A hike for all seasons

After a quick conference with the warden, we (eight of us today) decided on the nice and easy hike of Hummingbird Plume.  A total of 12km, 300m rise...gentle and kind, especially since almost half of us just finished a 100km race a mere 7 days earlier! 

Of course, this is how all of our hikes start...simple and easy.  Then we get to the pass, or peak, or point of interest and say "is that it??"  or "let's try this way"...every time!  Saturday was no exception.

The weather started off cool, but the forecast was dry.  Silly weatherman!  It rained while we drove into K-country, but then stopped as we all got ready.  Swear that takes longer than it does to drive sometime.

Miss J., ready to roll with go-cup and everything!  LOVE the gaters!  Note the damp ground.

It's raining...no, wait.  It's foggy...no, wait.  It's sunny...okay, for now.  Once we reached Hummingbird (after getting a little turned around and crossing Nakiska ski slopes in error), we decided to add to the distance and go up to Skogen Pass.

Yes, that is the town of Canmore off in the distance.  We joked about just continuing on and taking a taxi back to the cars.  Joking, people...we really were joking!  After a very civilized lunch (meaning we sat at an actual table!), we were on our way back down to the cars, realizing we had passed what we had initially intended to hike by a couple of klicks already.  After having to strip off a few layers, due to the sun and heat, we all had to bundle up again.  And why, you ask?!  Because it is September and we were in the mountains...which are notorious for quick weather patterns.

Yup...that'd be SNOW!  Great big fat flakes of snow.  It wasn't that cold (okay, ask the others...I'm biased as I'm always hot these days), and it really was pretty.  We kept going down, down, down the mountain (snow stopped...sun came back out briefly), and then we decided we had to see the Troll Falls.  "Just" a quick side route off the trail...but worth it.

We finally started making our way back to the cars, and when all was said and done, we have covered 26kms and spent over 7 hours hiking, noshing, laughing (I entertained (or horrified) the others with tales of my social life) and generally spending another glorious day in the mountains.  May they never end.

Later,