DanLJ images

As pointed out by John Lundgren, this little bird is a gray jay or canada jay more commonly known as a whiskey jack or camp robber.
1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 800
Contax 645, 80mm, f85.6 1/700 sec

Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

The glacial moraine is covered with forest here. The rocks are covered with mosses and lichens, spruce and pine have grown tall, and sunlight filters through the growth, dappling everying beautifully.

1 September 2002
Kodak Portra 800 35mm
Canon z90w

Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Fallen trees comfortably moulder on a bed of mosses, Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 400NC
Contax 645, 80mm, f8.0 1/45 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

This is a fragile forest. Small old spruces sparsely cover rocky glacial moraine, and if the wind blows hard they tip over. Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 400NC
Contax 645, 80mm, f5.6 1/45 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

the red guts of a rotting pine lie atop the rim of a sinkhole lined with thorax-sized rocks. Mosses carpet the forest floor, but underneath is but a dusting of soil. This is young earth. Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 400NC
Contax 645, 80mm, f5.6 1/90 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

A variety of mosses along the Mona Lake Trail.

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 800
Contax 645, 80mm, f8.0 1/125 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Now that I've called this stuff moss, I expect half the world to tell me it's a lichen. So be it. In any case, this stuff festoons the spruces. I believe it's quite fastidious, and is hard to find in areas that have any air pollution at all.

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 800
Contax 645, 80mm, f5.6 1/700 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Mosses along the Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 400NC
Contax 645, 80mm, f22.0 1/90 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Mosses along the Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 400NC
Contax 645, 80mm, f8.0 1/60 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Plants and mosses along the Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 400NC
Contax 645, 80mm, f8.0 1/60 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

As we plodded along the trail to Mona Lake, we met a couple who said, "There's a deer up ahead in a ravine. She doesn't seem even to notice we're here."

A few yards along, we saw this Lady Mule Deer slowly stroll up out of a sinkhole in the moraine. She saw I had a camera, and having not put on her makeup this morning, she hurried across the path into some brush that screened her.

1 September 2002, NW of Maligne Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta
Kodak Portra 800 35mm; Canon z90w
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

As she walks slowly into the woods, the mule deer stops to think, "Do I really need to walk away from this idiot? The smell isn't good, but... but he's not doing anything." And she takes one more good look, just to make sure we aren't offering food.

1 September 2002, on the trail to Mona Lake.
Kodak 80 35mm, Canon z90w
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Plants and mosses along the Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 400NC
Contax 645, 80mm, f8.0 1/250 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Plants along the Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 800
Contax 645, 80mm, f5.6 1/180 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Plants along the Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 800
Contax 645, 80mm, f8.0 1/60 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Plants along the Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 800
Contax 645, 80mm, f.6 1/125 se
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Plants along the Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 800
Contax 645, 80mm, f6.5 1/700 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Plants along the Mona Lake Trail

1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Kodak Portra 800
Contax 645, 80mm, f8.0 1/180 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

John Lundgren points out that this is a bunchberry plant; white flowers, red berries; beside the Mona Lake Trail, 1 September 2002, Jasper National Park, Alberta.

Kodak Portra 400NC
Contax 645, 80mm, f11.0 1/60 sec
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Quail by the trail from Mona Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta. These birds were not especially troubled by a half-dozen large bipedal folk wanting to share the path. They did move out of the way for us.

1 September 2002
Kodak Portra 800 35mm
Canon z90w
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

Glacial moraines contained (originally) two types of boulders: those made of sedimentary or igneous rock and those made of crystallized H2O. The big H2O boulders eventually melted, causing the rock around to slump. These are "sinkholes." Some are large enough and lined with clay, and become large permanent ponds or small lakes. Others are well drained, and simply form kettle-like depressions. Here three are lined up in a row away from the camera.

1 September 2002, Trail to Mona Lake
Kodak Portra 800 35mm Canon z90w
Copyright © 2002 Daniel L. Johnson

The file names are my file numbers, and are not directly related to image contents. The subject and technical data are contained within each jpeg file itself, as a comment readable by the Gimp or Photoshop, and the comment is provided to the right of each thumbnail image below.

I'm not in the photography business, but if you'd like a print of any, these photos in real life are all 6x4.5 cm color negatives (unless noted otherwise), and we can arrange this through Photos, Inc., of Minneapolis. I send them my negative and you send them your charge card number and address, and in a week or two you'll get a print. email me at drdan AT wwt.net if you wish to pursue this.