BEAR!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada
BEAR! May 18 Lake Louise to Icefield Parkway Day 6

The trains did not keep up awake after all . It was sunny and 34 degrees. We head for the Lake Louise Gondola for breakfast and the trip. The buffet was filling. We really liked the canadian sausage. Looked like big vienna sausage but a little firmer. Up we went for 14 minutes on the closed ride. It was so clear and beautiful. The sun was melting the ice and the ground was muddy. There was no vegetation so there were no grizzlies. I think we were about 7,000 ft up. Air crisp but the sun made it feel warmer.
This trip is educational. What we thought were prairie dogs are COLUMBIAN GROUND SQUIRRELS.    
On we drive up Rt 93, the Icefield Parkway, which is in Jasper National Park. This is the worlds first national park. A Unesco world site. That ranks it with the grand canyon as a place to see. WELL, while the mountains are beautiful, it is so early that is not white or green. There is not much wild life out, etc. The pine forests are fragrant. Ed says it smells like Christmas. We had areas to see so we moved on to around lunch time we pulled in a pullout for sandwiches . At this site, Mistaya Canyon, there is a 10 minute walk to an area of falls that have carved out the rock and swirl. Ed and I decided 10 minutes was a nice walk. It was very muddy and we had to pick where to step and very steep. The falls were interesting but the trip back up was SCARY. We had just started back when a young woman met us and said there is a bear up a head, oh sure. BUT, by George. there was a HUGE BLACK BEAR just beside the trail. He had beautiful, black, shiny coat. A group of us shifted and talked and yelled and clapped and some didn't even speak English.   This went on for several minutes. The bear would munch a while. One guy went forward a little and startled the bear who went up a tree two pulls. Then he hissed, the guy came back to us and the bear came down and sat ON the trail. By now the next group was coming down. We all made noise again and the bear walked in the woods. We eased along as he retreated and we ran up this muddy hill not caring where we stepped . I thought I would have a heart attack from the running.   We got in the RV and burned rubber out of the lot.   Ed had the camera but he was more interested in staying alive than making pictures. He knew that I was a goner because I couldn't run very fast. He said everyone was sizing each other up to see who the bear would get. Later I heard a guide tell his group that the bears were about 200 pounds lighter in the spring than they would be by fall. OH MY.
On we went to the Icefield Centre to ride on in a vehicle that drives on ice. There are only 22 of these and 21 are there. The other is owned by the USA and used in Antarctica for research. The ride included a 32 percent downgrade, the second steepest in the world. We walked on the glacier. Susan decided to throw snowball, but she picked a stranger she thought was Ed. We ate the snow it is so pure. It was not as cold as you might expect. There was so much snow that the blue color wasn't easy to see.
We saw deer as we drove on Hwy 93 to Whistlers Campground. The cheap seats were sold, but got a space. We could never get this rig level here. We were handed warning about elk and bear in this area. When we walked around there are droppings of something about 20 feet from us. As we button up a fuse is blown on the lights in the back of the RV. Of course this took Ed a long time to figure out and find the fuse. This includes the bathroom so we have to pee in the dark. We will have to pick up one tomorrow.
We absolutely can not get the photos to upload in this life time. I publish and then try to go back to add a photo one at a time. So frustrating.
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