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Published: April 29th 2006
It's a Bear!!!
Finally, a bear!LOOK!!! A BEAR!!! There on the rail tracks, of all places, was a black bear! We had only just packed the car and headed out of Jasper on our way west on the Yellowhead HWY, and Gail was busily looking at the map when I spotted the little bear. Swiftly pulled over and did the one thing you see on all these worst driver TV programs - I backed up on the highway hard shoulder so we could get a better view of the bear! Before I go on, there was no other traffic for miles in either direction (or police for that matter), so it was quite safe, although I am in no way endorsing or recommending my actions!!! This was a definite, ‘Do not try this at home’ stunt. Back to the bear! The bear didn’t like onlookers, so it decided to hightail it down into the shrubs, but not before we got a somewhat fuzzy shot of it.
About 15 minutes later - BEAR! Yes, another one, this time on the side of the road rummaging around in the grass. We of course pulled over and backed up slightly for a better photographic view of him. He
sat there chewing grass and then when he tired of that, he laid down for a few moments before getting back up and chewing more grass. Perhaps he had gas, and so had to lie down frequently? After doing this routine for several minutes, he then went and sat in front of the telephone poll and looked at that for a while before sharpening his claws on it and then finally ambling off.
Pleased as punch that we had FINALLY seen not just one bear but two, we cruised down the HWY and into Mt Robson Provincial Park. Mt Robson is the tallest peak in the Rockies but today it had its head in the clouds, so we couldn’t see much of it. There weren’t as many surrounding mountains peaks around like along the Icefields Parkway, but the park was beautiful none the less.
Out the other side of the park we headed towards McBride, a little town along the Yellowhead HWY. We stopped here to fill up with gas as it was over 200k to the next petrol station and we didn’t fancy running out, and also because we wanted a look around the town as my
dad worked here at a lumber mill in his youth. After filling up we headed for the town centre. Had no problems finding it as there really was only the one street with a few shops on it. Blink and you’ll miss it! At the end of Main St, was the train station which also housed the tourist information office. Decided we had better pick up some info on the surrounding areas and Northern BC before leaving.
Inside the visitors centre was a delightful little gift shop selling all sorts of handmade items including quilts, cards, photographs of the surrounding area and other things. We bought a couple of things then went outside to take some pictures of McBride. As we were taking some on the station platform a lovely young lady Rhonda came out and started talking to Gail, she offered to take a picture of us both which we gladly accepted. Afterwards we chatted with her some more and she mentioned that she worked in the café and that lunch was being served if we were interested in staying. After taking a few more pics of the surrounding area, we decided to stay and have lunch as
everybody we met was so warm, friendly and welcoming.
The café which is also housed in the visitor centre building was like walking into your grandma’s kitchen, the smell of food and the décor was immediately comforting. There were all sorts of art hung on the walls like quilted place mats, photos of trains in mountain scenery, beautifully painted chalk boards advertising wholesome dishes for the day and lots of other old worldly artefacts around the place. We sat in the cosy couches and admired the surroundings while Rhonda prepared our lunch of cottage cheese patties with Caesar salad. Lunch was absolutely delicious; it was so good that I even got the recipe!
While we ate we soon noticed that the café was a hotspot in town, so many people dropped by to eat or collect their orders, but judging by the standard of our lunch it wasn’t surprising. One of the local police force dropped by and greeted myself and Liisa with a big smile and hello, imagine that happening in a café in London! Before paying we chatted with the owner and his friend who worked for the forestry. Liisa asked him if there are any
grizzlies around. He said, “oh yeah there around, but I always hope not to see them unless I am in my car”. He mentioned that he could always tell who the tourist are because they are the ones that get out of their cars and run towards the grizzly with there cameras in hand. He said his term for that behaviour is ‘natural selection!’, that had us in stitches! No matter how fascinating these animals are, you’d have to be slightly crazy to run up to one to take a picture!
It was with reluctance that we left the sleepy but very friendly town of McBride and continued on our journey to Prince George. The endless road stretched ahead of us as the mountains continued to decline in stature and proximity, all that held our interest was the emergence of new leaves beginning to appear on the trees adding new life to the scenery… that was until I spotted a bear in the bushes but we were going too fast to stop. As we continued on another few miles Liisa spotted bear number 4, we drove on another two miles until we came to a safe place to turn
around hoping that the bear would still be there. Fortunately it was, it was larger than the ones we had seen earlier and was completely uninterested in us as it ate grass and looked for other interesting things to eat. As the vehicles sped past it would raise its head and sniff the air for a couple of minutes then get back to eating grass. We took as many pictures as we were able to then decided to move on as we were not in a safe place on the narrow hard shoulder, plus we didn’t want to put the bear in any danger, we had ripening bananas in the car which must have been giving off a scent as the bear would inch closer and closer to the car head raised and sniffing the air.
Canada is noted for its very long freight trains which travel through the interior of Canada. They have afforded us with many scenic photos as they emerge along side of a mountain landscape to add colour and interest to an already picturesque sight. Yesterday as we sat in the restaurant waiting for our dinner, Liisa and I decided to count the cars, we
counted 115! It took at least 15 minutes for the train to go past, I remarked to Liisa that if one had intentions of committing a crime in Jasper they better make sure they time it right so that they don’t get caught at the rail crossing, it’s the only road that leads out of town and if the gates are down you’d be a sitting duck, that’s probably a good deterrent! Anyway the trains are just too photogenic and although we have taken many pictures of them already, we still took some more today.
Having seen 4 bears today we decided to turn our attention to looking for Moose, we read somewhere that they like to hang around water, so at every sight of the Fraser river or Billy Bob creek, we’d peer out the window to look for any tell tale antlers but we didn’t see a jot despite the many roadside cautions of Moose in the area. It wasn’t much longer before we arrived in Prince George, we were welcomed with rain. We drove around the town to take in the sights before driving to our B&B which is beautifully situated with views of the river
and where we were told Moose had been sighted; we haven’t abandoned hope yet.
The owner turned out to be British guy - I thought I detected a London accent so I asked and he was surprised that I had noticed, you can take the man out of Britain, but not Britain out of the man!!!! Once we settled in he kindly made us hot chocolate and brought cookies on plate and seated us by the log fire while we chatted about our travels and how he had come to live in Canada. After an hour he left us to update our blog and send emails. What a very satisfying end to a day of animal watching. With log fire blazing, I felt as though I could stay here forever….. don’t think he’d be to pleased about that though!
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Lesley
non-member comment
Bear
Well, at last B, you finally got a bear, pics are excellent, have you thought about sending some to the national geographic? I can still hear you saying BEAR! BEAR! BEAR! LOL Take care, Lesley