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Snow Squall over Golden Ears Ranges Mountains from South Langley

A snow squall over peaks of the Golden Ears Ranges near sunset – viewed from south Langley near High Point Estates.

snow squall at sunset golden ears ranges mount blanshard robie reid

Snow Squall at Sunset over the Golden Ears Ranges (Purchase)

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A few years ago I found a new spot in the southern part of Langley, British Columbia (near High Point Estates) to view the mountains to the north. Mount Blanshard (The Golden Ears) is the most prominent from here, as it is from most of Langley. Mount Robie Reid (right) is also frequently seen from various parts of Langley and Abbotsford. I waited until there was a good snowfall on the peaks and photographed the scene in February of 2022. Unfortunately, it was about -5°C and very windy so my large lens acted a bit like a sail and I wasn’t able to get any sharp images. This year I went back after a good snowfall in the mountains with much more success. Some of the snow I’d seen earlier in the day on the lower elevations had melted, but there was still some snow sticking on this evening in late March.

The panorama above shows a snow squall dumping some fresh powder during some sunset light on the Golden Ears Ranges (part of the Garabaldi Ranges) peaks, to the left of Mount Blanshard. To the right of Blanshard is a smaller peak called “The Defendant” (1884m / 6181ft), and then Mount Judge Howay (2262m / 7421ft) peeking out to the left of Mount Robie Reid (2095m / 6873ft). I was hoping for some interesting clouds but wasn’t counting on a snow squall like this. I watched it move westward, behind Mount Blanshard, and then get into a nice position just as some subtle sunset light warmed the colors up a bit.

mount blanshard aka the golden ears at sunset in winter

The Golden Ears at sunset as seen from south Langley (Purchase)

I made a number of panoramas here as the scene was perfect for it, but I also made a few “mountain portrait” style photos of some of the individual peaks. First up, Mount Blanshard aka the Golden Ears in the photograph above. I have many photographs of this mountain, from the south (Langley/Maple Ridge), the east (Port Coquitlam), and the west (Golden Ears Provincial Park). I like this view as I’m able to show more of the mountain itself than I am when I am a bit closer. From this vantage point I’m actually about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Blanshard.

This next photo is mostly of Mount Robie Reid, but there is a bit of the more abrupt Mount Judge Howay showing up to the left of Mt. Robie Reid.

mount robie reid mount judge howay winter

Mount Robie Reid and Mount Judge Howay (Purchase)

The photograph below shows some peaks in the Chehalis Ranges with some nice sunset light on them. These are photographed from the same spot as the photos above, but they are approximately 70km (44mi) from that location. I was lucky to have some really clear air on this particular evening! Peaks here include Mount Clarke (2159m / 7083ft), Stonerabbit Peak (1858m / 6096ft), Mount Ratney (1967m / 6453ft), and Mount Bardean (1926m / 6319ft).

chehalis range peaks including mount clarke stonerabbit peak and mount ratney

Chehalis Range peaks including Mount Clark, Stonerabbit Peak, and Mount Ratney (Purchase)

For more mountain photographs please visit my Mountain Photos Gallery.

Storm Clouds Over South Surrey

Storm clouds from an incoming thunderstorm darken the sky over farmland in South Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

dark thunderstorm clouds over south surrey farmland nicomekl river

Thunderstorm Clouds Darken the Sky Over South Surrey Farmland (Purchase)

A few weeks ago I had a few hours to spend at Elgin Heritage Park in Surrey. I was mostly interested in photographing birds, and was not expecting a storm. Previously I’ve found a lot of birds on the marsh areas as well as along the shoreline of the Nicomekl River. At lot of the marsh plants seemed to be flatted by previous high water, so there aren’t as many old stems for the birds to perch in at the moment, but that will change as the foliage grows this spring. After looking for Red-winged Blackbirds and other birds along the shore, the darkening sky to the north and west was of some concern. I could see rain falling not too far across the river at times, so I was wary as to when I might have to head back to the car due to heavy precipitation or lightning. I made the first photograph here from the bank of the Nicomekl and from then on the sky received more of my attention than the birds. Although, I did photograph a Greater Yellowlegs which seemed to occasionally get bogged down in the mud while foraging. The Yellowlegs seemed pretty unconcerned about the potential for rain.

storm clouds over nicomekl river south surrey farmland

Storm Clouds and Rainfall over South Surrey Farmland (Purchase)

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The wide panorama below shows the amount of precipitation that was falling from these clouds at times. At one point the rain was just across the river, and I was pretty sure I could hear it. Only a few drops on the side of Elgin Heritage Park though, which I did not mind. My gear is weather sealed but I generally don’t want to test that!

bands of rain fall from storm clouds south surrey elgin

Wide Panorama of the Bands of rain falling from the storm clouds (Purchase)

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In my most recent post I wrote about not really wanting to photograph Herons anymore and then not only photographed a number of Herons, I posted 4 to that blog post alone. I should point out that while there is a Great Blue Heron in the photo below, it is not a “Heron photo”. It is a stormy cloud photograph that merely happens to have a Heron in it, in my defense. 🙂 There seemed to be some territorial jostling going on with the Herons at the river on that day – they were chasing each other off quite often. Lots of squawking and honking sounds (these are not songbirds) with some physical intimidation can help when attempting to convince a rival to move down the river, apparently.

storm clouds and the nicomekl river with heron

Nicomekl River, Storm Clouds and a Heron (Purchase)

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For more photographs from the City of Surrey visit my Surrey gallery.

Cameron Lake Storm Clouds

A storm rolls in at sunset over Cameron Lake near Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada

a storm rolls in over cameron lake at sunset - near port alberni bc

Cameron Lake near Port Alberni, BC (Purchase)

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   A few months ago during my trip to Vancouver Island I had a lot of perfectly clear, sunny skies that were not always photogenic. I was lucky on one of my last days there to get a cloudy evening to photograph Cathedral Grove and a few other areas near Port Alberni. I quite enjoyed this scene as a storm rolled in over Cameron Lake near Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada. Not that colourful, but it was a nice spot to sit by the lake and photograph back in early June. The wind on the lake helped create some interesting images of the waves and branches on the nearby trees as well.

More of my images from Vancouver Island can be found in my Vancouver Island Gallery.

Sunset behind Burke Mountain

sunset behind burke mountain

Sometimes the shots you think you will like from a trip fall to the bottom of the pile pretty quickly. A few weeks ago I was out near Pitt Lake hoping for some good sunset light on Mt. Blanshard (aka the ‘Golden Ears’). Burke Mountain ate up a lot of the direct light when the sun went low in the sky, and clouds obscured the top of the Mt. Blanshard peaks. What resulted was a rather bland panorama. Two years ago I would have been happy with it, but now I know it is a throwaway more or less – not bad but nothing special about it.

This was one of those times when suddenly the light just goes away. Turning around I saw the scene above – dark clouds with nice orange colours underneath. Thankfully I have just enough zoom in the 70-200 to show the detail of the treetops which I think adds extra dimension to the shot.