As 2020 seemingly devolves into further chaos, one fortunate counterpoint in my world has been the incredibly beautiful weather the last month has brought.

Sept 12 – Pocaterra Ridge

The larch tree (also known as a Tamarack in some areas), is a unique coniferous tree whose needles turn yellow and drop each autumn. Mid-late September is the ideal time to head to the hills to see these beautiful trees.

Sept 20 – Buller Pass

At the top of the pass we celebrated a new holiday we’ve dubbed Larch Day. It has a few key elements – in this next picture we are conducting the exchanging of the new socks (as an offering to the snow gods to ensure a good winter of skiing) and toasting with some whisky!

Since we had hiked quickly in the morning, we decided to descend towards the east and down to Ribbon Lake.

What goes down must come up, so we returned back home through Buller Pass again.

Sept. 26 – Burstall Pass

A word of advice – if you plan to hike to Burstall pass try to go very early in the morning, or on a weekday. This hike is madly popular to the point where the crowds will detract from the joy of being outside. It’s a very nice area, but I can’t figure out why it’s so popular – perhaps the effect of Instagram?

Sept 27 – Jumping Pound Loop

After a lovely morning of sailing in Calgary, this is a nice hike to do in the evening light.

Oct. 3 – Lineham Ridge

On this particular Saturday, we caught the best weather of the year – 18C, no wind and full sun!

Oct. 11 – Tombstone area, hiking in from Elbow Lake.

After we cancelled all our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend travel plans, we decided to stay closer to home and keep hiking. We had originally wanted to head high into the mountains at Piper Pass (~2500m) but the weather had other ideas this weekend.