Location, Location, Location

Have you ever experienced deja vu? That feeling that you have been somewhere before? I experienced just that yesterday on my Saturday back roads of Alberta drive. As usual, I looked at a map of my local area and started by plotting which road to take to start my adventure. I picked the Tower Trail out of Cochrane and immediately experienced stunning rural vistas with spectacular snow-capped mountains providing a horizon line in the distance. I chose road after new road, weaving my way slowly south and west. I passed through Jumpingpound, and the Sibbald Lake Provincial Park on my way to the stunning Kananaskis Trail. The landscape went from undulating, grassy hills to stark, steep rock faces as my ever-winding road drew me like a magnet to the mountains. Along the way I kept thinking “I have been here before.”

After a lovely lunch on the patio of the day lodge at Nakiska, I ventured further south along the Kananaskis Trail, stopping to take photos of regal Mount Kidd (pictured above), and every peak thereafter until I reached the mid-point of the Kananaskis Trail where the road is closed for the winter. I turned my trusty Jeep around and drove steadily north again, up past the Trans Canada Highway to the Bow Valley Trail and north again on Highway 40, following the rushing Ghost River up into the mountains once more before sunset. More rolling hills, dotted with ranches and running horses. Why does this seem SO familiar?

Once home, I reviewed my map. Most roads were first time adventures. And then it hit me as I closed my eyes and pictured my day. I HAD seen these locations before but in movies!  Did you know that Alberta rivals Toronto and Vancouver for location shooting? You might imagine that the stunning Alberta landscape should get top billing as the star of each movie or TV show. Think the James Bond-ish mountain scene that acted as the climax in the brilliant Inception. That scene was shot high in the Kananaskis Trail mountains at Fortress Mountain Ski Resort. Picture as well the mountains, rivers and tiny towns that provided that necessary backdrop to Brokeback Mountain. Or the rolling foothills and ranches that shape each episode of Heartland. This summer we will get to see Alberta again in Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated Interstellar.

If you would like to see more snaps from yesterday’s photo adventure, please check out my Instagram feed here and my Awesome Alberta gallery here. And the Academy Award goes to…Alberta!

Happy Easter Sunday everyone!