. I spent a week there in 2005 and was blessed with many photo ops - see my portfolio. I can share any specific of locations if you want