Wildlife Custer State Park, Custer, South Dakota

We saw lots of wildlife at Custer State Park. They have a special loop road for viewing and we saw lots of buffalo, and more antelope than I have ever seen in any trip west in my life. There are wild burros in teh park, left over from a herd that was set loose many years ago. Somehow these were not "wildlife" to the tourists who allowed the burros to stick their heads into car windows, who fed them carrots, and generally saw them as tame ponies. Have not yet, and when will we learn that this torist behavior is so wrong and is bad for teh animals. I thought this kind of stuff was done with, but I guess not. Wnder what a missed bite of a burro would do to a finger or perhaps a swift heel kick would do to the side of an SUV...

 

Wildlife Bingo

We have kept a log of wildlife we saw on the trip. Mostly large mammals as if you listed every bird or every ground squirrel, chipmunk, pica, and marmot, we would be even more long, boring and pedantic than usual. So this more a log of animals we found interesting and for those playing wildlife bingo we missed two large mammals, a grizzly bear and the mostly solitary moose:

1. Deer (white tail, black tail, mule), lots of deer
2. One male deer in Waterton who visited our campsite two mornings in a row in Waterton Lakes
3. Rock Bass
4. Common Loons
5. Brown Heron 
6. Snapping Turtle
7. Dead Skunk in the middle of the road
8. Pelican or Ibis (white bird)
9. Range Cattle
10. Wild Horses
11. Domestic Range Sheep
12. Rocky Mountain Sheep
13. Bison (solitatry and in herds - TRNP,Yellowstone) LOTS of bison
14. Antelope
15. Rabbits
16. Prairie Dogs
17. Vultures
18. Hawks
19. American Bald Eagle - one mature, and one juvenile both fishing in lakes
20. Lazuli Bunting
21. Black Bear
22. Mountain Goats
23. Owls (we actually did not see but heard various owls in Banff, Yoho, and Yellowstone)
24. Grouse
25. Golden Eagle
26. Weasel or Mink
27. Rainbow Trout
28. Cutthroat Trout
29. Green Cutthroat Trout
30. Brook Trout
31. Canadian Magpie
32. Great Blue Heron
33. Wolf
34. Elk (lots of Elk especially in Yellowstone)
35. Trumpeter Swans
36. Black Racer Snake

Wildlife Bingo

We have been keeping a list of the wildlife we have run into, especially large mammals. Suffice it to say that there multiple species of ground based chipmunks, squirrels, prairie dogs, marmots, and pikas a that have graced our picnic tables, boldly tried to steal our food, made lots of chattering noises, and yesterday ran up my pant leg (when I was wearing shorts! Hantavirus of the groin I can do without.) About the same for birds. Lots of western type jays and smaller birds around our campsites that we did not specifically add to our list.

1. Deer - Mule & Black
2. Rock Bass
3. Snapping Turtle
4. Dead Skunk in the middle of the road
5. White bird - pelican or ibis?
6. Wild horses
7. Bison - lots of places
8. Antelope
9. Prairie Dogs
10. Rabbit
11. Vultures
12. Bald Eagle
13. Lazuli Bunting
14. Black Bear
15. Mountain Goats
16. Heard Owls
17. Male Deer with big rack at Waterton
18. Partridge or Grouse
19. Weasel or Mink
20. Rocky Mountain Sheep
21. Rainbow Trout
22. Cutthroat Trout
23. Brook Trout
24. Canadian Magpie
25. Great Blue Heron
26. Wolf
28. Elk galore
29. Trumpeter Swan

This list may geta few more additions but we think a grizzly bear. di pretty well. I do not think we can claim a full card bingo. Two animals that did not show up to the party were a moose (they are pretty solitary) and a grizzly bear. 

Yellowstone Part 5 - You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd!

To get one last hike hike in in Yellowstone we took the advice of a couple of neighbors who were on full touring bikes and spent a couple of days camped next to us. They had gone up to the Pelican Valley trail expressly to see grizzly and were successful seeing one with cubs across the meadow. We decided to go for it!

