This was the fam fam’s first visit to Two Jack Lake. We wanted to make sure we could actually get a parking spot this time, so the plan was to roll out of our house at 5:30 am and we were out the door by 5:50 am. That’s not bad for us.
We arrived at the lake around 8:45 am courtesy of a couple of washroom stops and found the parking lot to be half full already. Just holy crap. A lady parked next to us told us that it would be crammed by 9:30 am. So much for beating the crowd by a wide margin. It was only about 7C and too cold to hit the water yet, so we waited for a few.
National Park, Alberta, 2024-09-02
There was immediate consternation when we began setting up boards for the lake. All of the pieces of my Skatinger were there, but not for my wife or daughter’s Aqua Plus. They both share the same type of fin so when my daughter can’t find hers she robs mom’s and then doesn’t put it back. We couldn’t find a fin in either of their bags. Oh boy.
After some extensive, and I do mean extensive rooting around in the trunk of Vlad the Impala, we were able to locate one loose fin, which likely belonged to my wife’s board. The daughter proclaimed she would manage without a fin and headed to the water.
Well.
It turns out boards have a fin for a reason. They provide the rear drag to keep you moving forward. Otherwise your craft is unstable and spins in circles, as Ashlyn discovered. She was crestfallen as she obviously couldn’t paddle the lake. It was five hours to head home and back again for a fin and at least an hour and a half to Banff and back with no guarantee of finding a fin or a parking space when we got back.
If you’re a long-time reader of this diary you’ll remember a previous occasion where my floating tow-rope came in handy while on the water. This was another one. I tied one end to my craft and threw the end to Ashlyn so she could clip the other on hers and then I towed her. For 7.5 km total. I will tell you, I felt every inch of my arms that evening. It is twice the work to go half as fast when you’re pulling a second paddle board behind you. We made it work.
My wife very graciously offered to help with the towing, but the issue was that her board is designed to carry one adult. My oversized board is designed to carry two adults. I didn’t want my wife to get dumped into a wickedly cold lake by going over capacity with her board, so I assumed towing duties for the day.
Near as I can figure, my wife went 7.5 km, I went 7.5 km while towing my daughter, my daughter went about 0.5km on her own before giving up giving her a total of 8 km, and I got 9 km in. We were at the 7.5 km mark when I left everyone at the beach. I realized I hadn’t done a complete circuit of the body of water as we had cut across and then turned around before reaching the end. I wanted a complete circuit, so I took off on my own while my wife and daughter deflated their boards. It was only an additional 1.5 km for me and it felt so easy after hours of towing an extra person. I made the distance in no time.
I tend to view landscape photographers who only photograph areas like the Rocky Mountains as pretentious twats. This may sound unfair, but nine times out of ten they really are pretentious twats. Their artist statements tell you how they have carefully curated the best of the Rockies for you, the viewer, and how their art helps the animals and the evironment and helps unicorns have great sex and blah blah blah. The skill involved is also bragged up.
Really? Fuck off. All you have to do in the mountains is hold your camera high and spray off some shots. I did a couple of the above with my eyes closed just for shits and giggles and they still worked. If I had to describe mountain photography in one sentence it is this: F8 and be there.
I want to watch some of you asshat mountain landscapists try and work Kinsmen Park in October here in Strathmore, Alberta, and we’ll see what you motherfuckers come up with then. Punks. Or hikers with expensive cameras and expansive egos. Same thing.
Banff National Park, Alberta, 2024-09-02
Banff National Park, Alberta, 2024-09-02
I digress. We really enjoyed ourselves on the lake, and so did a lot of other people. The crowding increased as the day went on and it was getting so you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting three paddle boarders before we left around 1:30 pm.
The water is amazingly clear to the point where you can watch fish swim underneath you and it was nice and calm as the surrounding mountains seemed to block out most of the wind. It can get shallow in places but you’re okay if you pay attention. It’s hard to walk away without fantastic images as they location does the work for you.
Two Jack Lake is a winner for paddle boarders and photographers. Just get there early. People were almost jousting for empty parking spots when we left. Not kidding. Otherwise, it was fantastic. All that was missing was the fin on the kid’s paddle board. Heh.
Photos and videos from both my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and OM System Tough TG-7. The panoramics are all five or more individual shots stitched into a composite in Photoshop.
