Warden Wendy Meets a Black Bear

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Yes, Warden Wendy...that's the "official" name of a woman park ranger here in Canada! And with a name like Wendy, how can you go wrong? Granted I have just a wee bit of a bias!! But in my humble opinion Warden Wayne and Wendy sound a lot better to me than Ranger Rick and Rhoda!

But enough about Warden Wendy, the excitement of the day was seeing a BLACK BEAR!!! Along our travels from Banff en route to Jasper, in the Jasper National Park, we were ever-so-fortunate to see a BLACK BEAR! Granted, the furry creature only looks like a dot in my photos, but I have proof of the fuzzy guy! Sooooooo cool to see wildlife in their native environment!!! And in addition to the bear, today I also saw mountain goats with their babies, big horn sheep, and deer! I have been on the look-out to see animals ever since we arrived on Thursday, but today we hit the animal lottery (don't worry, no animals where actually injured during my photoshoot!)!

The scenery here is breathtaking! You truly cannot go wrong with the combination of mountains and water, particularly when the landscapes of the Canadian Rockies is reflected in the water. I must share my photos upon my return to fully convey the awesomeness of the views!

Banff was lovely, what with the historic Banff Springs Hotel, and the awe-inspiring mountains in the background. Just north of Lake Louise we trekked on some fairly steep terrain for almost half of our 8.4 mile journey--and all I can say is that you know you are in for trouble when everyone has a walking stick but you! We took a break at a lovely teahouse which was built around 1920 (how they brought the building supplies to remote site still baffles me!)...and I snapped countless photos! Beautiful views EVERYWHERE! And if Lake Louise was not impressive enough, Moraine Lake was even more impressive (thanks Ariel for the advice)!

Yesterday we had our first sighting of mountain goats, and soon there after we went horseback riding! It was great! I think the last time I was on a horse was when I was ten, so it's been a while! Very fun to see the views from a higher vantage point as we rode through the rivers and towering pines!

Tomorrow we hope to explore Jasper National Park more fully, as we spent most of the day traveling from Banff to Jasper soaking up the scenery on our drive. I have moose and elk on my agenda for tomorrow! We'll see if my animal forecast comes to fruition!! Right now I'm thinking 90% chance of moose, with a 70% chance of elk....

Until the next installment (or until photos are posted!)....

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Comments

[Debra Anderson]

Sounds wonderful, Wendy! I can picture it in my head. Maybe you'll see a grizzly (from a distance) too!

[supersteffi]

holidays
I´m glad that you are enjoying your holidays. It seems that it is something we would like too. We´ve just returned from our holidays and I must say we were not too lucky this time. Spending the first week at the North Sea was OK, apart from the weather the last few days. We intentionally wanted to stay 2 weeks but returned after four days of rain. We did a great cycling tour in our area and ventured to "Spa hotel" down south, which was rather a B&B than a proper hotel and promised more on their internet site than they actually were able to fulfill. Well, I guess it´s just God´s way of telling us to stay home or go abroad for our holidays. We went to Marburg though, which is a beautiful university town with an old town from the Middles Ages. Thorsten has two more weeks off so we got some time to relax at home. I hope that you are going to meet a moose and an elk:) Love, STEFFI

[penny]

u inspired us!
we made a blog too www.mytb.org/Sashagfriend take care! happy travels