Summer 2021 was a hot and smoky one in the East Kootenay.

From the heat bubble that allowed night-time temperatures to remain in the high 20s C – a rare thing for folks living in the Rockies – to many weeks of wildfire season, with the Bill Nye fire and Tanglefoot fire front and centre in the Cranbrook/Kimberley areas, with numerous other wildfires keeping firefighters and emergency officials hopping.

COVID-19 restrictions meant travel was limited in the summer and as a result we didn’t get out nearly as much as we wanted to, a bummer compounded with the arrival of a beautiful new Nikon D-850.

The following collection of images from this past summer is heavily spiced with shots from around our Gold Creek back-40 home, including some of my pandemic pals – squirrels, birds and deer, including an invasion one night from a skunk.

Locations included in this set of photos are: Bull River drainage; Alexander Creek and Sparwood; Cranbrook and area; Fernie; Elk Valley; Fort Steele area; Kimberley and area; Wasa and Lazy Lake areas; St. Eugene and area.

Lead image: The Cranbrook water tower marmot – an unusual high-country visitor to the lower lands of Cranbrook – poked its head out to shriek at me one hot afternoon in late June.

Photos by Ian Cobb and Carrie Schafer/e-KNOW

e-KNOW

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