PRAIRIE AT 70 MILE BUTTE GRASSLANDS NATIONAL PARK

Prairie at 70 Mile Butte Grasslands National Park Sunset.

I was informed by local residents at Val Marie Village that the view during sunset from the look out point at the top of 70 Mile Butte was a must for any photographer or avid traveller.  I took them at their word and waited for a slightly rainy and overcast and cloudy day before setting off to see this site.  I knew that the sunset would be at its fullest at around 9pm and therefore took the ecotour route as specified by Parks Canada and went past the Frenchman River Valley and parked up next to the ‘beware of rattle snake’ warning sign at the beginning of the walking trail which leads to the top of the 70 Mile Butte.  I had not accounted for the time it took to drive to this spot and arrived at around 8.35pm, leaving me with only 25 minutes to scoot to the top of the lookout point which can take around 45 minutes to walk.  As you might imagine, I took off at a running pace which quickly turned into a brisk walk as the hills started to take their toll on me!

Needless to say, the route up was spectacular, as the sun was setting, I was able to capture great contrasting images with light and shadow formations on the countryside.  With the mix of heavy cloud and spectacular lighting I was able to witness great photo opportunities.  However, the goal was still to get to the top of this lookout point at sunset, which I managed just in time.  I was dully awarded with the view which I hope I have captured its essence on the images from this gallery.

PHOTOGRAPHY: PRAIRIE AT 70 MILE BUTTE GRASSLANDS NATIONAL PARK

I took my Nikon D700 armed with the Nikon 28-300mm and the 18-35mm lens along with my Fuji X-E1 with the Fujinon 18-55mm lens.  I was swapping between both cameras as I went on this frantic pace to get to the top before the sunset disappeared.  The Panoramic shot was taken with the Fuji using the inbuilt Panorama setting which allows you to create multiple stitched images in-camera. I took multiple shots on the Nikon D700 taking 5 photos of one particular scene at different exposure settings and then stitched those together to create an HDR (High dynamic Range) to capture as much of the dark and light areas of the sunset over the prairies.