We took a quick glimpse of Waterton Lake National Park yesterday when we entered Canada. Today we wanted to take a deep dive.

Our day started nicely with a beautiful drive from the 1000-acre Flintrock Ranch, 45 minutes north of the park. As the cloud moved fast in the strong wind, the road shadow changed dramatically in every few seconds. I couldn’t stop stepping out of the car on the freeway just to capture the stunning view of the winding or straight roads.

Nevertheless, the photo highlight was the waterfalls on our 10-mile Goat Lake hike. We started a level hike from Red Rock Canyon for the first 4.6km, followed by a 2.5km elevation hike on the mountains. The Goat Lake was quietly sitting at the mountain top. It was a little paradise. We met a few campers along the trail but mostly we were on our own. After reaching the top, we knew what awaited us: another 7.1km to get back.

Both on our way up and down, we caught sight of the Goat Lake waterfalls. Although the water flow was still thin in the summer dry season, I felt compelled to photograph them. They are the proof of my hiking conquer – the longest day hike since we started our trip 3 weeks ago. What an accomplishment!

Tip of the Day

How to photograph waterfalls.

Camera settings. Use shutter priority: 0.5 ~ 2 seconds for a moderate volume waterfall, or even slower for a thin waterfall/cascade.
Ideally the waterfall is in the shadow, so are its surroundings that you will include in the picture. This will avoid over-expose or under-expose your waterfall unless you have advanced exposure technique.
Set the camera on a steady rock (if you don’t have a tripod). I’ve done this many times and it works!
To avoid handshake when you release the shutter, set the shutter timer (many dSLRs have 10 second shutter timer option).