I have only been there once so far, but one of my favorite areas to have ever visited is the National Parks region between Banff and Jasper, Alberta, in Canada. It is almost 300 km between the two towns, but you can barely go a few km at any point without having to stop and look at the new, wonderful view. Of course, modest distances off the road have the same effect, and one of those places is Moraine Lake, a Canadian icon of natural beauty.

The view here is probably known to virtually everyone in the country. From 1970 to 1993, this scene was on the reverse of the CDN $20 bill. You can still find them in circulation, sometimes.

On our trip, we stopped on the way north and took some nice shots, although the sky was empty. There is a massive pile of granite boulders at the north end of the lake, which I think was deposited by a past glacier, and lots of great compositions can be found there. So, after about two days, we continued, but the following week as our trip was winding down, we returned this way on our return.

We had one last morning to come over here to shoot, and a little snow had fallen the night before, which highlighted the mountains, and there were a few clouds in the sky. The difference was a noticeable improvement; my favorite shots of the lake come from this final morning.