Sunrise Hill 11 11 11

I am so very thankful that I get to do pretty much anything I want to do, where I want to do it and when I want to do it.  I wanted to hiked this Remembrance Day because I am ready, willing and most importantly able to.  Freedom!  I cherish my freedom!  On a day that is all about never forgetting, I also remembered to prioritize on what and who are important in my life.

Our Remembrance Day started with a steep hike up the trail of the south face of Powderface Ridge.   Neither of us been up here before so I was relieved to see the trail was obvious.  Once out of the trees, the wind was fierce but we were fiercer and fought it.  At this point I already knew the scenery was to be a photographer's dream.

I know this area can be predominantly windy so I cannot imagine that there is ever much snow accumulation here.

I zoomed in on Prairie Mountain and could see it was windy there too.

When I am on that summit I can never capture a shot of the flag waving so perfectly as it is here.

Moose Mountain

We spied the cairn and what looked like a flag on a summit which I believed to be Powderface Ridge South Face.  The sign said "Welcome to Sunrise Hill"!  My thought was where the heck are we?  Where is Powderface Ridge?  We missed a turn off I guess.   We had plenty of time to capture our summit shots, and get back down to shelter to take our two minutes.

back down 

The watch struck 11:00 on the 11th day of the 11th month. 

We stopped to acknowledge and take those two minutes of silence.  

The wind settled too.  

We had an early lunch then decided to explore further along a ridge we saw earlier.  

As you can see, we needed to stay bundled up.  

The wind returned and it had a powerful chill with it as we hiked into it.

along the ridge

descending off the ridge

 further down the slope

We only saw four other folks, two sets of two, the whole while we were in the area and that was well after our summit visit and lunch. The distance we had covered was not up to our usual lengths but given a mid week day this was ideal.  I had one look back before coming off the last short slope to the road.

What a great day to be "out & about"!  Remembrance Day has so much meaning and I was so happy to be able to share it with my friend.  With the beautiful scenery and fresh cold invigorating air, I felt inspired and motivated to get my X-C Skis up out of the basement when I got home and brush the dust off.   The time will soon come to strap those on but until then, there is still hiking ground to cover.  Stay tuned!