Slippery Hike at Prelude Lake

It was my last afternoon in Yellowknife and it was cloudy, misty, and wet outside. I was thinking: “When I am ever going to be Yellowknife again? I need to get out and do something.” I found the Prelude Lake Natural Trail on the map and it was not too far away, promised a nice hike of a little over 3 km with views of the lake, and maybe I would see some sort of wildlife. My daughter wasn’t interested in wet day hiking, so I went out by myself and drove to the park and eventually found the trail head.

A Spruce Grouse, I think

The trail goes from the sandy wooded camp area up into the rocky landscape that dominates the area. This part of Canada is referred to as the Canadian Shield, which is a vast area of exposed rock from the northern reaches of the continent down to the Great Lakes region. There was no footpath to follow on the rocks, but there were plenty of trail markers to be found so I didn’t lose my way. One thing I didn’t realize was just how slippery these rocks are when it has been raining. I actually fell on my backside a couple of times on this hike, but I was able to protect my camera equipment so you don’t have to worry about that.

The main form of wildlife I saw was some midsize birds that weren’t too worried about me. I didn’t know what they were at the time, but I figured them to be some sort of grouse. When I got back, I searched with my photos and deduced that they are probably called Spruce Grouses, but if you know better, let me know. Below is another photo of a grouse. I enjoyed shooting them among the colorful rock, lichen, and leaf litter on the ground and I hope it makes the image just a little more visually interesting than just a bird photo.

As I neared the top of the rocky area, I became quite a bit focused on the bright and multi-colored lichens that were everywhere. These are living, multi-organism structures, and I tried very hard to step my big feet on bare rock so as not to damage them, but it was quite a garden up there on the rocks. The image below shows some grasses clinging to the rocks, surrounded by lichens, with the distant forest showing some fall color.

I found that there was a crevice in the rocks filled with brightly colored lichens and plants and became a bit obsessed with this for probably half an hour, photographing it in different ways. I wanted the crevice as the main element, leading off into the distance, but getting the perspective I wanted and trying to balance both sides of the image was not an easy task. In the photo below, there is bright fiery colored channel driving up the center of the photo toward a small tree with bright warmly colored leaves. To frame the warmly colored crevice, I included the tall slender trees in the background on the right and I hoped that the brighter grasses and lichens in the lower right provide some balance. What do you think?

With the sky being so gray, I felt like I had to do something different in editing to make these photos work. The warm colors did read well against the gray sky-scape and dark green forest in the distance, but the rocky foreground was very heavily contrasted. So, I really worked on de-contrasting and de-clarifying the foreground rocks to either side of the crevice, which tends to give the image an HDR look, but I found that if I didn’t do this that the image was almost painful to look at. When doing this, you also have to boost saturation or the image gets really washed out looking. I also darkened and contrasted the sky a bit so wasn’t such a dull gray backdrop.

Even on a gray, misty day I managed to find a scene that I thought was quite pretty. And as usual I am always glad I went out hiking, even if I fell on my butt twice. It was just about dark when I made it back to the car as I spent so much time up on the rocks. If the sky had been clear, I would probably have camped out on the rocks below to shoot some aurora. But that was it for my Yellowknife trip and the next morning it was back to the airport to begin the journey home. Thanks for reading.

39 thoughts on “Slippery Hike at Prelude Lake”

  1. Awesome, dude! Such great photos, and I am jealous of that hike you went on. I’d gladly fall on my ass a few times to see country like that. I love the photos of the bird, and I won’t grouse about the name. The crevice looks unique and colorful. But of course, as it was shot by a crack photographer. It seems the post-production work you did on that photo has wrought a miracle, although I don’t know what the “before” shot looks like. I think the “after” shot is worthy enough for an art exhibit.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thanks for all the nice words.

      The before image before editing was quite dark as I under-expose for the sky on a day like this. And also, the rocky areas was very contrasty and textured and I thought it was a bit overwhelming for the image.

      I can imagine hiking that place when it is snowy and icy. Not sure I’d make it.

      Liked by 2 people

  4. Wow! That “fiery” photo is awesome! They all are unique, You need put these on Flickr. Glad you didn’t let the rain or falling on your backside stop you. The photos were well worth the trip.
    Hopefully, you weren’t too sore.

    Liked by 2 people

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