Day 4

Field (Emerald Lake) and Environs

	Emerald Lake
	It was beautiful; I wonder if it's always this still. Nothing much lives or grows in the lake, as the rock flour suspended in the water makes it difficult for sunlight to get through. There are some small plants and fish, mostly around the edges where the water is not deep. And there's lots of bird and chipmunk life around the lake - we also saw elk tracks, but no elk (they get up earlier in the morning than we do...).
	All the garbage cans we saw, even in downtown Banff, were bear-proof. It seems to be working to keep the bears wild.
	These guys were just so gruesome looking! I tried to find a reginal mushroom book in several bookstores, but they just had the big ones. I have one that I need to go through and see if I can identify any of these.
	Takakkaw Falls - a raging torrent in spring, still pretty impressive in fall.
	A ground squirrel making for the hills (bottom right) - anything to get away from the strange person with the camera!
	Natural Bridge Falls, right down the road from the Emerald Lake Lodge
	The river carved out this bridge, which will eventually fall. The river is glacier fed (that strange blue color).
	Ok, honestly, this is the very last mushroom picture - I promise! These looked like griddle cakes.