Picture from Fire Tower Lookout in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park:
Showing posts with label Peter Lougheed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peter Lougheed. Show all posts
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Cloudy With a Chance of Thunder & Bears
Surprisingly we have hit our first patch of cloudy weather. We have hit some showers and some overnight rain in spots. It rained last night, and it was cold. This AM we woke not to our usual post rain partly cloudy moving toward sunny day, but low hanging clouds and a morning that threatened rain at any moment would not warm up. We are talking lots of layers that did not come off. We have deferred any hiking plans for a while and are using the late morning to be back at the visitor center (warm, dry & wifi) to catch up on a little Internet activity. We move to Banff tomorrow. Katie and Nate will be here on Saturday!
It looks like most folks with kids (including a large well behaved teenage group) were thinking the same thing. One of the things that Peter Lougheed Park features is a camping area and lodge for special needs families. It is nice to see so many families with special needs children (and young adults) at the visitor center and around the park.
The rains last night gave a dump of snow to the highest peaks we can see when the cloud part for a little bit. We are going to try for Rawson Lake later today and if it looks like a dump of rain there is a shorter trail that features the story of a Canadian Everest Expedition.
(All right, hold it right here, a guy just walked through the lounge area of the visitors center jingle jangling away. No wait now he is circling back through the exhibits, jingle jangle, jingle jangle. I glad he is doing the work of scaring the bears away, but beyond the stuffed grizzly near he entrance, I wonder how many bear he expected to find in here? )
The bear thing is very curious to me. Clearly there is no minimizing the fact that bears live here, they need the large unbroken ranges of forest to have enough land to flourish. It is also true that moving people into areas where bears live increases the chances of contact and contact with adverse effect on one or both parties. It is also proper for park conservationists to use the opportunity as a "teachable moment" and educate visitors to the needs of bears and the things humans can do to avoid adverse contact.
Forty years ago on my first trip to Banff (yeah, yeah, once again, big ups and shout outs to Doug Hammerstrom) we woke in the night to hear big banging sounds. The next morning we found that it wa bears. Two were sleeping up in a tree near our campsite For garbage at that time they used standard dumpsters. The bears figured out that by banging them on the side, they could rock them and if they rocked them hard enough, they could tip them scattering garbage and allowing easy access.
Thirty years ago on another trip, in the same campground, we had all our food for a four day trip out on the picnic table dividing it up. As we turned back to the truck to get something, a black bear walked out of the woods and feasted just on all our trip food shredding all the plastic storage bags.
Things are very different today. There is active bear management by managing humans. Bear proof containers garbage are everywhere. Signs are posted that you are in bear country, that you have to keep a clean camp, that food left unattended is a danger and rangers have the power to confiscate unattended food and take further action. There has not been a place we have stayed while in "bear country" where educational programs on bears have not been standard fare at visitor centers and evening camp programs. As a consequence we do see that tourists are very "bear aware" with bells and whistles and cans of bear spray on their belts. I was surprised at the number of places that would "rent" you a can of bear spray for $5 per day.
As, I tried to tell in one of my stories, we follow the best advice we heard in a ranger talk. Bells give you a false sense of security and can lull you into inattention. We like the active use of bear calls, conversation and singing. Your active response to the situation around you (are you in land where there are ripe berries, are you coming around a blind corner where you might surprise a bear) is a better defense than jingle jangle.
I guess that getting the general tourist a little overhyped on bear etiquette does have the ancillary effect of heightening awareness of bear issues in the mind of the general public. It does seem to exploit the fear factor a bit, and turn the likelihood of bear contact into a bit of a drama. However, if that allows the general public to gain some knowledge of bear management issues that they can take away from the parks, and be mindful of in their life as citizens, a little overkill is OK.
It looks like most folks with kids (including a large well behaved teenage group) were thinking the same thing. One of the things that Peter Lougheed Park features is a camping area and lodge for special needs families. It is nice to see so many families with special needs children (and young adults) at the visitor center and around the park.
The rains last night gave a dump of snow to the highest peaks we can see when the cloud part for a little bit. We are going to try for Rawson Lake later today and if it looks like a dump of rain there is a shorter trail that features the story of a Canadian Everest Expedition.
(All right, hold it right here, a guy just walked through the lounge area of the visitors center jingle jangling away. No wait now he is circling back through the exhibits, jingle jangle, jingle jangle. I glad he is doing the work of scaring the bears away, but beyond the stuffed grizzly near he entrance, I wonder how many bear he expected to find in here? )
The bear thing is very curious to me. Clearly there is no minimizing the fact that bears live here, they need the large unbroken ranges of forest to have enough land to flourish. It is also true that moving people into areas where bears live increases the chances of contact and contact with adverse effect on one or both parties. It is also proper for park conservationists to use the opportunity as a "teachable moment" and educate visitors to the needs of bears and the things humans can do to avoid adverse contact.