The Pelican Valley is an offshoot of the Lamar Valley. The trail does not gain much elevation until you are a good ways out so we thought it would be a good out and back.

The Pelican Valley is prime grizzly habitat. It is only open after August 15 and you can only hike there from 9AM to 7 PM when it is open. It is also an area where groups of 4 or more are recommended making noise as they travel. We learned all this at the trail head info kiosk, as our neighbors had not mentioned the above.

The parking lot was full of cars, some with horse trailers. We were two but had seen a group of four head out just as we were pulling in. We had bear spray. We went back and forth, forth and back, and finally decided to pack up and go out.

We went through a the trees that separated the parking area from the grassland of the valley floor. It was a big, expansive meadow about three miles from side to side and at least a half mile to the next tree line.

As we stepped out, we noticed a herd of bison on our left about 200 yards away. As we watched it was clear that they were grazing slowly, but moving from our left to our right. Their path would take them grazing over the trail we would be on.

Dilemma. If we went down the trail it would put us on the far side of the herd with them blocking our way back to the parking lot and safety of our car. We could keep moving to reach some safety by going all the way across and getting to the trees on the far side, but faithful readers will know that we described the power and speed of buffalo we saw in the Hayden Valley a couple of posts ago. We decided that we should just kind of watch for a while and take some pictures.

Bison herds don't move together as much as they mosey here and there. The also don't move in a straight line. As the moved closer we became aware of some of them moving through the trees that bordered the parking lot. We stepped back, all eyes peeled. More of them moving into the trees and now threatening to cut off our escape route to the car. Couple steps back to compensate. More bison moving closer. We stood near the car. Closer. We opened the doors. Closer. Crap! We threw off the backpacks, shoved them in the back and and dove into the car. The parking area became full of bison, all around the car.

They did finally move on but for about 10 minutes we were in the middle of the herd. We got to see one young fella nursing on his mom. Now I don't want to upset the Wyoming Chapter of the Bison La Leche League, and I have nothing against nursing in public or nursing until the child is ready, but this guy was a teenager, and he had horns! No way should he been digging around in there with that apparatus. Momma bison should have cu the cord a while ago!

So here we sit. Bears somewhere out in front of us, bison off to the right but still in the area. If we walked out into the meadow and they decided to wander back, the bear spray could get a couple but just might tick off a couple more. We decided to abandon the hike, take a few more pictures and hike a shorter trail just down the road. Our last hike in Yellowstone. Here are some pictures:

Yellowstone Part 4 - The Buffalo & Others Do Roam!

We knew from previous visits that Yellowstone's Hayden Valley was a prime place to see bison, especially in the evening. And as it turns out, so does everybody else. We made it our business to make our trips take us through Hayden just after suppertime. It was crowded with car pulling over to yank out cameras, and we saw one car that went over the edge of the road not in a designated turn out (no one hurt, but if the car went much further it was going down a steep hill) . The Park Rangers were taking pictures and the car was scraped on the side, so maybe it was a the result of a side swipe.

It also was clear that some folks had this Hayden Valley thing down to a science. Spotting scopes, long lenses, and bag chairs set up in the best places for viewing. The animals did not disappoint. Lots of elk, antelope, deer, and herds of bison.

We enjoyed bison near, we enjoyed bison far, we enjoyed bison playing, and running near our car! Bison kind of scoot as they run and they move FAST! We had the experience of having a herd split into groups on both sides of the road, and having a couple of males disagree on what side of the road whom should be on. It got sorted out but not before a couple of young guys came barrelling across the plain, and cutting through the parking area where we were to get back to where they should be.

The Hayden Valley is beautiful in its own right with subtle colors of green sage, yellow grasses, green trees, brown valley sides and big blue skies. Add a few wild animals and it is wonderful.

One of our big learnings was that Hayden is not the only beautiful valley. In our explorations of thermal features (aka driving Steve to yet another river so he can try to fish) we got to explore other valleys with wildlife. I would put the Lamar Valley in the northeast corner on a par with Hayden, big beautiful with lost of animals and especially bison (see upcoming story).

