Sunrise At The Presqu'ile Ice Volcanoes - Danny Sheppard Photography

Sunrise At The Presqu’ile Ice Volcanoes

Feb 18, 2014 by Danny in Hiking

A few weeks ago when I first went to see the Ice Volcanoes at Presqu’ile Provincial Park, it was a cloudy stormy day, which normally has great appeal to me. But on that day, the light was just flat and fairly colourless. Since then, I’ve been waiting for a chance to go back in hopes of some better light.

I don’t often get to head out shooting early in the morning, so I try to take advantage of the opportunity when I can. That opportunity presented itself on Family Day, so I set my alarm for 5:30 and hauled my butt out of bed to head back out to Presqu’ile in hopes of catching a nice sunrise.

When I got there, I was (surprise) alone out on the ice… or so I thought. As I was setting up for my first picture, I had the poop scared out of me by someone yelling at the top of their lungs. I thought at first someone was calling for help, but after a few more yells, I realized that it was some kind of chant. I didn’t recognize the language, nor was I able to spot anyone, but the chanting continued for a few more minutes until the sun started to rise. If anyone happens to know what it was all about, please let me know!

So there I was, perched on top of an ice volcano, my eyes focused on the sky to the south east, waiting for the sunrise, when I remembered something that I often forget to do… turn around and look away from the horizon! It’s counter-intuitive I know, but often times the sunrise/sunset is only half the story. When I turned around, I saw the purple and blue sky of the first picture above, with the (almost) full moon still lingering in the sky. So I scrambled down the ice to grab some photos before the sun popped up over the water.

Although I guess it should not have surprised me, the landscape (icescape?) has completely changed since I was last there. I went looking for a few spots where I took pictures last time, but they were gone and all new formations had taken their place. I’m already planning another trip back!