Two Jack Lake with Mount Rundle in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

A beautiful sunrise with high cirrus clouds of an approaching storm illuminates Mount Rundle in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, which is reflected in Two Jack Lake near Banff. In the cold morning air flat fog rises above the lake.
These precursor clouds signalize the distant cyclone system coming in from the Pacific Ocean that brought clouds and rain for several days to the Canadian Rockies. These mountains are geologically built up by alternating layers of limestone and shale that sedimented on an ancient ocean floor 245 to 363 million years ago. Compression of these once flat lying layers that are 4300 ft (1300 m) thick each caused the sediments to break into huge slabs that tilted upwards into a system of repeating limestone and shale pattern. Each rock exposed to the surface is attacked by the erosive forces of weathering. The shale layer is a soft rock compared to the limestone. Hence glaciers, precipitation, frost and wind easily eroded the shale into deep valleys leaving the resistant tilted limestone behind as the Canadian Rocky Mountains that are observed today. These steep cliffs of Mt. Rundle were formed during the ice age by the carving of glaciers and later by cutting of the Bow River.
These sun rays lighting up the sky, reflecting in the lake and on the mountains in the morning quietude was really a moment to remember.