Elk Island
A national park in the dead of winter
Andrea and I had some time to kill in Edmonton, so we
figured we would spend the afternoon at
Elk
Island National Park - about an hour east of town. The drive there
is fast - highway all the way. While it was cold out (perhaps
-15°c), it hadn't yet snowed this year so all of the white is
frost. The frost grows different based on how much time is spent
in the the shadows and how exposed the area is.
We drove down to the lake which was frozen thick enough for people to
safely walk on it. Based on how deep we could see bubbles, we
figured the ice was at least 30cm thick. In the distance we could
see skaters riding on the nearly perfect ice surface. At the shore
we could see last years grasses and reeds with a heavy burden of
frost. The sun only barely reached over the horizon.
The ice surface is surprisingly varied. Long cracks, frozen
solid, provide shelter for ice crystals to grow. In other places
shallow bubbles provide a surface that frost can cling to and
develop. The patterns are endless.
Elk Island is actually best know for it's herds of Buffalo. We kept searching for Buffalo (there aren't many
fences), but we didn't see any until we were leaving the park. There at
the side of the road, was a small collection of animals. Andrea drove
by slowly while I took pictures out of the back seat.
Tags: frost(6), safari(3), ice(1), lake(1), shallow depth of field(1), plant(1)
Last Modified Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 00:49:34 Edit
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