Jasper and Banff and Bears - oh my!

One thing that I can recommend: if you get the chance, visit Jasper and Banff National Parks during the summer. I can't vouch for the winter, but the scenery should still be there, even if the animals are in hibernation.

We had been warned before leaving Edmonton that we should expect to see wildlife. Mountain goats perhaps. Maybe elk. Perhaps a bear or two, if we're lucky. Internally, I scoffed at this. Bears aren't the types of things you just see, unless you're really lucky, and even then surely it'd just be a glimpse. It turns out that luck (or providence, if you prefer) was on our side.

Jasper and Banff are National Parks (as I've already stated) that lie on the Alberta side of the Rockies. Jasper is the less famous/touristed park, and is the better of the two because of this.

As you approach Jasper, there are all these signs with pictures of moose and elk, stating that we should be careful while driving, and so I was all hyped up about seeing some wildlives wildlifes animals, so we didn't take any photos of the drive in, even though it was spectacular, with mountains and cliffs and the like.

As you do, we went to the information centre, to look up some walks, maybe get a map of the area. There was a large display of information regarding the tracks which were closed because of: A grizzly bear that frequents the area and is aggressive. Also there were another bunch of tracks that were closed because it's the season for elk to give birth.

We decided to do the 'Valley of the five lakes' trail. Let's count 'em down.

(One) Such a nice colour.

(Two) I found the panorama function on the camera. Another nice colour.

(Three) Sometimes the panorama function is a bit finicky. It really didn't want to take one of this lake, so here's this one.

(Four) For some reason this one's a different colour. Not quite so nice either.

(Five) So majestic. Such an awe inspiring sight. What's the appropriate reaction to such a display of God's creation?

Take a selfie of course.

Of course, during that whole hike, we were looking out for bears, just in case. We saw a mouse type thing, some birds, and another hiker who had this bell attached to his pack, which presumably lets bears know that you're there, so they don't get startled.

After lunch we climbed a hill (Old Fort Point), and tried to escape the rain, which had started lightly and then more heavily spattering while we were walking. Thank goodness for rain jackets.

You can sort of see the rain clouds on the left there. This is the view from the top of the hill.

We saw evidence of animals, but thankfully no aggressive grizzlies.

We presume this is some sort of burrowing animal.

Since the weather had closed in, and since we were tired from all that walking (you'd think all the walking around Disneyland/Vancouver/Vancouver Island would have prepared us, but not really) and since we wanted to see some bears, we decided to take a drive around some of the roads that the aggressive grizzly allegedly frequents.

You'll see by our lack of photographic evidence that he was too aggressive and too grizzly to be caught on camera. We drove around a lake for half an hour, and didn't even take the camera out.

We then went on one more walk that was safe from bears. I didn't even know I wanted to see a bear until we were told they were in the area.

Some of the trails had concrete footpaths, and steel tube railings, so I guess these are the more popular walks.

Water from a rock in the wilderness.

There was also some snow. Yes, snow. It's summer here, but apparently that's how they do things in Alberta.

Yes, that's snow there. We knew you'd be incredulous. We were.

Since it's getting later by this point, and since we've done most of the trails that were safe to do, we decided to go on another drive, this time on Maligne Lake road, which was sort of on the way home.

We saw some bears.

The thing about these scenic roads in National Parks is that they're slow. We're crawling along at 50, and we see a car stopped by the side of the road. Obviously they've seen something.

Exhibit A:

I'm pretty sure there's a bear behind that tree there. No, the other tree.

Exhibit B:

Indisputable evidence.

There are all these signs and notices in the towns about not getting out of your car if there's a bear or an elk, because they're dangerous.

I suppose it's understandable when you see a little guy like Exhibit C:

Cliff for scale. The technical term for his gait is: "scampering"!

But of course, where there's an Exhibit C, there's always an Exhibit D:

I'm reminded of Proverbs 17:12
"Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly," and I wonder who would come out worse off, the grieving bear, or the fool getting out of his car to take a photo of said bear.

Exhibit E: (because who doesn't want another picture of Mum and baby?)

(Anna apologises for the poor photography skills. She was eating a donut at the time - vitally important - so was unable to zoom out to capture both bears properly!)

I have to be impressed with these bears, they're all so chill, and don't let their fame get to them. Just another day in bear land, doing bear things. Exhibit F:

We saw what I think must have been a Canadian Lynx, but it ran away too quickly for us to get it on camera. If you ever go to Jasper, do one of these drives as the sun goes down. That's when the animals are all moving around doing their animal things.

The next day we drove to Banff via a road called the Icefields Parkway.

We saw mountain goats:

You can see another car parked looking at the goats. The dude inside has a curiously appropriate crop of facial hair, but that's besides the point.

When you're doing this drive, there are all these things that you can stop at along the way, quite apart from the wildlives animals.

Waterfall! Athabasca, to be precise.

Because there are so many people in the country who only speak French (I assume it's a long story) all the signs are bilingual. Anna really liked (LOVED) the drama of the signs at Athabasca Falls, and could totally see herself writing similar pieces!

To be read in a melodramatic style:

EPIC!!

Some sort of mountain sheep:

Here's why it's called 'Icefields Parkway':

I'm actually going to leave it there, since this feels like a really long post. Tune in next week as we follow our heroes along their perilous journey. Will they make it out alive?!