Day 20 ~ Thursday 10th September, 2015

Up very early and checked out of the hotel in Valemount at 4.30am. I was in the foyer with the gear by 4am. Tim and a couple of the boys were just leaving at 4.20am to head to Mt Robson to do a 4km hike up to a small lake for sunrise.

Chris and the rest of us left the hotel at 4.45am in a mad rush, again for Mt Robson, but the carpark for the epic shot I saw yesterday whilst visiting the toilet at the information centre.

Drove an hour to get to the carpark only to find it very clouded in and raining. So we had a nanna-nap in the car for an hour and once sunrise actually happened and we still couldn't see Mt Robson we left and headed back towards Jasper - damn, should have got the shot when I went to the toilet the day before!

Jasper for breakfast once again and waiting for Tim and the boys to come down into radio/phone range. It took a fair while – a good couple of hours. They were going to do their own thing of course, so we all decided that as we are heading back to Canmore, that we'd take our time stopping along the Icefields Parkway, but wanted to check into the hotel right on time.

We travelled with Brad and Elise, and Elise was flying out tonight to head back to Vancouver to photograph a wedding, so we didn't want to be too late.

We weren't too far along the road when Elise spotted a large Elk Buck grazing on grass on the side of the road.  I don't have to tell you that we stopped instantly and 10,000 photos were taken.  We got closer and closer to him.  We didn't want to get too close as they are in rut at the moment, so are quite aggressive, but this boy seemed to be ok with us around.

Of course we had to stop to take the odd road shot!

After a few stops along the way and a few laughs and a few nann-naps (for those who weren't driving), we checked back into the Ramada in Canmore, and settled in.

This was the gorge back at Horsehoe Lake

Mount Athabasca

We were sorting out our gear when Steve asked me if I had seen his big expensive 200mm lens? No, I hadn't and then I had a bad sinking feeling.

Yep – Steve had left it in the foyer of the Best Western Hotel in Valemount. OMFG – this thing is worth $8k !! This is what happens when you are rushed, and sleep deprived. It is our fault, no question, but we are now 4hours drive+ away.

So a few phone calls to the hotel and to Greyhound to see if we could get it freighted down, but it was ridiculous – 40mins spent on the phone waiting for the transport company just to take our call. Frustration and anger set in (not good when you've been averaging 4hrs sleep a day). So not that we wanted to, but now we are driving back to Vancouver, via Valemount. Its a good 800km detour to our other plan and it will make us loose a day….but it doesn't matter – just as long as we get the lens and better still we get to see the Icefields Parkway one more time. I might even get those carpark shots from Mt Robson after all!! (pray for a lovely day)!!

As we were all disjointed and half the group didn't have phone connection we just did our own thing. Right on sunset Steve and I headed up a hill that took us towards Swift Lakes – we didn't go that far and settled on a small pondage with reflections of the local mountain (one of them anyway).

The weather had been clearing up the closer we got to Canmore, so by sunset we had gone from rain to blue skies. We were so excited….. but was there any colour? No – not without clouds there isn't. Oh, sorry, I do lie. There was amazing colour in the sky – but not in the direction we were shooting (of course!) LOL So we stayed a while anyway, and took heaps of photos of the lake reflections.

We were shattered and quite happy to grab a meal on our own and get back for an early night, but we still weren't back in bed until midnight again as we had to get dinner and they took their time serving us. It didn't matter – we were in a very comfy bed in a hotel with hot running water and I could use my hairdryer in the morning – I was happy, if just a little sleep deprived!