Vancouver – Road Trip through the Canadian Rockies

When I was asked by a friend to join him on a road trip to Edmonton for a night of horse racing, my sense of adventure was reinvigorated by the chance to reconnect with the world outside Vancouver.  I imagined I could take some impressive landscape photographs with my new 20mm Nikon lens, so I packed my tripods, lenses and equipment and some warm clothes and set off. There is an amazing sense of freedom being on the road. Evocative sounding highways, such as Yellowhead to the Crowsnest, and the equally impressive road trip soundtrack gave an atmospheric soundscape to the ever-changing scenery. As we left the village of Valemount, the weather closed in and the feeling of rapidly-approaching winter closed in around us. Sitting in the passenger seat I thought about our constant human effort to survive the elements. Workers in their reflective wardrobes and individual styles to keep them warm and safe.  As the clouds darkened and the snow became a deluge, the roads climbed more steeply ahead of us. Ever upwards and on towards the mountains of Jasper National Park, which is the largest in the Canadian Rockies. The first heavy snowfall of the season saw vehicles slip and slide on the one life-sustaining artery through the mountains. Life and death seemed all that more real -although not even the weather stops the impressive transportation links between Vancouver and the rest of Canada: large long trucks carrying goods from across the globe race Canadian Pacific Railway trains, laden with shipping containers, twisting and turning through the hinterland.