We got to see a wolf in the Norris geyser basin! Light gray, just turning and heading into the woods. We heard multiple stories one day of an elk that had died near the road in Hayden and wolves coming down to take care of the carcass. A grizzly also came for lunch, and that was enough for the Rangers as people with rocks for brains were running up with cameras and they had to take the carcass away.

Where were we? Steve was annoying trout!

Yellowstone - Part 2: Wildlife - Elk

I think that the best part of Yellowstone is the wildlife. It is a BIG park, although my New York friends will remind folks that Adirondack State Park is actually bigger than Yellowstone. We did a lot of driving to check out places where we had not been before. We were rewarded everyday with new wildlife experiences.

I have already chronicled the adventures of the lovesick elk in our campground over on Facebook. When we arrived the wonderful concessionaires of Xanterra put us up in the group camping area away from the main campground loops. Until the weekend people were sparse but not so the elk. Lots of male bugling, most nights all night. It was the first time I had heard the cows (thank you, Douglas, but you know a doe by any other name will taste as good - if you are cleaning out the freezer before you move) mewling back.

We saw lots of elk all over the park. Roadways, across meadows, up valleys. At Mammoth one fine gentleman bull had gathered 20 cows on the grassy islands between the parking areas in downtown (Our guy at the Grant Village Campground was holding on to 5). Talk about an elk jam. People are generally nuts about wildlife and leave all reason at the car door. Pity the poor Ranger girl who had to politely but very firmly get the thrusting and diving throng back far enough for pictures without interspecies mayhem. And the dude was in no hurry to round 'em up and get them someplace more private. He had the harem of harems and strutting your stuff in public was just fine. He had twenty babes at his beckoning, why not show the city peeps, what a  lucky man he was.

Jimmy Sheep and the Embraceable Ewes

Jimmy Sheep and the Embraceable Ewes

dedicated to Sondra Grizzlyfingers, Sir Charles of Evans, and JPB - who better have done the 50 mile route today!

There once was a Greek boy from the town of Lebanon.His name was Jimmy Sheep. Jimmy liked to run. No, Jimmy loved to run. He ran for the love of it. He did not care about how fast he ran  or how far  he ran. Running just made him feel good. Everyday, early in the morning,  he would put on his nylon shorts and singlet running shirt (you know the kind with no sleeves, that looks like an undershirt) and he would run.

He ran all over town. People in Lebanon got a little curious, because he looked like he was running around in his underwear. They began to follow him in their cars to see what he was up to. Some wondered that because it was so early in the morning maybe he was having a case of sleepwalking.  Maybe he was getting out of bed and running all over town in his shorts and singlet that looked like an underwear. Maybe he loved running so much he was not just sleepwalking, he was sleep running! Would it be safe to wake him up as he ran?

Finally one man got up enough courage to drive his truck up along side as he ran and said, “Hey, what are you doing running all over town in your underwear? Are you crazy?”

Jimmy answered, “I am not crazy, I am Greek! I am only a little bit crazy and a whole lot stubborn.” The man went back and told all the others that there wa nothing wrong, there was just this Greek kid who was a little bit crazy and a whole lot stubborn running around in his running clothes.

Pretty soon Jimmy ran out of roads to run on in Lebanon. He started to run on road outside of town. Other folks in other towns began to see him running. They would point at him and say, “Hey, thats that crazy Lebanese kid that runs everywhere!”

Jimmy Sheep would say, “I am NOT Lebanese, I am Greek. I am only a little bit crazy and a whole lot stubborn!”

On his runs, Jimmy Sheep would run by farms. He would see cows. He would see horses. He would see goats. One day he saw sheep. Beautiful sheep! Fluffy, white, cute and cuddly were the sheep he saw. He was amazed that there was an animal that had his last name. He knew that he had to have sheep of his own.

He ran home and started bugging his parents. His mother said, ‘You are crazy!”

Jimmy said, “I am not crazy, I am Greek! I am only a little bit crazy, and a whole lot stubborn!”

