Are you ready for a Canadian Rockies Grizzly Bear Adventure?

This trip took place from June 3rd to June 19th, 2011.

NOTE: you will reach a point twice after a posting and see: <newer    older> and need to hit older to continue on the trip.  the final post is labeled: the end. 

We drove over 4,000 miles, hiked some 45-50 miles of trails, kept on going through lots of rain (12 out of 13 days in the middle of the trip), hiking in the snow, avalanches aplenty, changes of plans, lots of animal sightings, beautiful scenery, more waterfalls than we could count, glaciers galore, substantial accelerated alcohol consumption, and lots more.

Andrew (our son - aka BOZ), April Wood (Andrew’s girlfriend at the time and now his wife), Vicky (my wife) and I – in a combination of small RV and tent camping – managed to follow Andrew’s 16 day excursion plan as best we could, taking into consideration some challenging weather, and we were still talking to each other in the end.  As Andrew stated, it was a bit of a Zen experience.  

As always, I’m including a few photos to entice your interest.

I called this the Glacier Grizzly trip before we left.  In fact, we saw 16 bears: 5 Grizzlies and 11 Black Bears.  We saw them hiking, driving, and one even came through our camp.  I’ve included a Grizzly photo (first photo) to start things off.  I’ll have a Grizzly bear story or two to share later in the trip.

Beautiful scenery was a highlight of the trip.  From my hitchhiking trip through this part of the world back in 1972, I can still remember that Lake Louise was absolutely beautiful.  But even after reading the travel literature and park brochures, there were still plenty of surprises with respect to beautiful lakes and rivers.  Photo two is Peyto Lake.

For those of you who know me and discussed this trip with me before we left, you might notice another difference in the title.  This excursion has been upgraded from a “trip” to an “Adventure”.  We had a hike of a lifetime above Lake Louise on our way to the Plain of Six Glaciers.  We had to go “off trail” due to an avalanche.  You can see where we ended up in the third photo.

So pull up your socks, pull down your sock hats, and get ready for an exciting Canadian Rockies adventure.

Craters of the Moon

Our first night of camping was at the Craters of the Moon National Monument in southern Idaho.  We didn’t arrive until 7:30pm and we left relatively early the next morning but we still enjoyed the stop.  We drove around the Craters loop road in the fading light and hiked the Craters Trail and the Lava Tube Trail.  Vicky and I got up early the next morning and hiked to the self-guided Crater’s Nature Trail, hiked the trail and then hiked back to camp in time to make breakfast.

The first photo is me standing on a rock near the bottom of a large crater.  You can’t tell that I’m near the bottom of a crater from the photo as the crater is way too large to be even mostly in a photo from this range.  Vicky took it from up near the rim of the crater.

The next photo is one of Andrew’s from the Lava Tube Trail.  We saw hundreds of bats flying out of the lava tubes as we were walking around and climbing down into the tubes.

The third photo was the next day on the self-guided trail.  The place was rather stark but also had lots of intense color from lichens, mosses, plants and trees.  It also had some fabulous twisted and oozing rock flow areas.  It’s a geologists paradise.

Idaho Moose Crossing

We were driving up north on Highway 93 making a beeline for Glacier in a rather open landscape when I spotted a moose on my left heading for the highway.  We stopped along the road and for the entire time we were there watching the moose and taking photos, not a single other vehicle passed us.  It was our first big game sighting and we got pretty excited.  This guy turned out to be a rather comical moose as well. 

You can see him in the first photo just strolling across the highway, seemingly without a care in the world.  Then all of a sudden, he got jiggy with it: he really didn’t seem to like the stripes on the road.  I don’t know if he thought they were a cattle guard or what, but he didn’t want anything to do with those stripes.  Andrew got a great photo of him trying to avoid stepping on the yellow lines in the second photo.  Then as we watched him stroll up the other side from the road, he didn’t even slow down at the fence.  The fence was probably three and a half to four feet high and he just stepped over it like it wasn’t even there.  You can see that in the third photo which was one of April’s.  He was over it and moving on before we could blink.  You can see him walking off through the sagebrush in the fourth photo.  

