Road Trip: Edmonton to Nevada & Utah

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We picked up my passport and truck (1991 Toyota Landcruiser FJ80) in Edmonton, and headed south.   November 23 – December 6th. Pictures taken with a Leica M240 with Leica -R 19mm lens, Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens. Photos processed in Lightroom. If you have any questions, or comments – drop me a  message. 

 

Bernadette – finishing off a pair of socks while i waited in line at Service Canada for 10 hours to pick up my new passport.

 

Short visit to the Landcaster Museum in Nanton, Alberta. Check out that ancient Avro CF-100 ‘Clunk’ jet, and the equally ancient Landcruiser !

 

Montana

We simply ‘passed through’ Montana. Road pictures only. Photo gallery below.  

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Hurricane Mesa (Virgin, UT)

In Virgin Utah, we drove up Hurricane Mesa for un-impeded views of Zion National Park, and drove across the Mesa to the entrance to Zion National Park. Awe-inspiring views of the coloured sedimentary rocks. Photo gallery below. 

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Logandale Trails (Logandale, NV)

At Logandale we entered the ‘Logandale Trails’ off-road area. Intended primarily for quads and side-by sides.  The roads were no problem for our Landcruiser.  Again, more red-coloured rocks, although tilted. To the east, on the horizon, perfectly horizontal layers of sedimentary rocks. We passed the parking lot full of campers and RV’s, and empty trailers for off-road vehicles and had the area to ourselves. We camped here for 2 nights, and had a little fun making shadows of ourselves with the truck headlights. Photo gallery below. 

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Valley of Fire State Park (Moapa Valley, NV)

Valley of Fire is characterized by layers of bright red sandstone and grey limestone. The sandstone was deposited during the Jurassic period (201.3 million to 145 million years ago), by the wind after inland seas subsided and the land rose. Photographically the conditions were challenging – bright sun and no clouds, as such the photos appear over contrasty. we did an early morning walk – but got in trouble from the Park Ranger because we were walking on the road (not a vehicle to be seen for miles !).  Yes, the rumour it true – I did knit myself a scarf !.   Photo gallery below. 

 

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Casino Signs – Los Vegas !

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Casino signs are everywhere in downtown Los Vegas. E very casino seems to be in competition with the most eye catching signs.  Through my lens, the  “Better” casino signs are neon, or have 100’s of small bulbs.  I wonder how often the bulbs have to be changed out ;>. If you have any questions or comments- drop me a line. 

 

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Flickr – Steveschwarzphotography on Flickr

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These photo were posted on my Flickr account (SteveSchwarzPhotography). I no longer upload to this account. The photos below link directly to the Flickr account. If you have any questions, or comments about  these photos – drop me aline, 

 

Canoe Camping

Getty Images (These photos have been licensed to Getty Images)

Northern Science – Remote Sensing

NWT

Sailing – Great Slave Lake

Kite Skiing: In-Action Photography

Most Commonly Viewed Images

Flying over Yellowknife Area

Airplanes

B-29 “Kee Bird” near Thule Greenland

Aurora – Northern Lights Yellowknife

Navy – 1987

Roadtrip in Alberta + BC **Best 12

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Ask a photographer to pick their best images from a solo two week roadtrip in Alberta and BC. Humm. I took thousands of photos with my ancient Nikon D700 and Samsung cell phone. I was traveling in my ancient 1991 FJ80 Toyota Landcruiser. Fall colors were absolutely amazing – perfectly timed, and there was almost no one else on the road. I took the Forestry Trunk Road (Alberta #40 / #732) on and off from Hinton to Coleman. Details in previous posts. 

My selection for best 12 photos.

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Steve Schwarz Photography | TRIP REPORT – Alberta 93 (Castle Junction to Wasa Lake + Whiteswan Provincial Park

TRIP REPORT – Alberta 93 (Castle Junction to Wasa Lake + Whiteswan Provincial Park

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October 5, 2023

This route followed Alberta highway 93 Castle Junction to Wasa Lake through Kootenay National Park. Unfortunately, this was the last day that the Trans Canada Highway was closed between Castle Junction and Lake Louise. As you can imagine – the road was stupidly busy !.

 

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Whiteswan Provincial Park

A long and poorly marked forestry dirt road to Whiteswan Lake. Arrived late in the evening, needed flashlights to cook dinner and set up the tent. During the night, the elk were calling, and there was one splashing in the lake quite close to my campsite. The morning, calm and foggy. Pulled out the tripod for the first time in the trip, to photograph the foggy – almost mystic scene. Later, a person fishing in the lake surrounded by fog and a slowly rising sun.

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TRIP REPORT – Canmore + Alberta 742 + Alberta 40 loop

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October 4, 2023.

This post describes the Canmore + Alberta 742 + Alberta 40 loop. The route heads south on Alberta 742 from Canmore, passes Spray Lakes Reservoir, Spray Valley Provincial Park – Peter Lougheed Provincial Park and returns via Alberta 40.

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Steve Schwarz Photography | TRIP REPORT – Forestry Trunk Road (Hinton to Ghost Valley)

TRIP REPORT – Forestry Trunk Road (Hinton to Ghost Valley)

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I’d been looking forward to solo roadtrip to the mountains since I had left my Toyota Landcruiser in Edmonton after the mass evacuation in August.  The truck was already packed with camping gear, clothes and food. Being retired I could take a road trip and hit some of the best fall colors in the Alberta.

