Kananaskis Autumn Day

Blue, Green & Gold

This past Thursday was a beautiful autumn day. We couldn’t the resist combination of colours on display; the brilliant blue skies, the low hanging white clouds, the green pine forests and the golden aspens. Bob Bear and I chose to visit nearby Kananaskis Country, accompanied on this occasion by Dave Foreman. Although not a photographer, Dave enjoys being out in the mountains and thoroughly enjoyed the excursion.

My first photograph for today was taken near the south end of Barrier Lake, our first stop of the day, a short distance down Highway 40 From the Trans-Canada Highway. That’s Grant McEwan Peak on the opposite side of the lake and Yates Mountain at the far end.

This next photograph was taken from the bridge crossing the Kananaskis River, on the road up to Kananaskis Village and the Nakiska ski resort. That’s Mount Kidd, a well known landmark in K-Country, on the right. Other perspectives of Mount Kidd follow later in the post.

This is a partial view of Elpoca Mountain, seen as we continued our journey along Highway 40. With the sun behind me, I had good light on the mountain face and some nice clouds in the background. You’ll note the bright golden trees amid the green pines. These are larch trees, known in other parts of Canada as the tamarack tree. One of the most distinctive features of the larch tree is, it’s a deciduous conifer, meaning it sheds its needles annually in the fall, unlike most evergreen conifers. As is the case with the leaves of deciduous trees, the larch’s needles change colour before being shed.

My final picture for today, once again features Mount Kidd. This view was taken looking north, as we traveled homeward. In the foreground is the South Peak of Mount Kidd; in the background is the North Peak. The unique patterns in the rock were created by tectonic plate activity, as a number of plates began sliding underneath the North American Plate, thrusting the Rocky Mountains upward, distorting the layers of rock in the process. This all happened 55-80 million years ago.

It was a great day, concluded with the appearance of a mother grizzly and her cubs along the highway on our way home. I wasn’t able to get a good shot of this family, as they moved very quickly through the brush and long grass along the roadside. Here’s a shot of Mama I took through the window as we moved along.

That’s it for today’s post. I hope to take advantage of the fine weather we’re enjoying to do a few more photographic excursions, before it’s over. Brrrr!