This Is Alberta.

When Canadians think of Alberta, they each have their own expectation: Prairie. Dinosaurs. The Rockies. The oil fields. With an area of 661,848 square kilometres, Alberta is all of these. Prairie in the east, the oil fields in the north, badlands in the south and in the west: the Canadian Rocky Mountains. 

This.

Is.

Alberta.

Specifically, this is Maligne Canyon in Jasper National Park.

This is the deepest canyon in the Rockies.

This is a massive boulder suspended between two cliff faces.
And tiny sprouts rising from the shelter of solid rock.

This is a vertigo-inducing views straight down.

And this... is paradise.

This is home for some magnificent wildlife.

And this

is a photographer's paradise.

This is one of my favourite views in Jasper: 
Off the side of highway 16 just leaving the park.

It took me 5 years to get this shot just right, and I still don't believe I've done it justice.

This was a long overdue trip to Jasper. I still hadn't come close to capturing everything about this place that I'd wanted to see. But in the summer of 2020, there was somewhere else I had to be. 

And at that point of my life, that was even more beautiful than this.