Forty years ago on my first trip to Banff (yeah, yeah, once again, big ups and shout outs to Doug Hammerstrom) we woke in the night to hear big banging sounds. The next morning we found that it wa bears. Two were sleeping up in a tree near our campsite For garbage at that time they used standard dumpsters. The bears figured out that by banging them on the side, they could rock them and if they rocked them hard enough, they could tip them scattering garbage and allowing easy access.
Thirty years ago on another trip, in the same campground, we had all our food for a four day trip out on the picnic table dividing it up. As we turned back to the truck to get something, a black bear walked out of the woods and feasted just on all our trip food shredding all the plastic storage bags.
Things are very different today. There is active bear management by managing humans. Bear proof containers garbage are everywhere. Signs are posted that you are in bear country, that you have to keep a clean camp, that food left unattended is a danger and rangers have the power to confiscate unattended food and take further action. There has not been a place we have stayed while in "bear country" where educational programs on bears have not been standard fare at visitor centers and evening camp programs. As a consequence we do see that tourists are very "bear aware" with bells and whistles and cans of bear spray on their belts. I was surprised at the number of places that would "rent" you a can of bear spray for $5 per day.
As, I tried to tell in one of my stories, we follow the best advice we heard in a ranger talk. Bells give you a false sense of security and can lull you into inattention. We like the active use of bear calls, conversation and singing. Your active response to the situation around you (are you in land where there are ripe berries, are you coming around a blind corner where you might surprise a bear) is a better defense than jingle jangle.
I guess that getting the general tourist a little overhyped on bear etiquette does have the ancillary effect of heightening awareness of bear issues in the mind of the general public. It does seem to exploit the fear factor a bit, and turn the likelihood of bear contact into a bit of a drama. However, if that allows the general public to gain some knowledge of bear management issues that they can take away from the parks, and be mindful of in their life as citizens, a little overkill is OK.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Sir Charles of Evans and the Fire Warden
More editing coming on this -
Sir Charles of Evans and the Fire Warden
dedicated to Sondra Grizzlyfingers and SIr Charles of Evans.
One day Sir Charles of Evans decided that he was going to become a Fire Warden. He thought he would enjoy his days in a fire tower keeping people safe from forest fires. He gathered his Merry Men and told them that they were going to take a hike, and at the end of the hike, he, SIr Charles of Evans was going to become a Fire Warden.
Sir Charles and the Merry Men started off on their hike. It was not an easy hike. The Fire Lookout was at the top of a mountain. At first the Merry Men thought it was fun, singing and laughing along. But, the hill got steeper, and it got longer. The trail went up forever. The Merry Men began to complain. It was hot. The trail was too long. Couldn’t they just stop and have a snack?
Sir Charles cut them off. “Are you not the Merry Men of Sir Charles of Evans?” he scolded. “You are all whiney bears! You sound like my sister Sondra Grizzlyfingers when she hikes! Get along there, up the mountain with you!”
And off they went again. The mountain did not get any shorter, it just got steeper, and longer. And the Merry Men did not stop complaining until it got so steep they were panting so hard they had to just breathe and couldn’t talk at all.
Finally after hours of hiking, they could see it just up the trail. With one last great effort they made it to the picnic area right next to Fire Tower Lookout. Sir Charles was excited. The Merry Men were pooped!
Sir Charles said,”On men, I am going to the top to become a Fire Warden!” but the Merry Men were already too busy lying on the ground or getting lunch out of their back packs.
Sir Charles ignored them and ran up the stairs. He burst through the door of the lookout and raising his hiking stick like a sword said, “I am Sir Charles of Evans, I demand that you make me a Fire Warden!”,
There was a man there looking out over the mountains with binoculars. He said, “Not happening buddy, this is a very busy day during a very busy fire season.” He had not taken his eyes off the mountains.
“ But, I am Sir Charles of Evans! I will storm the Fire Lookout with my Merry Men, and make you, make me a Fire Warden!”, said Sir Charles.
The Fire Warden glanced down at the picnic area. The Merry Men were all sprawled on the ground. Some had peanut butter and jelly smeared on their faces from stuffing their lunch. Most were fast asleep in the afternoon sun. “Yeah, good luck with that plan, Charlie,” he said. “And where to you come off being so bossy?”
