Stargazing at Two Jack Lake, near Banff, Alberta.

We catch the Milky Way, Orion, and even a meteor from the Leonid showers!

On a whirlwind trip to Banff last week. I Googled “Best Milky Way locations near Banff” and confirmed locations with the Calgary branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. We did a recon in the late afternoon after our hikes at Lake Louise and found a lookout point right off the highway. Could set up right by the car, no walking on ice in the dark …

Later that evening we packed our camp chairs, thermos of hot cocoa, hand/toe/face/what-have-you warmers, and set out.

Driving down the windy dark road (good thing we did the recon).

It was a pretty popular road, cars driving by every 3-4 minutes… ruining my shots! There was a person in a tent (shot 3) who looked like they were dancing around with a flashlight… probably another astrophotographer … they settled down after a while.

We were out there about 3 hours… well, I was out there, framing this and framing that. It was wonderful. The Rockies are surreal.