When 3 car-pooling Ramblers met in Calgary at 7.45am it was spitting rain. On the drive west, the rain was considerably worse especially near the highway 40 intersection. But by 9.00am at the Pigeon Mtn TH, the rest of the crew all showed up and were ready to hike in the light rain except one who decided to return home. To be honest, the weather did not look promising with heavy clouds all around. Since the first part was mostly in trees, we decided to give it a go for at least 10 minutes. This 10 minutes turned into the whole 6+ hour day.

By the time we had reached the Skogan trail, the rain was already lessening and soon after we stopped for clothing adjustments which included raincoat removal. The trail up Pigeon Mtn continued steeply above treeline where we were lucky to see a flock of sheep blending in with the rocky hillside.

Sheep on the flanks of Pigeon Mtn, Kananaskis, near Dead Man's Flats

Higher still, we emerged from the valley cloud onto the lush ridge of Pigeon Mtn. The trail led diagonally to the main summit for lunch and some interesting views. Some flowers were also present.

Ramblers emerge from the valley clouds on Pigeon Mtn in Kananaskis

View from the main summit of Pigeon Mtn in Kananaskis

Ramblers on the main summit of Pigeon Mtn

It felt cool to me by the time we had finished lunch, so we headed over to the secondary summit with weather station for a group pic. now in a ping-pong ball

Ramblers on the secondary summit of Pigeon Mtn

We didn't hang around but returned to treeline the way we had come. Looking back, a couple of sheep were in silhouette on the ridge. We also passed a few other groups before a final break at treeline

Ramblers re-enter the trees on descent from Pigeon Mtn

With good conversation we were back at our cars by 3:15pm. Thanks to everyone who persevered despite the mixed weather and especially to Ulrike for the good photos. The RMRA database gives 15km with 1000m elevation gain, but previous GPS's have measured nearer 16km and 1200m gain. No snow of any consequence, new or old. It turned out to be a far better day than looked possible at 9.00am.

Participants: Sim,David,Jeannette,Janice,Ulrike,John,Lara.