Sir Charles said,”I am always bossy! I am Sir Charles of Evans! I boss my sister, Sondra Grizzlyfingers around all the time!”
“And how is that working out for you, Charlie? I’ll bet your sister doesn’t like it much being bossed around. I don’t think I like it either, but I do need some help, and I have a plan.”
The Fire Warden explained that he could not make Sir Charles a Fire Warden, but if Charlie was willing, he could help around the tower for the afternoon. He explained that it had been a very busy year for fires and today was the busiest of all. There were fires to the south in Montana, and there were fires to the north in Banff he had to keep track of. He was having trouble keeping up with the regular reports.
Charles agreed to help. He answered the radio when the warden was busy. He wrote down weather observations when needed. He became a second pair of eyes for the Warden.
But mostly, he learned about fires as the Warden talked as he worked. He learned that most forest fires were caused by lightning strikes, but sometimes careless human beings start fires by not putting their campfires completely out. He also learned that weather played an important role in how a fire spread and how it could be fought. The hotter and dryer it was, the harder it was to fight a fire.
He also learned that not all fires were bad fires. Fire is part of the cycle of nature. An old forest that burns, makes room for a new forest and is especially good for animals that live best with young plants, like deer who like low bushes and bears who eat berries, and birds make homes in dead trees.
Even that day the fire in Banff was being watched, but not being put out. That forest was being affected by the red pine beetle. It was attacking lots of trees and killing them. The fire was being left to burn in the hope that it would kill the red pine beetle and keep it from spreading. The trees would die but they would grow back after the fire. Hopefully the beetles would be killed and not spread to other forests.
Sir Charles learned that decisions about fighting a fire were tricky. It took a team of wardens, weather reporters, fire cews, foresters, animal biologists, and government official to make a fire plan. And they had to monitor the plan to be sure they had made the right choices.
That is why the Fire Warden was so busy. He was especially concerned with the fires to the south and the north. Sir Charles was a big help. He did look out to the west however and notice a large thunderstorm.
All of a sudden he saw lightning flash from the bottom of the cloud. It hit the ground and Sir Charles noticed an orange glow beneath it. A fire! Sir Charles tugged on the Fire Warden’s sleeve and said,”I am not trying to be bossy, but I think there may be a fire out to the west!”
The Fire Warden turned and trained his binoculars on the patch of orange. “Good job, Charlie!, that is a fire and it is very near a campground! This is one we have to fight to protect the buildings and people that might be there! I am going to call it in!”.
Sir Charles knew that with thunderstorms around, he and the Merry Men had to get off the mountain as the hike down would be as long as the hike up. He told the Fire Warden he had to leave, but as he left he said, “Sir, I now know that you can’t become a Fire Warden in one day. What should I do if I really want to be one?”
The Fire Warden said, “Charlie, remember what you saw here today. We work as a team to fight forest fires. We need lots of kinds of people to help make decisions around forest fires. We need people who understand about animals, and plants, people who understand fish and birds. We need weather people, we need figher fighters on the ground and pilots in the air, we even need computer people who can make models of how fires work so we can try out a decision on a computer model, to see if we have the right plan or have to change it.”
“My advice to you is to do your best in school, and work especially hard in science and math.
All of your hard work in school will pay off if you grow up an decide that fighting foret fires is what you want to do. And please, try not to be so bossy”
Sir Charles thanked the Fire Warden and went down to the picnic area. He woke up the Merry Men who were sleeping, wiped off the peanutbutter and jelly from the messy ones. He raised his hiking stick and pointed down the trail and gave the command to start.
“Tally Ho!” he shouted.
“Lets go!, shouted the Merry Men.
And off they went.
Kananaskis Country - Peter Lougheed Provincial Park
We moved to up to Kananaskis early this week, on the Monday of the August Long Weekend. W actually spent the last day in Waterton picnicking. It was another hot day, and everything was crowded with Canadians on holiday. We found a patch of shade under a tree on the lake near town, spread our chairs and a neat sheet and snoozed. The lake breeze and shade were enough to beat the heat. We had dinner in town, saying grateful goodbyes to Waterton Lakes.
Kanaskis is a series of parks and refuges which as I undersatnd it from a trip now 20 years distant was set aside to with money from Alberta's Heritage Fund whch I believe is funded mostkly from oil revenue. It interconnects Waterton to the south to Banff and Jasper to the north. It makes for one unbroken swath of protected land from Glacier (and the national forests around it) through the areas north of Jasper. Provincila Parks like Peter Lougheed, Assiniboine, Spray Lakes, and Sheep Elbow are not as "famous" as Banff, but are plenty pretty and in their own way have a majestic charm.
