We went for a drive to a nearby lake in Banff, and lo and behold we saw stacks of elk, including one impressive stag on the side of the road. Then things got even more interesting, climatically. It snowed, and snowed and snowed. We had a weird-@rse dinner at a fondue restaurant, complete with bison head wall displays and then we gambolled in the snow.
The next morning the snow was thick on the ground and it looked like we might actually be snowed in - but, taking the bull by the horns we headed up the Icefields parkway to Jasper.
This is the most staggering piece of road I have ever driven. You cannot imagine the grandeur of the mountains and the fact that it had snowed the day before gave the trees and amazing white dusting, turning mountains into giant silverbacked beasts.
And, to throw a bit more into the mix, we saw a mountain goat along the way. We thought things couldn't get much better but we had no idea what the next day (yesterday) would bring.
So, yesterday dawned bright, sunny crisp blue-skied. We took a tramway (which is actually a sky gondala - amusing name really - they even called the trips flights) right to the top of Whistler's Mountain. Then wandered around in the snow as close to the heaven's as you'd want to get (quite short of breath due to the thin air). The views were, of course, spectacular.
Then we headed into town and, thanks to both feeling tired and me having one of my trademark headaches we took a breather for an hour or so - and it was truly fortunate we did. This meant when we took another drive - this time to Medicine and Maligne Lakes - it was later in the afternoon - and we were in for an amazing treat.
When we got to Medicine Lake (named because its actually a lake that comes and goes depending in the glacier melts - it disappears from Ocotber until around March - the natives thought it was bad luck place so the name Medicine Lakes comes from bad medicine) - lo and behold walking out in the middle of the late was a moose! Yep - you can spend all you time looking into the trees and then Canada slaps a moose in a lake. It's like some grand joke at tourists expenses. Give yourself a headache peering into trees for hours and then we'll send you an aquatic moose.
So, first moose - woo hoo. And then about 1 km down the road, right on the side of the road (2 metres away) there was a hoary marmot (yeah - amusing name I know) - kinda dog-sized guinea pig).
Two new animals up for the day and feeling happy with ourselves. But it just got better. 10 minutes up the road a swag of cars were pulled over - we stopped as well (this seems to happen a lot up here in Jasper) and - strike me pink - it was a black bear ambling along just off the road. More amazing shots - again - couldn't get better.
Wrong - once we'd got out to Maligne Lake (which was stunning, as everything seems to be up here) - we'd pottered back along the road and again swa a car pulled over. We stopped as well and this time in the bushes there was a caribou and her calf. What makes this doubly special is that there were only 8 caribou in the this whole area and it's rare to see them at all.
An amazing day - following on from two previously amazing days. We even saw more mule deers and elk but they are so passe now.
Our animals now include:
Squirrels (by the bucketload)
Chipmunks (also in household appliance quantities)
Elk (till they are coming out of our ears)
Mule deers (like the elk)
Orcas
Seals (harbour, californian, Stella)
Humpback whales
Racoons
Mountain Goat
Bighorned sheep
Black-tailed deer
Pine Marten
Hoary Marmot
Moose
Caribou
Black Bear
Tomorrow we hop on the train across northern Canada to Prince Rupert.
The next morning the snow was thick on the ground and it looked like we might actually be snowed in - but, taking the bull by the horns we headed up the Icefields parkway to Jasper.
This is the most staggering piece of road I have ever driven. You cannot imagine the grandeur of the mountains and the fact that it had snowed the day before gave the trees and amazing white dusting, turning mountains into giant silverbacked beasts.
And, to throw a bit more into the mix, we saw a mountain goat along the way. We thought things couldn't get much better but we had no idea what the next day (yesterday) would bring.
So, yesterday dawned bright, sunny crisp blue-skied. We took a tramway (which is actually a sky gondala - amusing name really - they even called the trips flights) right to the top of Whistler's Mountain. Then wandered around in the snow as close to the heaven's as you'd want to get (quite short of breath due to the thin air). The views were, of course, spectacular.
Then we headed into town and, thanks to both feeling tired and me having one of my trademark headaches we took a breather for an hour or so - and it was truly fortunate we did. This meant when we took another drive - this time to Medicine and Maligne Lakes - it was later in the afternoon - and we were in for an amazing treat.
When we got to Medicine Lake (named because its actually a lake that comes and goes depending in the glacier melts - it disappears from Ocotber until around March - the natives thought it was bad luck place so the name Medicine Lakes comes from bad medicine) - lo and behold walking out in the middle of the late was a moose! Yep - you can spend all you time looking into the trees and then Canada slaps a moose in a lake. It's like some grand joke at tourists expenses. Give yourself a headache peering into trees for hours and then we'll send you an aquatic moose.
So, first moose - woo hoo. And then about 1 km down the road, right on the side of the road (2 metres away) there was a hoary marmot (yeah - amusing name I know) - kinda dog-sized guinea pig).
Two new animals up for the day and feeling happy with ourselves. But it just got better. 10 minutes up the road a swag of cars were pulled over - we stopped as well (this seems to happen a lot up here in Jasper) and - strike me pink - it was a black bear ambling along just off the road. More amazing shots - again - couldn't get better.
Wrong - once we'd got out to Maligne Lake (which was stunning, as everything seems to be up here) - we'd pottered back along the road and again swa a car pulled over. We stopped as well and this time in the bushes there was a caribou and her calf. What makes this doubly special is that there were only 8 caribou in the this whole area and it's rare to see them at all.
An amazing day - following on from two previously amazing days. We even saw more mule deers and elk but they are so passe now.
Our animals now include:
Squirrels (by the bucketload)
Chipmunks (also in household appliance quantities)
Elk (till they are coming out of our ears)
Mule deers (like the elk)
Orcas
Seals (harbour, californian, Stella)
Humpback whales
Racoons
Mountain Goat
Bighorned sheep
Black-tailed deer
Pine Marten
Hoary Marmot
Moose
Caribou
Black Bear
Tomorrow we hop on the train across northern Canada to Prince Rupert.
RSS Feed