And his mother said, “Well, I am Greek too and I can be just as stubborn, no sheep!”

But JImmy Sheep was stubborn-er. He kept bugging his Mom and Dad about sheep. For a whole year it was nothing but sheep this and sheep that. Slowly he was wearing them down. They decided that he had to prove that he was ready for sheep. He had to learn about different breeds of sheep. He had to build a pen, and a sheep shed for the sheep. He had to use the Internet to learn how to take care of them. He went to the library and found a book by a famous French shepherd - “Sheep in the Barn by I. Scoop dePoop”.

Finally after all his work, his parents decided that he had proven he was ready and allowed him to get sheep. He got three female sheep, which became known as the Embraceable Ewes. Every morning he would put on his running clothes and his rubber barn boots and go out and feed, water and take care of the sheep. He then would switch to his running shoes and take off for his runs. All around towns he was now known as that crazy Lebanese Suburban Shepherd, to which he always replied,  “I am not Lebanese, I am Greek! I am only a little bit crazy and a whole lot of stubborn!”

Day after day he took care of his sheep and then went out on his runs. He began to notice that the sheep looked a little sad. He was not sure but he thought they were trying to tell him something. One day he swore that when they bleated out their morning greetings they were saying, “We are saaaaaad. We want to have laaaaaambs. We need to have husbaaaaaands.”

Jimmy Sheep thought about this. He realized that he would also like to have some lambs around next spring. He needed to find husbands for the Embraceable Ewes. In his Internet research about raising sheep, Jimmy Sheep had found that the best and strongest kind of sheep were Rocky Mountain Sheep. They lived high in the mountains in the USA and Canadian Rockies. Jimmy thought that if he was going to find husbands for his sheep, he wanted the best and the strongest sheep.

Jimmy Sheep had also run across another Internet reference about a man called Terry Fox. At the time Jimmy did not think much about it except that this man also loved to run, and that he also had an animal as his last name, same as Jimmy.

He read further about Terry Fox  and learned he was a famous Canadian runner. As a young man Terry Fox was an athlete who played many sports. He was best at basketball. One day he hurt his knee and it would not get better. When he had it checked out, it was found that he had cancer in his leg. The only chance to save his life was to try to stop the cancer from spreading. The doctors would have to cut off his leg. Bravely, Terry decided to take this dramatic step.

As he recovered in the hospital and got fitted for an artificial leg, Terry made friends with other cancer patients. While he was getting better, some of them got worse, and sadly they died. Terry never forgot how brave they were. He tried to understand why he had been saved but others had to die from this disease.

Terry learned that there was not enough money going into research that could lead to cures from cancer. He decided that when he was well enough to run with his artificial leg, he would do something to raise money to fight cancer. He decided that he would try to run all the way across Canada, artificial leg and all. He would ask every Canadian to give $1 to fight cancer. At the time there were about 24 million people living in Canada. Terry was going to try to raise $24 million dollars!

Terry started his run and the people of Canada got all excited about it. They all got behind him as he ran from the east to the west. Unfortunately, Terry Fox never finished his run. About 3/4 of the way across, Terry discovered that he was again sick from cancer. Even with taking his leg and with follow up treatment, the cancer had come back. This time it took his life and he never finished his run.

It was sad, but Terry’s run made an impression on the Canadian people. Jimmy Sheep learned that the Canadian people were so proud of Terry Fox’s bravery that there are statues of Terry all along the route he ran, and runners who run the route every year to continue to raise money to fight cancer. There is even a mountain in Canada named after Terry Fox!

Jimmy Sheep was still thinking about his problem of finding husbands for the Embraceable Ewes when he remembered Terry Fox’s story. All of a sudden it hit him! He could run from Lebanon, up through New York and then across Canada just like Terry Fox did. He could run to Mount Terry Fox, find Rocky Mountain sheep and get some to come back with him to be husbands for the Embraceable Ewes. It would be great! He could tackle two things at once! He could run and run and run and run and at the end he would find husbands for the Embraceable Ewes!

When he told people about his idea, they said, “You ARE, crazy!”