Drinking and Contraband

We were driving along the Salmon River in Idaho when we decided to stop at a small picnic/camping area right along the river.  The whole place was about one foot from being flooded out by the Salmon River.  As we were watching the river flow by in torrents, I struck up a conversation with the Camp Host.  Towards the end of our conversation, he asked me where we were heading on our trip.  When I told him the Canadian Rockies, he asked if we had any bear mace.  I told him we did and he said that the Canadian border guards would take it away from us, since it was considered a ‘weapon’.  He said he lives 60 miles from the Canadian border and the border guards were terrible.  He said they were also sure to take away any of our alcohol and most anything else they wanted.  He said it was ‘criminal’ and he had repeatedly written his congressman to complain about it.  I asked what the laws were and he said it wasn’t the laws, they just seemed to take what they wanted; he suspected for their personal use.

In short order, we made a pact to not let those Canadian border guards have any of our booze.  We had brought along two week’s worth of booze.  We considered lying to them, hiding it, and all other means of deception.  But in the end, we didn’t want to get in any real trouble and decided it was best to take the High Road.  So we decided to drink all two week’s worth of booze in three days.  That would show those border guards – nothing left for them to plunder.  You can see our start on this project in the first photo.  That’s at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier and we were overlooking the lake.  Andrew kept contemplating the camp host telling us that they seemed to take whatever they wanted, and Andrew decided we should also eat our two week’s worth of chocolate before we got to the border as well.  Again, you can see our start in the first photo. 

Vicky and I continued our quest another night as we were starting our camp fire – we enjoyed a couple of Natty Lights – as you can see in the second photo.  I also took quite a bit of flack over my hat and shirt that I’m wearing in the second photo – just because I’ve been wearing them for some 40 years.  I like them.

Our third day, we were still in Glacier but planning on driving into Canada later in the day.  During lunch, I got the bright idea that we should practice spraying our bear mace.  I determined that since the Canadian border guards were going to take it away from us anyway, why not practice spraying it.  After all, we didn’t know if it came out in a stream, a spray, or a fog.  We didn’t know when to shoot it off if a bear did bother us.  So Andrew, April and I took some practice shots.  You can see mine in the third photo.

PS  PUBLIC SERVICE TIP:  Always wash your hands thoroughly after spraying bear mace.  Say for instance you next stopped at a visitor center and decided to use the bathroom.  Ordinarily, you would go in, conduct your business and wash your hands.  My suggestion for this visit – after spraying bear mace – would be to go in, thoroughly wash your hands, conduct your business, and then rewash your hands.  

Lake McDonald Lodge

On our first night in Glacier National Park, we had reservations to stay at Glacier Park Lodge.  Andrew, however, was always scouting ahead on his smart phone.  He learned that the Sun Highway in Glacier was closed due to avalanches.  So during dinner in Colombia Falls at the Three Forks Grille (which April had found on her smart phone), Andrew changed around our reservations by phone.  He cancelled our reservations at Glacier Park Lodge, on the east side, and made us reservations at Lake McDonald Lodge, on the west side.

That way, we would visit and take Andrew’s planned excursions on the west side of the park and then not have to backtrack again from the east side of the park.  And in fact, even the road around had an avalanche closure and we had to take a detour around that section as well.

We enjoyed our one night stay at Lake McDonald Lodge.  We got assigned a cabin clear down the end of the line of cabins.  At first, we were disappointed to be so far from the lodge itself.  But after we walked down to our cabin, we were delighted to learn that we had a great view of the lake and none of the closer cabins did because of the trees growing in front of them.  So in the end, we liked our cabin, our view of Lake McDonald, and even thought the scenery better there than at Glacier Park Lodge.

I've included four photos of us at the Lake McDonald Lodge.  In the first, you can see Vicky standing in the front of the lodge.  Vicky’s sitting in the main room of the lodge in the second photo.  Andrew, Vicky and I are standing in front of our cabin (lucky number 13) in the third photo.  And the fourth photo is in the morning and Vicky is at the back of the main lodge, having coffee and looking out at Lake McDonald.

Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald was quite beautiful when we were there.  We had good weather while at the lodge and we spent quite a bit of time looking, walking, and relaxing near the lake.

I’ve attached four photos of the lake.  The first was in the morning as Vicky and I were down near the water.  Another couple asked us to take a photo of them, so we had them take one of us.  The second photo was taken the day we arrived at the lake and was from the road entering the lake area.

The next two photos are Andrew’s photos.  I’m a ‘point-and-shoot’ guy myself but Andrew is more of an artist with his camera.  I know this third photo is enhanced and I really like numerous things about it.  For one, the rocks on the bottom of the lake in the foreground looked just like that, with all those colors.  They didn’t come out like that in my photos, so I’m sending one of Andrews.  I also like the rest of the photo, but you can see for yourself. 

