“Bow Lake is in, and it's like a mirror!”
Those words may not make your heart beat faster, but if you like to skate, this is exciting news indeed. Bow Lake, along the Icefields Parkway, is one of the park's most accessible and photogenic bodies of water. Last week, after the first of our winter's cold snaps, it froze clean with no snow. Lake ice never stays flawless for long, so we put in several days of skating while the opportunity held.
The ice was smooth and thick, reflecting both us and the mountains. It was also so transparent that it gave us the willies when we skated into the shallower sections of the lake. We could see right to the bottom, and the fish shot off in front of us as we passed.
Because of the cold and the humidity, small impurities on the lake's surface had given rise to “ice flowers”, delicate and exquisite blossoms of frost. We ended up splayed out on the ice, like kids, to take in the small scale beauty.
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| An "ice flower" |
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| Taking in the beauty, up close |
New snow fell on the weekend, and now we wait for the next lake to freeze....