Jimmy Sheep said, “I am not crazy, I am Greek! I am only a little crazy and a whole lot stubborn!”

And off he went running in his running singlet and nylon shorts. When people saw him on the road in New York and Canada they stopped him and asked why he was running around in his underwear. When he told them he was running across Canada they said, “Oh, you are that crazy Lebanese kid!”

Jimmy Sheep said, “I am not Lebanese! I am not crazy! I am Greek! I am only a little crazy and a whole lot stubborn!”

As he ran he told the story of Terry Fox and how he ran to fight cancer. He asked people to donate money to fight cancer. He ran and ran and ran.

Finally he was at the bottom of Mount Terry Fox. He ran up to the top looking for Rocky Mountain Sheep. At the end of a small meadow he saw three young rams. He walked over quietly so he would not scare them. He told them that he was looking for three Rocky Mountain sheep to come home with him to Lebanon to be husbands for the Embraceable Ewes. The rams said,”You are crazy!”

Jimmy Sheep said, “I am not crazy, I am Greek! I am only a little bit crazy and a whole lot stubborn!”

The rams walked away shaking their heads thinking they were done with the Suburban Shepherd from Lebanon. They had forgotten about the stubborn part.

Jimmy Sheep would not give up. He followed them all over the mountain. When they ran up the cliffs, he ran up the cliffs. When they ran down the valleys he ran down the valleys. Just like his mother and father he wore them down. FInally, the rams gave up and said they would come to Lebanon and become husbands for the Embraceable Ewes.

Jimmy led them down Mount Terry Fox. He did not make them run back to Lebanon. He put them on a train and rode all the way home. When they got to Lebanon the rams and the ewes hit it off. Next spring Jimmy Sheep, the rams, and the Embraceable Ewes are hoping for a lot of little laaaaaaaambs running around the Lebanon pasture. And a lot of people who heard about the adventure donated money for research to cure cancer.  All because Jimmy Sheep was Greek. You know, only a little bit crazy and a whole lot of stubborn.

Elk in Banff

A lone elk grazing on the banks of the creek leading into First Vermillion Lake.

Catching Up #3 - Elk in the Bushes / Lake Louise

Time to get back to posting from the here and now. We are enjoying breakfast at the the HI/ACC Lake Louise Hostel. In truth it is more like a hotel, but with hostel amenities. It has a restaurant, lounge area, showers and a sauna! The rooms are very nice and it has been easy to charge up the electronics. Wifi is well, funky is the most generous term.

We are in the common kitchen having breakfast. Katie and Nate arrived Saturday late afternoon. We did the quick tour of downtown Banff and had dinner in Tommy's Pub. Then it was off to Johnston Canyon Campground.

Marsha and I spent the day in and out of Banff waiting for the kiddos. We (Marsha)  managed to get laundry done, we did get in a bike ride, a canoe ride, and pick up a ticket for overtime parking. The tourist map they handed down at the infor center said that the lot we chose was had 12 hour parking. The sign on the pole said 3 hour limit like all the rest of the lots ($50 fine).

We did the bike ride out Vermillion Lakes Drive on a bike path. A you head out past the lakes and the wetlands created by them the vistas opened up back towards town. Very nice. I learned that I was as dumb as a bear as at one point we had to go through an animal control gate that kept animals off the highway. I could not figure it out until some other riders came from the other direction and quickly lifted the latch.

On the way out we passed the Banff Canoe Club where they rent kayaks and canoes. On the way back we got a text that Katie & Nate were being delayed at the rental car counter. So, we did an hour rental on a double kayak. We cruised First Vermillion Lake which was the the typical blue/green of a glacial fed lake. On the way back there was a small creek that entered the lake near the boat dock. We went up the creek  a few hundred meters. As we rounded a corner there was an elk browsing in the low brush. Big rack as all elk do but was cool to see how it lowered its head and stripped the leaves off the branches by ripping up. We were able to paddle by quietly up stream, and then float by quietly in the slow current. It was very cool.

