In the fall of 2021, we visited the Banff and Jasper area of Alberta, Canada. The 290 km road between Banff and Jasper may be one of the most scenic drives in North America. We had visited this area before, once when the kids were teenagers, and again a couple of years prior to this trip. The trip immediately preceding this one was marred by numerous wildfires in the area. Although the smoky, hazy skies made for interesting photos, we needed to return after the wildfire season had passed. That meant October. This is the ‘shoulder’ season in the area, as it is between the summer tourism season and the ski season. Places were shutting down all over the place! Towards the end of our trip, even some of the parking lots for some areas were shutting down. We were experiencing the beginning of winter!
Sunwapta Falls are located about 55 kilometers south of Jasper, Alberta just off the Icefields Parkway. The falls are well marked and have a large parking lot. We visited the falls the day before this photo was taken and took some good shots of the falls. We returned to our lodging at The Crossing, which was the only place open between Banff and Jasper this time of the year. It then proceeded to rain most of the night.
The next morning, we were heading up to Jasper for several days and planned to pass by Sunwapta Falls again that morning. Well, the rain we received that night was mostly snow at Sunwapta, and the storm was just beginning to break up, so we decided to stop there again and take some more photographs. We needed our crampons, as the ground was very slippery, especially when trying to reach the best composition. The snow made an incredible difference as it simplified the scene and allowed the waterfall to really pop. This was by far my favorite shot of this waterfall.
