This guy walked right up to us, I took the picture then took off before he decided to come in.
Black bear
Momma grizzly
grizzlies are distinguished by the shoulder hump
Sunday, July 24, 2011
#25 BEARS
This guy walked right up to us, I took the picture then took off before he decided to come in.Black bearMomma grizzlygrizzlies are distinguished by the shoulder hump
#24 westward Ho
Following a stop in Fort Nelson to empty tanks and pick up supplies we turn west again towards the Yukon. The mountains of the Three Sisters Range , the Cassier Range and later the Coast Range, are always in view and keep up stopping in turnoffs to enjoy the view and marvel yet again at God's creation. Today we were stopped on the highway by a herd of Bison (buffalo for you southerners) There were 60-70 in the herd and some were walking right on the highway we had to wait over five minutes for them to decide to move, apparently they like the grass that grows along the roadway. They are a very slow moving animal but they are able to run faster that people for a short distance. As with all wildlife we took pictures from the safely of the RV.
This morning we finally saw our first Grizzly bear, in fact Momma and two cubs eating berries and grass along the side of the road, we waited hoping they would get up to the roadway but they were happy in the berry patch. Later we found a young black bear and it came right towards the RV. That likely meant that someone had fed it at one time and it was looking for more human food. Sadly any bear that has had human food will become aggressive for more and will have to be killed. Signs everywhere say " A fed bear is a dead bear" but some people are just dumb.
We pass bison several times throughout the day. We find a nice spot by a river to boon dock for the night.
Next we visit the town of Carcross shortened from Caribou Crossing to see the Desert garden. Not a true desert because it is not arid but a area of sand left from the ice age that is continued sculpted by the wind. It is quite unique for this far north.
We are now in Whitehorse, Yukon for a couple of days of R&R before heading north into the interior and on to the Arctic Ocean. I'm hearing that the pictures are popular with some of you so will try to get more on.
This morning we finally saw our first Grizzly bear, in fact Momma and two cubs eating berries and grass along the side of the road, we waited hoping they would get up to the roadway but they were happy in the berry patch. Later we found a young black bear and it came right towards the RV. That likely meant that someone had fed it at one time and it was looking for more human food. Sadly any bear that has had human food will become aggressive for more and will have to be killed. Signs everywhere say " A fed bear is a dead bear" but some people are just dumb.
We pass bison several times throughout the day. We find a nice spot by a river to boon dock for the night.
Next we visit the town of Carcross shortened from Caribou Crossing to see the Desert garden. Not a true desert because it is not arid but a area of sand left from the ice age that is continued sculpted by the wind. It is quite unique for this far north.
We are now in Whitehorse, Yukon for a couple of days of R&R before heading north into the interior and on to the Arctic Ocean. I'm hearing that the pictures are popular with some of you so will try to get more on.
#22 WATERFALLS
Three Tiered Louise Falls, ( note water color)
Alexandra Falls
Alexandra Falls same guy in the way, sorry don't know how to remove pictures
Sambaa Deh Falls#21The Deh Cho And Beyond
Driving north again we pass seemingly endless oil wells, this is Alberta for sure. Entering the fertile Peace River valley there are fields of oats, barley and flax, their yellow flowers stretching as far as the eye can see.
The farm and ranch land slowly give way to the Boreal Forest and through the tree we see gas wells, shale gas is plentiful in many parts of North America and lots drilling is taking place. I spoke to one gas worker and was told that welders earn over $40 per hour and labourers can earn $25 per hour and work 90 hours a week. Anyone interested.
As we drive deeper into the north forest, the miles of spruce, fir,birch, larch and other variety of trees flash past as we near the 60th parallel. The 60th is the division between the Canadian provinces and the northern territories. It begins the true north. The territories covers a full1/3 of the land mass of Canada with a population density of 0.015 persons per square mile.
The Deh Cho route is a 1,367 mile loop from north Alberta following the Mackenzie Highway into the Northwest Territories , then west to the town of Checkpoint then south on the Laird trail to the Alaskan Hwy. at Fort Nelson. The entire trip is through native land and all of the towns and roads were established by fur traders and explorers. there are very few people or travellers up here and we would drive for 2-3 hours and never see anyone else.
At Enterprise we take a side trip and follow the coffee colored Hay River to the town of the same name on the shore of Great Slave Lake. The town was the location of the TV series North of Sixty a number of years ago.
Deh Cho is called the waterfall route and we stop numerous times beside beautiful waterfalls and sit and listen as the water makes it way to the Mackenzie River and on to the Arctic Ocean.
Across the route we pay the highest price for gas so far, at $1.547 and $ 1.68 a litre. ( $5.85 and $6.35 a gallon.) When there is only two gas pumps in over 1000 miles you don't get much choice.
