The Heart of Torch Lake

If you’ve been reading, you know I’ve been traveling…

Montana, Alberta, British Columbia, mostly the Canadian Rockies. Scenery so incomparable I’m still working on finding the words to describe it (not sure that’s actually possible).

Glorious weather pouring sunshine over mountains that make you feel both infinitesimal & infinite.

Water, freed from the ice & snow, flowing in every direction to the seas.

Animals roaming, eating, mating, celebrating the warmer season.

Wildflowers springing up hourly to catch their share of sunlight.

Of course lakes…Waterton Lake, Moraine Lake, Lake Louise…all of them stunning & spectacular in their own right.

Then I met Torch Lake’s sister – her name is Peyto.

Take the most brilliant turquoise of Torch, intensify it & spread it over the pristine surface of a uninhabitable body of water. Add enough mountains to ring the lake & top with cerulean skies that stretch forever.

Torch Lake’s Canadian sister Peyto.

These two know each other, both born from glaciers, both crystalline jewels, both queens. While Torch owes its color to the corals of the ancient seas, Peytos’ comes from “rock flour”. It’s a fine powder produced from the grinding action of the rocks during spring run off. When the powder enters the lake, it doesn’t float on top, it doesn’t sink to the bottom, instead it remains suspended, allowing the sunlight to reflect off the particles…great science to be sure, but it looks like magic.

I miss my lake, but I love that I found her sister…I’m pretty sure I heard them singing to each other.

Me…I’m off to find some more wildlife!!!