Canadian wildlife

Well, not so wild ......
As we hadn't seen a Grizzly bear in the wild, only Black bears, we decided to stop by Kamloops Wildlife park.
We were virtually alone in the 'zoo', as the tourist season seems to have stopped since the Thanksgiving weekend in early October.

A young male Grizzly with handy claws and the identifying hump on his back that shows he is a Grizzly not a Black bear!

 

 Mr Bison here seems to be having an eye popping moment!

The Lynx showing his powerful legs

A handsome Elk

 

Mustn't forget the chipmunk! Yes, I know they are everywhere in Canada but we don't have them in the wild in the U.K!

Vivid autumnal colours in the park.

Chinook and a surprise

We stopped one cold night at Oldman River Dam recreation area in the grasslands of Alberta.

Stephen observed sadly that it wasn't as attractive as the Rockies. 

We had mountains in the distance on one side of us with the dam and water on the other. 

Not so bad!

The weather was suddenly much warmer but rather windy. A colourful sunset followed all around us.

 

All in pink!

 

Then in the morning!

Out there in night wear! It was worth getting up early.

I have found out that a Chinook caused this temperature change and subsequent impressive sunset and sunrise.

A Chinook is a foehn wind which is a type of dry down-slope wind that occurs in the downwind side of a mountain range.

A strong Chinook can make snow one foot deep almost vanish in one day. The snow partly melts and partly evaporates in the dry wind. Chinook winds have been observed to raise winter temperature often from below -20°C  to as high as 10-20°C  for a few hours or days, then temperatures plummet to their base levels.

The winds can be so strong as to derail trains. I'm glad we didn't experience a strong wind like that.

Beautiful Banff

The mountains continue to amaze me. This is the road towards Banff from Jasper. A fabulous drive.

This bridge is one of the few especially for large wildlife to cross the road safely. Moose, Elk, Deer, Wolves, Coyote, Bears and Cougar are all seen using the bridges regularly via web cam.

The town of Banff itself despite the many shops, restaurants etc. had a charming character. We stayed in the Tunnel Mountain 11 campsite which had a bus every 20-40 minutes into town.
We enjoyed two great dinners, one in the Youth Hostel, a really fantastic place to stay to experience Banff on a budget and a Canadian themed up market restaurant in town, the Maple Leaf Grille.

Banff too, has it's chateau like hotel, the Fairmont Banff Springs. Rooms from $337.00. Cheaper in the campsite!
These castle like hotels were owned by the railways, in this case, Canadian Pacific.

This is the view from the hotel. A nice bit of landscaping!

We took the Banff gondola to the top of Sulphur mountain and then climbed to the old weather station via wooden steps to get this magnificent view of the valley.

Continuing my quest to see wildlife (from a distance), we took the Bow Valley parkway, a forested road.

Despite driving both ways in, unfortunately, poor weather, we only saw this Elk. Not the wild setting I imagined but he was after the leaves and ignoring all the camera happy tourists.

Mountains, Glaciers, Lakes and Clichés

I have come to understand the meaning of 'a month of Sundays' since travelling.
This week the Rocky Mountains have taken my breath away, overwhelmed me, rendered me speechless, literally.

A superb overnight spot at the Icefields Centre to visit the Athabasca Glacier.
The weather was turning cool.

We set off on foot to climb to the foot of the Glacier but were chased down by a blizzard, just as we reached the end of the trail.

                       

                             

The road out was shut in both directions due to accidents, so we stayed one more night.
 A very wintry scene to wake up to the next morning and -4c.

 The sun rising above the glacier.

Although the weather was worsening, we took the huge wheeled snocoach onto the glacier. We were allowed to walk within a prepared restricted area avoiding crevasses and holes. It was an amazing feeling to be standing on ice as thick as the Eiffel tower.

Next day, on towards Lake Louise. The road conditions improved as we passed snow covered mountains and more glaciers. The odd autumnal tree glowing amongst the fairytale snowscene.

This stunning vista is of Peyto lake. A glacier glowing in the background.

Lake Moraine. As its name suggests it had a big pile of moraine at the end of the lake. You can't see it here!

Ice sculpture formed from spraying a mist of water on grasses.

Our walk to admire the Lake Moraine was lakeside, avoiding the higher path for obvious reasons.

Fabulous Lake Louise in Banff National park. We had our first canoe experience on the lake with success.
It was delightful.

 The Lake Louise hotel in the background was a lovely setting for a late lunch after our exertion. We luckily had a fabulous table by the window.

This hamster like creature was wisely gathering grass to create a warm nest.

Glass like reflections on Emerald lake in Yoho National Park.

Kootenay National park is next on the list to see tomorrow.