My truck is slow (the story goes that 1991 FJ80 Landcruisers will only reach 100km/hr going downhill), and not wanting to drive at length on the Trans Canada Highway, secondary and tertiary roads are my preference. As this was also my first solo trip, and my first lengthy road trip with the Landcruiser.  I didn’t want to go on off-road trails, or technically challenging routes. This was to be a ‘Shake-down’ trip.

 

On October 1, with the truck fuelled up (plus 30l in extra fuel) and coffee in hand, I pointed the truck west to Hinton.

Having read reviews for the Forestry Trunk Road I was confident the road would be fine, if not quite dusty. The Forestry Trunk Road (FTR) runs for 1000 kilometers from Grande Cache to Coleman in the Crowsnest Pass. Most of the road (~800km) is gravel and the remaining 200km is  paved. The FTR was a north-south resource road, some segments of the road have been designated as parts of Highway 40 or Highway 734. The Forestry Trunk Road runs mostly through Crown Land, it is possible to camp just about anywhere, or in provincial campsites. 

 

This post describes the route from Hinton via Nordegg to Ghost Valley. I did a modified route. From Hinton taking the Robb Road and Pembina River Road  joining the Forestry Trunk Road near McLoed River. According to Google Maps, this is a 6 hour 51 minute (440km) route. I took three days- beautiful scenery and washboard roads made the drive quite a bit longer than expected. 

Day 1: October 1, 2023. 138km

The Pembina Road runs through appropriately named ‘Coal Valley ‘; coal mining, logging, oil and gas wells.

Camped at McLoed River.

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Day 2: October 2, 2023.

To Nordegg and beyond. Google maps did not record the entire route.   I camped near the green dot shown on the map.

 

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Day 3: October 3, 2023.

Camped on the Ghost Valley Road overlooking the Ghost River.

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Summary. This route is highly recommended. I was especially fortunate, as the road conditions were good, and the fall colours were superb.  Additionally, there were very few vehicles on the road. Other drivers on this route had mentioned an abundance of industry-related vehicles.

Another post will highlight the Canmore + Alberta 742 +  Alberta 40 loop.

Ruby Falls. September 30, 2023

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Road trip to Ruby Falls, Alberta on September 30, 2023.  Driving into Ruby Falls isn’t for the faint of heart, or for cars (4×4 truck is a necessity). I drive a 1991 Toyota Landcruiser FJ80, and joined a Jeep YJ, and a Jeep Cherokee. The other drivers were experienced off-roaders, and one had done the drive several times. Prior to the trip, I asked  – “Is off-road driving experience necessary for this trip ?”. The trip guide, replied, ‘not really’.   I now know !.

According to Google, our driving day was 7h:59 min, drove 128.28km, average speed 16 km/hr, and ‘on a ferry’ for 108km !!. There were no ferries !.

Pictures: Nice and clean before the trip …..to time for a wash, and there is a licence plate somewhere under that mud !

 

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Measuring of Coastal Erosion at Baillie Islands (Cape Bathurst)

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Location
Baillie Island is located at the northern tip of Cape Bathurst, the most northern portion of mainland NWT.

This area is of importance due to the occurrence the rare hairy rockcress or hairy braya (Braya pilosa, genus Braya of family Brassicaceae) that is observed at five locations on the Baillie Islands and Cape Bathurst.

Methodology
Two different methods were used to measure coastal erosion on Braille Islands. Both methods use an early and later (most recent satellite image). The measure distance between the coastline of earlier and coastline of the later satellite image is inferred to be the amount of coastal erosion between the date of the earlier image and the date of the later image. The difference between Method-1, and Method-2 is the time span between the earlier and later image, and the resolution of the satellite imagery. Method-1 uses the earliest available moderate resolution (30m) Landsat satellite imagery 1985-2021, where as Method-2 users the higher resolution Sentinel-2 (20m) using available dates (2017-2021). Five (A-G) cross sections were used for measuring the distance between the earlier and later satellite image. This was done in ArcGIS Pro. The process of measuring involves subjective interpretation in respect to measuring a smooth surface (thick blue line) of a raster (pixelated) image (see image below).

As Sentinel-2 imagery has a finer resolution than Landsat (20m vs 30m) the pixels are smaller, and thus assumed to be closer to the smooth surface representing the actual coastline.

Measured distances between the earlier and later satellite images were divided by the time interval between the earlier and the later images, and shown in red in the following Figures.

Method-1
This method uses Landsat (1985-2021) imagery for measuring of coastal erosion.

Method-2
This method uses available Sentinel-2 imagery.

Summary
Noting that the date range for Method-1 spans 36 years and 4 years in Method-2, the measured distances at the five cross sections differ significantly. There may be a number of reasons, including the coarser pixel size of the Landsat imagery, and corresponding errors in the subjective interpretation of the measurement between the earlier and later images. There is the possibility that there has been an increase in coastal erosion during the later time interval, thus shewing the averaged erosion rate when divided by the time interval between the earlier and later images.