Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park is one of the most iconic locations in the Canadian Rockies for Milky Way photography, offering a breathtaking combination of calm alpine waters, dramatic mountain peaks, and vast night skies. The lake’s serene surface often reflects the surrounding mountains and stars, creating compositions that are both visually striking and balanced, making it a favorite for photographers seeking symmetry and depth in their nightscapes. What makes Two Jack Lake particularly special is its accessibility combined with relatively dark skies, far enough from Banff and Canmore’s light pollution to reveal the Milky Way in stunning detail. On clear, moonless nights, the dense core of the galaxy becomes visible, displaying intricate dust lanes, subtle color variations, and an almost infinite field of stars stretching overhead. The best time to photograph the Milky Way here is late spring through early fall, when the galactic core rises high enough in the sky to align beautifully with the surrounding peaks. Blue hour, just after sunset, is also ideal for capturing the mountains in soft, ambient light before the stars appear, while long exposures on a sturdy tripod allow photographers to capture the Milky Way’s brilliance and the lake’s reflective surface simultaneously. Patience and careful planning are essential, as the galaxy moves quickly and alignment with foreground elements is critical. Two Jack Lake’s combination of pristine alpine scenery, mirrored reflections, and dark, star-filled skies makes it an iconic location where the majesty of the Rockies meets the infinite wonder of the cosmos.