We really enjoyed the many waterfalls, but the rest of the trip was boring, just mile after mile of trees on a gravel road and rain, we were quite happy to get back on pavement, civilization and a much needed car wash.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
#20 More Pictures
In Memory of fallen peace officers
JASPER NATIONAL PARK
BOW LAKE
A NICE YOUNG COUPLE ENJOYING THE PARK#19 Banff, Jasper and beyond
As we continue north into Alberta we find the city of Lethbridge. A old cowboy town that is still surrounded by ranches and open ranges. we visit Nikka Yuko Japanese garden, it was build to remember that Japanese -Canadians were interned here during WW2. A Japanese garden is about order, peace, serenity and tranquility, a place to relax and reflect. We did just that as we considered our trip so far. Lethbridge is also home to the worlds longest and highest tressel type bridge, built in 1909 it is 314 ft (96m) high, and 5327 ft (1623m) long and took 12,436 tonnes of steel when built and takes 7600 gallons of paint every few years to protect it.
we later stopped at a World Heritage site named "Head Smashed-in buffalo Jump" For centuries the natives would run the buffalo over the cliff to kill them and then would harvest the hide, meat bones and other parts for survival.
Later in the day we toured parts of Calgary and marvelled at the amount of new construction of roads, bridges, buildings and housing.
In the morning we aimed the RV for Canada's largest national parks, Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, together they run 560 miles (900km) through the rocky mountains and cover 2564 square miles. Here the road runs through the valley so we do not have the up and down excesses of the other parks we have visited. The Canadian Rockies tend to be more rugged and jagged than the U.S. Rockies and generally are higher as they go north towards Alaska (we will see the highest mountain in North America, Mt Denali in a couple of weeks)
We had visited here some years ago and decided to skip the touristy place we saw then and visit some of the harder to get to (read more hiking) but just as beautiful places.
Unfortunately it was an overcast day and not the best for picture taking. Moraine Lake is in the valley of ten peaks, the lake water is glacier melt water and is a incredible aqua blue, As the name implies the valley is surrounded by lofty mountain peaks, we hiked up to a picture perfect lookout for a incredibleview of the peaks and lake. If you have a 1969-2003 Canadian $20 bill the picture on the back was taken from this spot.
A bit further up the valley is Athabasca Falls, where the force of the water has cut a channel over 100 feet deep in the rock. Another pretty out of the way place is Bow Lake, at over 7000 feet it snows here even in July and August, but again the view of the peaks and the lake is spectacular.
Along the way we see mountains goats standing and walking on seemingly thin air along the cliffs.
Next day we stop in Edmonton attend church and again meet people we know (good old army)
after lunch we visit West Edmonton Mall. The mall has hockey rink, swimming pools, amusement parks wave pool, hundreds of stores and about a gillion people there, sure was glad to leave there.
Back on the road we stopped at Mayerthorpe at the memorial to fallen peace officers. at this place in 2005 four RCMP officers were shot and killed and the towns folk Built the memorial to honour all peace officers who have given their lives in the line of duty.
we later stopped at a World Heritage site named "Head Smashed-in buffalo Jump" For centuries the natives would run the buffalo over the cliff to kill them and then would harvest the hide, meat bones and other parts for survival.
Later in the day we toured parts of Calgary and marvelled at the amount of new construction of roads, bridges, buildings and housing.
In the morning we aimed the RV for Canada's largest national parks, Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, together they run 560 miles (900km) through the rocky mountains and cover 2564 square miles. Here the road runs through the valley so we do not have the up and down excesses of the other parks we have visited. The Canadian Rockies tend to be more rugged and jagged than the U.S. Rockies and generally are higher as they go north towards Alaska (we will see the highest mountain in North America, Mt Denali in a couple of weeks)
We had visited here some years ago and decided to skip the touristy place we saw then and visit some of the harder to get to (read more hiking) but just as beautiful places.
Unfortunately it was an overcast day and not the best for picture taking. Moraine Lake is in the valley of ten peaks, the lake water is glacier melt water and is a incredible aqua blue, As the name implies the valley is surrounded by lofty mountain peaks, we hiked up to a picture perfect lookout for a incredibleview of the peaks and lake. If you have a 1969-2003 Canadian $20 bill the picture on the back was taken from this spot.
A bit further up the valley is Athabasca Falls, where the force of the water has cut a channel over 100 feet deep in the rock. Another pretty out of the way place is Bow Lake, at over 7000 feet it snows here even in July and August, but again the view of the peaks and the lake is spectacular.
Along the way we see mountains goats standing and walking on seemingly thin air along the cliffs.
Next day we stop in Edmonton attend church and again meet people we know (good old army)
after lunch we visit West Edmonton Mall. The mall has hockey rink, swimming pools, amusement parks wave pool, hundreds of stores and about a gillion people there, sure was glad to leave there.
Back on the road we stopped at Mayerthorpe at the memorial to fallen peace officers. at this place in 2005 four RCMP officers were shot and killed and the towns folk Built the memorial to honour all peace officers who have given their lives in the line of duty.
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