Banff National Park is Canada’s smaller sister park to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies. But don’t be fooled by its smaller size. It’s packed with many unbelievably beautiful and photogenic natural landforms, mountains, lakes, glaciers, rivers, streams and the one of a kind Columbia Icefield. The Columbia Icefield is comprised of a series of glaciers collectively embedded in the Canadian Rockies and covering 125 square miles. The Icefield spans the distance from Jasper National Park down to Banff National Park. These two parks are connected by highway via the Icefields Parkway which is 143 miles long.
When I visited the many iconic lakes in Banff National Park I learned about how the water in these lakes often has a unique cloudy, greenish-bluish tone. This color is created by the presence of what the Canadians’ call “Rock Flour” in the water. Rock Flour is finely powdered rock particles formed when glaciers grind on the bedrock below. The rock flour suspends itself in the water and creates that greenish- bluish tint.
This phenomenon is definitely worth photographing at lakes like Lake Louise and Emerald Lake, which is actually in nearby Yoho National Park.. Also worth capturing each lake’s panoramic landscape revealing its expansive width and narrowing in the distance towards its own glacier which feeds the lake with the greenish- bluish tinted “Rock Flour” water. At Vermillion Lakes the water was clear and still like glass when I visited them at sunset. This created reflections on the water’s surface of the mountains and tree line along the shore that were extremely vivid and colorful. Photographing the Vermillion Lakes was a meditative experience as it was so quiet, calm and peaceful lakeside, all the while with the mountains reflecting their beauty.
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