Definitely Different Day

Driving along Highway 40, then veering off to head towards the Interlakes Parking Lot, I was surprised to see the lack of snow and lack of ice.  It was immediately obvious that the snowshoes would be staying behind.  Today's plan was to attack the Upper Kananaskis Lake in a clock-wise direction and I was glad a few others were game to tackle it with me.

I had hoped for a little more blue in the sky then what Mother Nature offered us but so happy she gave up a bit at just the right time to allow me to get this pretty picture.  The Lake was quite full and there were no frozen sections at all, so we were not able to get close to the tree stumps early on in our hike.

The abundance of gorgeous reflections certainly out weighted the disappointed in lack of frozen edges.  To think we are into November and still able to enjoy golds and oranges was surprising to me.  You just never know what you are going to get when you head to the mountains.

I strolled to the end of the above little peninsula to get closer to the color.

The section of trail leading away from the Upper Kananaskis Lake parking lot had a bit of snow but still nothing near worthy of snowshoes.  There were lots of newly down big trees across the trail and we just worked our way over or around them, depending on their size.  We made our way to the water falls and once again I was surprised at the lack of frozen sections.

I remembered there being a wonderful place to play and I was excited when we reached it.  What a place to take 30 minutes to "breathe"!   We had to be picky with picking stumps as the water around them was not frozen.  We stuck with the stumps closest to the trail.

stumps & reflections

With our trek being a loop today, there was no summit to reach, nor a destination spot to arrive at.  I then needed  a "spot shot" so went for this!  This photo took some time to get due to slippery stump tops and not a large area for foot placement.    This was a fun area and every second spent here was worth it.

Shortly after the stump section, we arrived at The Pointe Campground.  This was a great area to play photographer.  I picked out a perfect campsite that I want to spend a night at one night and this would be my view.  Having hiked briskly through the treed sections allowed us to spend more time at these gorgeous open sections.

I am not sure why this photo took on a pinkish cast, but I'm sure glad it did.  I was playing with some settings on my camera and I cannot remember which setting I took this photo with.  I could have stayed and lingered longer here but the days are short these days and we needed to hit the trail for the last stretch back.

Nearing the end of our hike, we were still presented with color, from gold tones on one side to turquoise hues on the other.   Even in between there was a variety of color in the form of thoughts and conversations amongst us.   It's all these colors that make for fun and memorable days playing in the mountains.  NOTE:  If you click on any photo, it will make it full size for better viewing and reading.