Today’s drive covered 189 miles of beautiful vistas as the road climbs in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. We had driven slightly over an hour when I yelled, “look at those bears!” The shoulder was fairly wide so that we were able to pull off the road a bit beyond where they were munching on yellow flowers. We stood and watched for more than 20 minutes while Momma Black Bear three cubs wandered around in the grass. Although these are yearling cubs, they follow very close to Momma.
After another hour we were treated to a sighting of another family of Momma Black Bear and her three cubs. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of the second set but as we approached, one of the cubs was walking “balance beam style” on the jersey barrier. Momma Bear seemed to be saying, “Get down from there right now!”
As we passed through Stone Mountain Provincial Park we saw not stone sheep, which we’ve seen here in the past, but caribou. This caribou danced alongside our truck for some time. She clearly wanted to cross the road but was afraid of our noise.
As we climbed in altitude, the weather changed from bright and sunny to cloudy and chilly. When we passed by this frozen lake, Stan and Connie radioed to ask exactly WHERE we were leading them.
Of course, whenever you drive up 8% or 9% grades, you get the opportunity to drive back down the other side. This moose ran across in front of us as we were in 3rd gear on the downside slope.
At almost 2,700 ft. we came upon the beautiful Muncho Lake. The road along the lake is extremely windy and there are no guardrails. I was pleased to actually see a pull-off on the lake-side before we had passed it. Muncho Lake is known for its clear green water.
Yes, that is snow along the bank. A park employee later told us that the entire lake had been frozen as recently as last weekend. He said that the winds had changed direction and blown most of the ice to the other end of the lake.
As is my tradition, I did put my hand in the water and I can report that it was frigid. What an extreme difference is landscape and temperatures over a few hour and less than 200 mile period. Here Robert is enjoying the warm sunshine.
The gull seemed to pose for my pictures. I liked the contrast of his white feathers against the clear green water.
Frequent readers know that I will always stop to photograph bears. This big boy was no exception. He lumbered along the tree line allowing us plenty of time to take his picture.
Most interesting was the fact that this bison was sleeping less than 30 yards from the black bear. Neither animal seemed even aware of the other’s presence.
We ended the day at Laird River Provincial Park where we’re “dry” camping in a beautiful spot surrounded by trees. Although the campsites are large enough for our sized rig, the interior roads are rather narrow making it extremely difficult to back into many sites. Eventually we made it and were rewarded by this location.
We grilled steaks and had a delightful campfire without too many mosquitoes. Tomorrow we'll explore the hot springs.
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