Our big trip to Manning Park went South quickly. Monday it started to rain just about 50 Km from Manning. It got worse as we drove on and it stopped as we drove through the gates. It was low overcast and just looked dismal. We headed up to the sub-alpine meadows and the weather cleared a bit. Half way up we stopped at a spot that overlooked the valley and the surrounding mountains and I took some pics but wasn’t hoping for much. With the threat of rain and flat light I thought they would look washed out and they were.
Once we got to the meadows, just below Blackwell Peak ( 2063 Meters – 6768 feet), we discovered that the Bloom was almost finished with the weather being hotter than normal this year. Unfortunately we were about two weeks late. Making the most of it we trudged on watching the rain sweep across the valley. We were about to try and find a place to hunker down when it hit but it was just a light shower for a couple of minutes. We did get some shots and a couple are not bad but nothing like I wanted. About 2:00pm we decided to head back and get into our room at the Manning Park Resort. Just as we pulled the car into the parking lot the heavens opened and it was a deluge. Car to Door was about 30 feet and we were drenched. That was it for the day as it didn’t let up. We decided to take a dip in the pool to dry off and then head out for dinner.
Tuesday it didn’t look much better and it was threatening but it wasn’t raining. We headed out for the Lightning lake area to see if we could get some wildlife shots so the trip wasn’t a total washout. We walked about 10 Km before we decided to we didn’t see a single animal not even a bird. Maybe they knew what was ahead as it started to rain like mad and we took refuge under a pine tree for a while until the storm passed. I did however get a lot of interesting Fungi shots although I have no idea what any of them were. When we got back to the car we started for 20 minute lake but soon decided to just hit the room and cut our losses.
Wednesday it was pouring in the morning and it didn’t really stop until Princeton where we finally found the Old train tunnel under the mountain that was converted for the Trans Canada Trail. We finally got some decent shots and took a bit of a walk to the Tuklemeen river and the old Steel Train Trestle over it. An area we will research a bit and go back to as it’s less than an hour from our house.
When I got home my order of mats and frames was sitting on the porch so I did up some pictures I promised the Grist Mill for their shop. Tomorrow I’ll take them up there and get them displayed.