The travel bible of our outdoor adventures is the "The Canadian Rockies" by Patton and Robinson. I love these guys. We have read a lot of references to hikes and resources, but nobody says it cleaner, more straight forward or true than these fellows. What hey write about a trail is true, you can take it to the bank,
I was glad to see their latest edition covered Kananaskis. They describe Peter Lougheed Park generally (where we ended up staying) as a jumbled pattern of landscape. They suggested the by far the best place to observe the landscape by far wa at the Firetower Lookout whose connecting trail was about 500m from our campsite.
It wa a long plodding hill as the trail rose 500m (1500 feet) over 3 miles. It was not super steep but it was a long plodding effort. You just had to double clutch, throw it into low gear, put your head down, and keep putting one foot in front of the other. The reward was spectacular.
At the top the active Firetower Lookout offered a 240 degree panoramic view of the lakes complex of Peter Lougheed and the sweep of mountains behind it. Steep, gray granitic peaks, with sharp edges and jagged ridgelines covered the view in all directions except directly behind us. What had started out a a gray morning had broken into a day of sun and clouds and it was stunning.
The Fire Lookoutwas manned (and womaned as it turned out) and as the crowd thinned to just Marsha and I, we got a rare invite to come up to the private residence where the Fire Warden and his wife spent the fire season. The view from the upper porch was unobstructed. It was just amazing. Mountains to the left of us, mountains to the right of us, mountains in front of us, and lakes below. It was a s Patton and Robinson said, not a better view was to be had of these mountains, and they did look some how jumbled. I would say somehow tortured. Twisted in weird ways, stark and jagged, all in light gray. I will post some pictures but it will not do it justice.
Kanaskis is a series of parks and refuges which as I undersatnd it from a trip now 20 years distant was set aside to with money from Alberta's Heritage Fund whch I believe is funded mostkly from oil revenue. It interconnects Waterton to the south to Banff and Jasper to the north. It makes for one unbroken swath of protected land from Glacier (and the national forests around it) through the areas north of Jasper. Provincila Parks like Peter Lougheed, Assiniboine, Spray Lakes, and Sheep Elbow are not as "famous" as Banff, but are plenty pretty and in their own way have a majestic charm.
The travel bible of our outdoor adventures is the "The Canadian Rockies" by Patton and Robinson. I love these guys. We have read a lot of references to hikes and resources, but nobody says it cleaner, more straight forward or true than these fellows. What hey write about a trail is true, you can take it to the bank,
I was glad to see their latest edition covered Kananaskis. They describe Peter Lougheed Park generally (where we ended up staying) as a jumbled pattern of landscape. They suggested the by far the best place to observe the landscape by far wa at the Firetower Lookout whose connecting trail was about 500m from our campsite.
It wa a long plodding hill as the trail rose 500m (1500 feet) over 3 miles. It was not super steep but it was a long plodding effort. You just had to double clutch, throw it into low gear, put your head down, and keep putting one foot in front of the other. The reward was spectacular.
At the top the active Firetower Lookout offered a 240 degree panoramic view of the lakes complex of Peter Lougheed and the sweep of mountains behind it. Steep, gray granitic peaks, with sharp edges and jagged ridgelines covered the view in all directions except directly behind us. What had started out a a gray morning had broken into a day of sun and clouds and it was stunning.
The Fire Lookoutwas manned (and womaned as it turned out) and as the crowd thinned to just Marsha and I, we got a rare invite to come up to the private residence where the Fire Warden and his wife spent the fire season. The view from the upper porch was unobstructed. It was just amazing. Mountains to the left of us, mountains to the right of us, mountains in front of us, and lakes below. It was a s Patton and Robinson said, not a better view was to be had of these mountains, and they did look some how jumbled. I would say somehow tortured. Twisted in weird ways, stark and jagged, all in light gray. I will post some pictures but it will not do it justice.
We're Back!
We moved north from a couple of days ago in what is called Kananaskis Country. It is a series of provincial parks that sit between Wateron Lakes and Banff. The services here are limited. We have not had cell service nor easy access to electricity for a few days. We are staying at a campground in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. We are hanging out at the visitors center which has (finicky) public wifi and offered a program about Owls this AM. We will travel up to Kananaskis village this PM. The forecast is for rain (we had thunderstorms last night and Calgary about 45 mins away got hammered), but we may get some boating or fishing in. We are going to stay in Kananaskis country a few more days. Going to try to catch up on our adventure in the next few posts.
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