Canadian wildlife

Well, not so wild ......
As we hadn't seen a Grizzly bear in the wild, only Black bears, we decided to stop by Kamloops Wildlife park.
We were virtually alone in the 'zoo', as the tourist season seems to have stopped since the Thanksgiving weekend in early October.

A young male Grizzly with handy claws and the identifying hump on his back that shows he is a Grizzly not a Black bear!

 

 Mr Bison here seems to be having an eye popping moment!

The Lynx showing his powerful legs

A handsome Elk

 

Mustn't forget the chipmunk! Yes, I know they are everywhere in Canada but we don't have them in the wild in the U.K!

Vivid autumnal colours in the park.

Chinook and a surprise

We stopped one cold night at Oldman River Dam recreation area in the grasslands of Alberta.

Stephen observed sadly that it wasn't as attractive as the Rockies. 

We had mountains in the distance on one side of us with the dam and water on the other. 

Not so bad!

The weather was suddenly much warmer but rather windy. A colourful sunset followed all around us.

 

All in pink!

 

Then in the morning!

Out there in night wear! It was worth getting up early.

I have found out that a Chinook caused this temperature change and subsequent impressive sunset and sunrise.

A Chinook is a foehn wind which is a type of dry down-slope wind that occurs in the downwind side of a mountain range.

A strong Chinook can make snow one foot deep almost vanish in one day. The snow partly melts and partly evaporates in the dry wind. Chinook winds have been observed to raise winter temperature often from below -20°C  to as high as 10-20°C  for a few hours or days, then temperatures plummet to their base levels.

The winds can be so strong as to derail trains. I'm glad we didn't experience a strong wind like that.

Beautiful Banff

The mountains continue to amaze me. This is the road towards Banff from Jasper. A fabulous drive.

This bridge is one of the few especially for large wildlife to cross the road safely. Moose, Elk, Deer, Wolves, Coyote, Bears and Cougar are all seen using the bridges regularly via web cam.

The town of Banff itself despite the many shops, restaurants etc. had a charming character. We stayed in the Tunnel Mountain 11 campsite which had a bus every 20-40 minutes into town.
We enjoyed two great dinners, one in the Youth Hostel, a really fantastic place to stay to experience Banff on a budget and a Canadian themed up market restaurant in town, the Maple Leaf Grille.

Banff too, has it's chateau like hotel, the Fairmont Banff Springs. Rooms from $337.00. Cheaper in the campsite!
These castle like hotels were owned by the railways, in this case, Canadian Pacific.

This is the view from the hotel. A nice bit of landscaping!

We took the Banff gondola to the top of Sulphur mountain and then climbed to the old weather station via wooden steps to get this magnificent view of the valley.

Continuing my quest to see wildlife (from a distance), we took the Bow Valley parkway, a forested road.

Despite driving both ways in, unfortunately, poor weather, we only saw this Elk. Not the wild setting I imagined but he was after the leaves and ignoring all the camera happy tourists.

Mountains, Glaciers, Lakes and Clichés

I have come to understand the meaning of 'a month of Sundays' since travelling.
This week the Rocky Mountains have taken my breath away, overwhelmed me, rendered me speechless, literally.

A superb overnight spot at the Icefields Centre to visit the Athabasca Glacier.
The weather was turning cool.

We set off on foot to climb to the foot of the Glacier but were chased down by a blizzard, just as we reached the end of the trail.

                       

                             

The road out was shut in both directions due to accidents, so we stayed one more night.
 A very wintry scene to wake up to the next morning and -4c.

 The sun rising above the glacier.

Although the weather was worsening, we took the huge wheeled snocoach onto the glacier. We were allowed to walk within a prepared restricted area avoiding crevasses and holes. It was an amazing feeling to be standing on ice as thick as the Eiffel tower.

Next day, on towards Lake Louise. The road conditions improved as we passed snow covered mountains and more glaciers. The odd autumnal tree glowing amongst the fairytale snowscene.

This stunning vista is of Peyto lake. A glacier glowing in the background.

Lake Moraine. As its name suggests it had a big pile of moraine at the end of the lake. You can't see it here!

Ice sculpture formed from spraying a mist of water on grasses.

Our walk to admire the Lake Moraine was lakeside, avoiding the higher path for obvious reasons.

Fabulous Lake Louise in Banff National park. We had our first canoe experience on the lake with success.
It was delightful.

 The Lake Louise hotel in the background was a lovely setting for a late lunch after our exertion. We luckily had a fabulous table by the window.

This hamster like creature was wisely gathering grass to create a warm nest.

Glass like reflections on Emerald lake in Yoho National Park.

Kootenay National park is next on the list to see tomorrow.

 'On the road again'...

I was driven to write a blues, the 'TNT blues', recalling our long wait for the gear box, chorus ...get us on the road again, on the road again. Not fit for publishing but it scratched a creative itch.

Finally, we have a new working gear box and we headed straight from the Gear Centre garage in Edmonton, towards Jasper.

Our first overnight stop at Kinky Lake (!), Whitehorse Provincial Park, was just as I imagined Canada would be. We celebrated our release from Edmonton with some Bubbly, just here, just us. Aah!

And in the morning the view was even better.

On into Jasper to one of the few campsites still open, 'Whistlers'.
From there we took the beautiful drive to Maligne lake.
Medicine lake below was on the way. I have been so looking forward to seeing the autumn colours. We were just in time.

This chipmunk was not moving from finishing it's afternoon tea while we all snapped away.

It is Elk mating season and a frisky pair ran in front of the van as we entered the town campsite.
No bears today but a Grisly with a couple of cubs were in the camp two days ago. In August, the park rangers removed all the berry bushes to deter the bears from being a nuisance.
The Jasper town campsite, Whistlers is the largest in North America with over 700 woodland sites! Today, we are virtually alone in our loop, other than the odd Elk!

A Bear Trap ready!

 Maligne Lake.

This Mule deer and young made a dash in front of us walking along Lake Maligne soon followed by another pair from the forest. Relieved to find they weren't Elk.

Well, what have we been doing while waiting for our parts.....

Still in Alberta, near Edmonton

We have been mixing with celebrities. This is Buttercup, as seen on You tube. She famously skateboards. Her owner, funnily enough, comes from Aylesbury, UK, where I used to teach....small world!

With all the other campers, we have been polluting the atmosphere! Steak, marinated in red wine, cooked on the campfire was the best steak we have had for a long time.

The air was full of dragonflies in Pembina Provincial Park and in Wabamun town, 30km down the road, the dragonfly is the town symbol.











 

We walked into Wabamun town a few times, about 12km return, to shop and watch the boats launch in the marina.  Lots of water sport on the large lake here.
Locals drop boats into the water like wives drop commuting husbands off at the railway station.

I have been trying to keep up with yoga, inside the van to
avoid  'down dogging' in public. i.e. bum in the air. No photos!
Supine movements find me with one leg lopping into the loo, but needs must.

Along the river in Pembina Provincial Park we played Pooh log, a version of Pooh sticks but with logs! It passed the time with childish pleasure, as we walked along the river bed.

I enjoy the wild flowers and the trees starting to turn, especially when caught in the evening sun.

On first glance a nylon cord but no,
a Garter snake.

Bit of a mushroom theme developing over the weeks. I am attracted to their shape and texture, I suppose!

I hope we get fixed up soon.... ready to move on!