I am being told that breakfast is now over, and we have to get our rears in gear. Much more to wtrte about from yesterday's hike to Lake Sherbrook, and the visit to Lake Louise. Moving pictures off of various devices and getting them up to a cloud space where I can get them into the blog still is a pain because of the wifi issues.

Looks like a canoe ride on Moraine Lake this morning and packing for Stanley Mitchell Hut (or a round in the sauna if I get my way) today.

Catching Up #1 - Pictures from Kananaskis: Sheep

We saw Rocky Mountain Sheep

Wall Lake Revisited

A few more details on the Wall Lake hike. This is a must do while in Waterton. Easy enough for grade school kids. We saw babies in backpacks, a jogging stroller, and mountain bikes. It is enough so that you can say that you have hiked, but with minor elevation changes it is a big bang for the effort. When you hike out you have a choice of bearing off to Forum lake that is shorter, or doing 1km more hiking with less up and down. We choose the longer, flatter hike.

We did not realize that we would be leaving Alberta and going into British Columbia, but as the trail climbed into Akimina Pass, we did.  A cool surprise.

The lake itself is phenominal. A emerald green gem. It is impossible to describe the breathtaking expanse of sheer wall that gives the lake its name. You round the corner and there it is a wall of rock over 1000 feet high. Snow fields still at the end in August, and clear, then blue, then deep emerald green water.

We did do the wade out and dunk routine. Cold but not too bad. Our last days in Waterton were all 90F with a dry wind blowing. So a quick dip was refreshing.

Give Marsha all the credit for spotting the goats, all three. Closer than the last set we saw, it was fun to sit and dry our clothes and watch. For fish, it was similar to Goat Lake. Lots and lots of 3-5 inch trout near the shore rolling lazily up to the surface. You could stand there knee deep and watch them. Alas, no rod, no National Park license (and if I had it, I was 1km in BC and would need a BC license).

It was a spectacular hike.

 

The Wall Lake Hike - A Tale to Remember

Dear Cassie and Charlie,

I saw Cassie’s picture with her birthday press on nails. They reminded me of the claws of a grizzly bear. It inspired me to write this story for you. Have your Mom or Dad read it to you.

The Wall Lake Hike - A Tale to Remember

Dedicated to Sondra Grizzlyfingers and Sir Charles of Evans

This is the story of how I narrowly escaped a tragic situation by luck and my wits. It is a tall tale. A tale tale is where the author might not exactly be telling the truth. There might be things in the story that are a little bit made up to make the story better, or more exciting. Sometimes the storyteller is trying to teach a lesson and a little bit fibbing might help make the point. In a tall tale, the listener has to decide for himself which parts are true and which parts are not so true. So at the end, you have to decide what parts of the story are true and what parts are a tale tale...

This story happened on a trip to the Canadian Rockies. You know that Canada is the country just north of the United States.  In the western part of Canada, just like in the western United States there are big tall mountains called the Rockies. They are so beautiful that large parts of the mountains have been set aside as parks, to be preserved and protected so that people can come to visit them and enjoy them forever.  The Canadian Rockies are mostly in two of provinces, Alberta and British Columbia. Canadian provinces are kind of like states in the United States. These two provinces sit side-by-side like Vermont and New Hampshire do in the USA.

When Aunt Marsha and I were visiting Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, we went on a hike. It was a great hike to a high mountain lake called Wall Lake. Isn’t that a funny name, Wall Lake? Who would name a lake that? If you could name a lake what would you call it?

Anyway, it turns out that it was the perfect name. We hiked up the trail and up the trail, and then up the trail some more.  It was hot. We were sweaty. We drank water from our water bottles. We hiked up into Akimina Pass. At the top of the pass there was a sign that said “Welcome to British Columbia”. We had hiked so far that we left Alberta and hiked clear into British Columbia!

We still had more to hike, so we went on. Finally, we turned a corner and there it was, a towering wall of rock 1000 feet high. You looked at the bottom and you let your eyes go up and up until you neck hurt! You looked up until there was no more wall left, just a big open sky. And at the bottom of that wall, was a beautiful lake.

