Morning at Moraine - Banff National Park, Alberta

Having spent the night camping near Lake Louise, I woke up bright and early and thought I might go photograph the sunrise at Moraine Lake. As a lover of solitude, I don't generally venture up to this area, I find the crowds can get a bit overwhelming for me. I checked my weather app, and the sunrise was set for 6:10 am. As I turned onto the road heading up to the lake the clock on the truck read 5:30 am. Perfect. Not having seen a soul driving up to the car park, I thought I may have just beat the crowds and would be one of the first up top to pick out my spot. Upon my arrival to the parking lot I couldn't believe my eyes; the parking lot was completely full, and staff were struggling to jam people into every nook and cranny available. Like a brick to the forehead, it hit me. I just realized I went up to Moraine Lake...the most photographed place in Canada on the Saturday of August long weekend. Yep... Nailed it. Despite the chaos, I was thankful to be quickly ushered by the staff to a premium parking space right at the front of the lot so I decided to stay and give it a shot. I was surprised to find everyone rushed up to the top of what’s known as the "Rockpile" for the classic shot, and yet nobody seemed to take any of the side trails a little lower down. I found a little chunk of real estate on the south side where my daughter and I were able to enjoy the sunrise together. Surprisingly, with the high volume of traffic that moves through this area, I was quite amazed to see how clean it was. I could barely find a single piece of trash anywhere. In a world where so many of the iconic landscapes have been trashed by tourists, it was a breath of fresh air to see there are still places that have managed to keep the impact to a minimum.