Two mornings ago we awoke to freezing rain. The streets and sidewalks were slick and dangerous. But by noon the temperature was up above freezing, the thin layer of overnight ice had melted, and three of us did a late trip into the park.
While George rolled video, Madonna went off by herself for a while, and I took a moment from shooting landscapes to point my lens directly into the sun. Madonna is a hiker, at ease with solitude and with herself, and so even when she was working her way across some snowy terrain with steep sided gullies and disappeared from sight, I knew she'd be fine. Here she is back in the open, flat table land again, walking toward the low sun. It was an evening of breathtaking beauty.
I usually let new images sit for a bit while I figure out if they have any merit, but I really liked this one immediately, and it does seem appropriate for Christmas Eve - moving toward the light. After all, we are creatures of light.
Wishing everyone who celebrates it a Merry Christmas, and for those who do not, best wishes in the coming days, now that we've moved past the Winter Solstice and the light is returning.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape sky sun return of the light pano panorama wild prairie woman hiking hiker Grasslands National Park Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2024
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Last shot in this quick trip around and through the prairie seasons. On Christmas Day, Madonna and I decided to go hiking. Snow was falling and it was -22°C; we didn't last long. Just as we set out, a balloon blew past us, ten or twenty feet off the ground: a birthday balloon. Well, apparently it was someone's birthday, at least symbolically.
At any rate, the prairie was extremely beautiful that morning, in a stark sort of way. I really like the effect seen in this photo, where the tall grasses and low growing shrubs contour the rolling hills and reveal their outlines. And this is aided by wind keeping the higher, exposed ridge tops partially clear of snow.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape winter white snow snowy snowing cold sub-zero below freezing beauty beautiful stark wintry nature coulee wild prairie hiker hiking Laouenan Coulee Grasslands National Park Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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Here's my friend Madonna on a back country hike earlier this month. We saw one or two other hikers in the distance, but quickly left them behind as we followed deer trails along the ridges and among the buttes.
The 8mm fisheye felt just right for this vantage point. Although I don't use it often, I do love its reality-altering views. And we had a glorious day: warm, not windy, sandhill cranes passing overhead for hours.
A friend in Quebec said to me a few years ago, "I could never live in a place without trees." A sincere sentiment from someone who has never visited the prairie and stood beneath the immense prairie sky and felt deeply connected to such a place. To set the record straight, we do have trees; it's forests we lack. Our great compensation is that there's nothing to block the view.
And to be fair, there are times when I miss walking through a forest. But a 2-hour drive to the west gets me to the forested Cypress Hills, and a 6-hour drive north will place me at the edge of a vast boreal forest. One long day's drive westward and I can be in the Rockies. So my life isn't treeless and forlorn. Admittedly the temperate rain forests of coastal BC, where I spent so many years, are several days away. Funny, though: on extended visits back there, I find myself craving prairie skies and the room to roam that is evident in this photo. I enjoy the getaways and I love coming back to this.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape sky sun hiker fisheye ultra-wide 8mm Madonna Hamel solitude big prairie sky nature beautiful wild prairie Grasslands National Park Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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Final shot in the brief series of "Impressions of Madonna"... here we are hiking the best part of Grasslands. There are a couple of trails, but we had spent a long, gorgeous fall day far and beyond; this is our return route, slightly different, a big loop. After descending North Butte, we will pick up the deer trail at the bottom of the little gully directly below, and follow it toward Aspen Coulee, on the right. From the far side of that mass of small trees - most are about 10 or 12 feet high, their leaves still hanging on - we'll angle left down the larger gully, then pick our way up the slope opposite.
Our general goal is Eagle Butte, top left, about forty minutes away at a comfortable pace (with photo stops). From there it's another 15 minutes back to my car, parked out of sight at the top of Butte Road part of which you can see extending into the surrounding ranch lands. That's the way home.
We both wore lightweight hiking shoes that day. They're easier on the land than big heavy boots, especially when going off-trail, and we're both very good at not stepping on rattlesnakes. Highlight of the day was lying on some dunes and watching thousands of Sandhill Cranes pass overhead in migration.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape the buttes hiker Madonna Hamel hiking fall autumn spectacular wild prairie North Butte Aspen Coulee deer trails Eagle Butte Grasslands National Park Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page October 2021
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From an impromptu evening hike among the buttes with three friends, in October. When they decided to go up this hill, I stayed on the main trail, found a vantage point, and framed this shot.
In the background we can see the access road, with a vehicle and its trail of windblown dust. To return home, I just head back down that road and turn right - a six minute drive. It's the closest access point to the best hiking area in the park.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape hills sunset sunset light silhouette hikers people three 3 evening warmth warm light trail hiking hike the buttes Butte Road dust dusty fall autumn wild prairie Eagle Butte Grasslands National Park Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page Explored
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