Sunday, October 22, 2017

Eagles Nest Trail

The second destination of our day (after Burnstown) was the Eagles Nest Trail, near Calabogie. Twelve years here, and I had only heard about it twice: once from a Flickr contact and once from a FB friend. Even after receiving my first heads-up, it took me a few years to get around to it.

It's not that far away, around an hour or so, you have to wonder why it took us so long to get here.

We hit the trail, but the going wasn't easy. As might be expected, the path inclined upward, but it was also very rocky, and old lame-footed AC had to tread carefully. This first photo shows the rockiness somewhat, but it was also covered with leaves, which makes the path look less rugged than it was. The colours, however, were pretty grand.



There were a number of pools that we had to skirt around, but I tried to make photographic use of them.




After about 20 minutes we found little inukshuks on a rock edge, and Sue added to the collection.




It was time to go up to the lookout, and the path got steeper and rockier, even quite a bit more so than in this picture at the beginning of the ascent. But Sue took time out to post a pic to FB.



Almost there, but more climbing to do. The patch of darker blue in the sky was a result of having my polarizer on and it having a bad effect in this case. It's how you are angled to the sun and so on and so forth. Looking at the slope and the rock, you can imagine how my foot was protesting at this point.



I got up there near the edge, but with a foot that I can't trust as well as a touch of vertigo, I didn't get too close, so the resulting photos won't be as grand as possibly. Sadly.



Two shots from that spot, the first being a stitched pano. It was quite the view, but I couldn't get the best sightlines because I had to stay back from the edge. Still, it was good enough to satisfy me.




We moved,gingerly may I add, to another spot.



We met a young couple on that other side, who asked me to take a photo with their phone. I could tell that the results weren't great since they were in shadow with splotches of light, so I took one with my camera too. After some fiddling and faddling, I managed to even out the hilites and shadows to some degree and get a somewhat acceptable result: still not great, but better than it was.



One photo from the descent, but by now my mind was on the water and snack awaiting at the car.


7 comments:

Marie Smith said...

Heavenly, AC. Interesting terrain, great company, autumn beauty and food! My kind of adventure! Great reflection photos too!

Joanne Noragon said...

I pick the shot of the valley, anchored by the rock in the foreground. The couple makes me smile. We all were so young, once.

Silver in AZ said...

lovely place, and clearly worth the hike! Thanks for sharing!

Jenn Jilks said...

What a lovely trip! We couldn't possibly make such a trek, I'm happy you shared photos of yours!

Vicki Lane said...

Oh, my! So beautiful! That third picture is like being in the mist of a Klimt painting.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Love the aspen colors- gorgeous.

Mara said...

Sometimes the best photo opportunities are found on the way back. When all you have on your mind is rest, food and drink. And definitely no photos!