Around the edges, the water was perfectly clear. So clear that you could see all the way to the bottom. We put on our sandals a waded in a few feet. As you gazed out the water turned blue, and then further out it became a beautiful emerald green. It stretched out to bottom of the rock wall. At the far end of lake there were patches of snow and this was the middle of the summer! If stood at the top of the 1000 foot wall you could toss a rock and it would land in the lake. Wall Lake, the perfect name!

As we looked out at the lake we could see ducks. They were diving ducks, the kind that go underwater and actually swim to catch fish for food. There was a group, a Mom duck and three little ones swimming along. Every once in a while they would disappear under water and after a bit they would pop up to the surface. WIth such clear water, I thought, it would be pretty easy for them to catch fish.

Then I looked down at my feet, and sure enough, you could see fish gliding along the shoreline. Every so often a fish would come up near the surface and grab a bug or an insect to eat and dive back down. I realized that those fish were pretty tricky. If they came near the surface it was only for a moment and when they would dive back down, they tucked themselves down in the rocks or near a log where they could hide. Those ducks were going to have to work hard to catch these fish.

So, here we were, two hot and sweaty hikers, up to our knees in a beautiful mountain lake. What do you think happened next? What would you do if you were hot and sweaty and next to a lake? That’s right, were went in.

It was SOOOOO, COOOOOLD! All we could do was to wade out as far as we dared and dunk our heads under. The shock of the cold water took your breath away. We came running out of there very quickly.

We decided to sit on the sunny shore to dry off and warm up. Aunt Marsha laid back on her backpack and gazed up at the wall. See grabbed the binoculars and started pointing and yelling. One no two, no THREE mountain goats high up on the wall. Three small white dots, but through the binoculars it was clear that they were goats. They were all white and had shaggy fur. What a treat! It is pretty rare you get to see mountain goats. We got to watch them jump from rock to rock and munch on the small patches of grass that grew high up on the wall.

After a while it was time to go back down the trail. We said goodbye and thank you to Wall Lake for sharing all its beauty and wildlife. It was then we go into trouble.

The parks are the home to bears. When you hike, you need to make noise to let any bears know you are coming. Some people use small bells that jingle when you walk Some people clap their hands to let a bear know they are coming. We like to sing songs or do bear calls.

A bear call is just a shout out every few minutes, like - Yo! Bear! It can be anything but you want it has to have lots of vowels  Vowels are those letters (a,e,i,o,u) that say their name when you read them. Their sound tends to travel farther, So the “Yo” in our Yo! Bear! call is good, because the “o” sound will travel far. But we thought we could make it better by adding more vowels at the end like - “e”. We made our bear call, “Yo, Bear-eeee!” Can you try that? Just call it out ,Yo! Bear-eee!

It does get boring sometimes so you can change it up a bit. How about  -Yo! Blueberry!

or Yo! Strawberry! Or Yo! Huckleberry! Maybe you could flip it - Hucklebereee! Yooogurt! What would your bear call be? Remember it has to have lots of vowel sounds.

Of, course, if you get bored with bear calls you could always sing. Here is a favorite trail song:

I love to go a-wandering,

Along the mountain track,

And as I go, I love to sing,

My knapsack on my back.

(chorus) 

Val-deri,Val-dera, Val-deri, Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha Val-deri,Val-dera. My knapsack on my back.

I’ll bet your Mom knows the tune and she can teach you this great hiking song. Sometimes you you get bored singing the same tune and you can change the words. Try singing these:

I’d love to send
My good friend Cass,

All the way to France,

When she’s there,

She could buy

Some brand new underpants!

Valderi, Valdera …

Our problem on the way back was that we forgot to keep doing our bear calls or to sing bear songs. What can I say?  It wa a long trail back, we were tired and hot again. We just wanted to get finished.

As came back up to  Akimina Pass, Aunt Marsha was ahead by a little bit so there was a gap between me and her. In the space between us, out stepped a British Columbia Grizzly Bear! We froze. What should we do? I suddenly realized that our last bites of trail snacks and our garbage from lunch was in Aunt Marsha’s backpack! I yelled to her to drop her pack and run up the trail and she did.

