Originally the plan for the Labour Day long weekend was a backpacking trip. However, when the forecast was calling for highs of 8 degrees with sideways rain we decided that we could think of a few better ways to spend some time off. The Saturday was looking great though, so we headed off for a day hike in Kananaskis Country. The Centennial Ridge trail is fairly fantastic, starting at the Nakiska Ski Resort on Highway 40 and continuing on over into the Deadman’s Flats area just east of Canmore. It takes about 40 km of driving to cover that distance given the way that the highways run, but its only a 16 km hike via the ridge.

It was one of those days where it seemed very hard to regulate temperature. At the bottom we were absolutely baking but once the wind hit it became bitterly cold.

They call this place the ‘Mushroom Garden’. I’ll be honest… I have no idea why. I do know that it looked cool though.

I didn’t really want to pack a tripod along on the hike because it seems like everytime I do it goes unused. So I was pretty impressed by Photoshop’s ability to stitch together 9 hand held images into the following Panorama. Click for a larger view.

Remember that temperature regulation thing? The backside was cold. I remember cursing myself as I took this picture for forgetting both my toque and a set of gloves.

Apparently my wife temporarily forgot the ‘stick-out-your-tongue-at-the-photographer-and-end-up-on-the-blog-rule.’ Either that or she just doesn’t care…