CR2012: Hummingbird Plume

The next day was supposed to be an easier day, but it did not feel like it. Perhaps it was the heat. Perhaps it was the trail that was a road.  Perhaps it was an emotional crash, a letdown after our spectacular day at Pocaterra Cirque and Ridge. At any rate, it ended up feeling like work!

We drove just a few minutes from the Delta Lodge to the Stoney Day Use parking, part of the Kananaskis Village area, at the bottom of this map.

We first set out to Troll Falls, at map center. The morning sun cast long shadows across the road.

As the map above shows, there is a plethora of trails in the area. Most of these are roads, including the one above, that are cross-country ski routes in winter. The early portions of our trails were well marked.

The spur to the falls was narrower than the main road, but still broad.

We quickly arrived at Troll Falls.

There was an overhang and limited ability to climb higher to the left of where the falls bisected the rocky bluffs.

Then it was time to climb, climb, climb on the broad road marked Skogan Pass Trail on the map at the top of this post. The sun also rose, rose, and rose. The moon was setting.

The scenery along the road wasn't much, but we did have some avian encounters.

At the site of the old Hummingbird Plume Fire Lookout, there is a decaying shack and a picnic table on a large patch of open ground.

The panorama itself is close by. It looks over Highway 40 and the mountains of the Elbow-Sheep Wildland Provincial Park.

With binoculars we picked out features along the road.

The recreational area across the road is the Mt. Lorette Ponds Day Use.

We took in the view, and returned to the picnic ground for lunch. The sun was too strong to eat at the picnic table, so we sat in shade at the edge of the opening instead. The view from Hummingbird Plume was good, but it suffered by comparison from yesterday's view from the south peak of Pocaterra Ridge.

As we left the plume we encountered a pair of amorous dragonflies. They would not sit still for long, and spent much of their time in the air, but I did manage one photograph. Their blue color and acrobatics were spell-binding (click to enlarge).

The trail was not very interesting, beyond the birds and flowers. Here's a typical section, about 25 minutes after leaving the plume.

We did have a good listen to a crossbill song on the upper reaches of this trail, but there's no picture to accompany it. Instead, here's a marvelous picture of the wild rose, Alberta's provincial flower, taken along the road as we gave our feet a rest.

We crossed this set of power lines twice on the way down.

Harebells are among our favorites, carrying many good memories of our earlier trips to the Canadian Rockies.

The heat, hard road, tired legs, and sore feet left us wishing for the hike to be over long before it was over. Our last wildlife sighting was this squirrel, spying on us as we adjusted our boots.

We survived the trip down. The parking area was now greatly congested; nobody seems to get an early start around here. A good supper, a good night's sleep, and we recovered for the next day.