Minnestimma Lakes in Banff National Park Wallpapers

It took a 3:50AM alarm clock to reach the Minnestimma Lakes in Banff National Park for sunrise, but there’s so many benefits to exploring the park during these early hours:

The Parks, which are busy due to the Canada150 initiatives, are essentially empty until 7AM.
The Parks are filled with smoke at the moment, but it seems slightly less thick early in the day.
The light is always better at sunrise and sunset.

When I decided to spend my summer trying to squeeze in more sunrises, I also promised myself I wouldn’t settle for roadside locations. Banff National Park is full of epic sunrise locations, including the classics like Moraine Lake or Mt Rundle, but these locations are so popular and so photographed that I find it incredibly difficult to make a unique image. Last month, I shared a sunrise from Emerald Lake, but this month I’ve set the alarm even earlier to venture up short to medium length hikes/scrambles in search of new vantage points. There’s been plenty of highlights, but I largely hiked by myself as I explored Kananaskis and Banff.

For my sunrise at Minnestimma Lakes in Banff National Park, I was joined by three friends and it made the morning memorable. If you look closely, you’ll see a few of them in this month’s wallpapers for smartphones and tablets. For desktops, I stuck with a classic landscape reflection.