The bear walked over to the pack, ripped it open with its giant claws. He gobbled down our last granola bar and our cheddar cheese goldfish crackers! He then looked up, smacked his lips, looked down the trail and saw me. He started walking toward me. What should I do?

Now I’ve never told you this, but when I was a lad, I became very good at a sport called barrel jumping. It is a crazy sport that combines skating and jumping. On a frozen pond you make a pile of barrels. You skate as hard and as fast as you can toward the barrels and then jump. If you jump over one, you and a second barrel and try again.  You keep adding and adding barrels. It is a contest so whoever can jump over the most barrels wins. Here is a picture of me from my jumping days.

Now like I said, back in the day, I was very good at barrel jumping. I even tried out for the International Championships! I was not good enough for the USA team, but because of my Polish heritage, I could try to qualify for the Polish International Barrel Jumping Team. Alas, I came in fourth, and they only took the top three to the championship that year.

Now back to bear. As he turned and came down the trail at me, I realized I could use my barrel jumping experience. Instead of running away, I ran right at him. Then I JUMPED. He reared back on his hind legs. He and the air as I went up and over. I was almost high enough and far enough, jumping and kicking my legs. His claws flashed, but he only nicked me, giving me scratches  on my calf. I hit the ground beyond the bear, rolled twice flipped up to my feet and started running.

I took a quick look over my shoulder and the bear was coming. I ran harder and dashed through Akinima Pass. I looked back again. Something weird  was happening. The bear was standing at the top of the pass, stopped dead in his tracks. I was stunned, why would the bear stop?

Then it hit me. This was a British Columbia Grizzly bear! When I  jumped and ran through the pass I had crossed into the province of Alberta. As a British Columbia Grizzly Bear, he couldn’t travel into Alberta! I was safe on my side of the border (except for the scratches on my leg) and there was nothing he could do about it. The British Columbia Grizzly  turned away and gave one last swat at Aunt Marsha’s backpack and went back down into the woods. 

As for us, we waited until we thought it was safe, grabbed got the backpack and finished our hike. We leaearn our lesson to never forget to do our bear call or sing our silly songs. All the way back down the trail from Akimina Pass we sang as loud as we could:

I’d love to send
My good friend Cass,

All the way to France,

When she’s there,

She could buy

Some brand new underpants!

Valderi, Valdera …

Oh Deer! Still Hanging Out in Waterton

We have made the decision to hang out through the Canadian August Long Weekend holiday. We are just not sure we can move north and find a campsite. It is 90 degrees today so we did a short hike and  tried to fish a little bit (no luck). We ended up in town next to the lake in the shade of some trees by the afternoon. The lake is freezing cold so it is good for a dip but not long swims.

The wind is blowing fiercely off and on with gusts that are blowing people's hats off. I am being treated to a demo from some very expert wind surfers who are obviously local. The gal was about waist deep in the water scanning the lake to the south where the wind was coming from. As the white caps grew about a quarter mile out she started shouting to her guy partner who was just moving onto the beach. She told him to hurry as the big wind was coming. To me it was blowing pretty hard already, but she was reading the lake surface way out. When the wind hit, it hit hard and she jumped up, hung her butt down and flew across the water. Her partner followed but by taking a slightly different tack than her exploded across the lake at twice her speed. Both are very, very good windsurfers and know this lake well. Great show as we perform another stealth dinner in a campground kitchen shelter down by the water, charging the devices. We did confirm that our out of town camsite entitles us to showers at the in town campground showers.

We had visitors in the campground this morning at breakfast time. Three deer, two bucks and a doe. We have actually seen quite a few deer but before this just one small buck. Both of these guys were good size, sporting full racks of antlers covered in velvet. They grazed between several campsites and around ours for about a half an hour.

The plan for tomorrow is another long in  an then up to a lake hike. Most likely it will be Forum Lake but you could go to Wall Lake from the same route. We will see how the legs feel. Wall Lake is the "postcard" lake of Waterton.