The last photo is also enhanced but it looked very much like that at sundown.  You can also notice all the dead trees from a fire last year.  It burned a large area but the park still was very beautiful even with the dead tree sections.

Avalanche Lake Hike

We left Lake McDonald Lodge and drove up the Sun Highway but we soon arrived at where it was closed due to an avalanche.  From there, we set off on our first hike of the trip.  Our destination: Avalanche Lake, how appropriate.  It was an easy two mile hike to the lake with lots of water and mud on the trail.  We could see and hear water all around us.  Water was running off of everywhere, especially since there was still quite a bit of snow pack and the weather had been quite warm for the past week.

In the first photo, you can see one of the many canyons with heavy torrents of water streaming down and sending off spray and sounds.  The mosses and lichens were all smiling with all the water coming their way.  Our biggest challenge on this hike was mud holes but well worth it when we got to the lake.  The next two pictures are Avalanche Lake.  You can see the waterfalls behind the lake and the whole area around was like an amphitheater with water falling all around it.  In the last photo, I’m on the lower right.  I look almost like I’m walking on water but I was only at the lake’s edge with water flowing into the lake in the foreground.

Avalanche Lake Animals

We started our hike to Avalanche Lake with Grizzly Bears in mind.  The park had warning signs posted about Grizzlies and there had evidently been quite a few bear sightings since the heavy snow was keeping the bears down lower than normal.  We were only about one half-mile into our hike when we spotted our first Grizzlies.  It was a mom and two cubs.  You can see them in the first photo.  If they look far away, they were.  They were on the hillside across the canyon from us.  Andrew got out his big lens to take this photo.  We could see them with our eyes okay but our regular camera shots weren’t very exciting.  The bears looked to be just turning over rocks looking for bugs.

The next photo is a deer.  We have plenty of deer here at home so we didn’t get too excited about seeing one in Glacier.  We all noticed, however, that this deer was about as tame and casual as our deer back home.  The deer must see plenty of tourists and realize that they are safe in the park.

The third photo is a bald eagle.  Can you find it in the photo?

We also saw five mountain goats on the rocks around Avalanche Lake but they were a long way up the mountain. 

Andrew took all three of these photos.

Bear Creek

We were driving away from Avalanche Lake in west Glacier and heading around the southern route to get to east Glacier when we passed a small highway sign that said “Bear Creek”.  I drove around a bend in the road and lo and behold, there was a family of Black bears, a mother and three cubs.  I had to make a U-turn to get back for photos and I’m glad we did.  I don’t know why, but April got all the best photos of this bear family.  The first and second photos are the momma bear with one cub.  As you can see from the second photo, one of the Black Bear cubs was brown.  But my favorite photo of this group is the third photo.  Apparently, baby bears like suckers just like young children like suckers.

Saint Mary Falls Moose

The next day, we started from our campground, St Mary Campground, in east Glacier.  It was raining and had been all night long.  We went to the visitor center and Andrew made some changes to our plan.  We broke camp a day early but while we were there, we decided to see and do what we could.  One of the first things we did was to take our second hike of the trip.  We set out for St Mary Falls in a light rain (first photo).  We were still conscious of being in Grizzly bear country but with the rain and mud and relief of getting out of our RV and doing some hiking, we were relaxed.  We were casually walking and about three-tenths of a mile into our hike.  Andrew and I were chatting away and not paying too much attention to anything but our conversation.  We suddenly looked up and a moose crossed the trail just a few feet (maybe 10 feet or less) in front of us.  I was looking up at the moose and he was twice as wide as the five foot wide trail that we were hiking.  I turned to tell Vicky about the moose, but she later told us she had seen it coming and yelled at us, but we never heard her.  Vicky said that when I turned around, I was as white as a sheet.  But hey, after almost getting run over by a moose, what did she expect.

I turned and took the second photo as the moose was still walking away from us, maybe some twenty-five feet away.  Call me crazy, but it looks more like a Sasquatch than a moose.  He walked a short ways farther, then stopped to eat.  He was in thick underbrush so we couldn’t get a clear photo of him.  But you can see a better photo of him in the third shot.  I just threw in the last photo because I had never seen moose scat before.  I don’t know what I expected but I was surprised by it.  Once I knew what it was, I was amazed at how much moose scat we found on the trail.  This guy must have a lot of friends.

Saint Mary and Virginia Falls

The hike to St Mary and Virginia Falls was another wet hike.  It was raining but we would have gotten wet anyway from the spray off the rivers and falls.  We also encountered quite a bit of snow on the trail on this hike.  The creeks and rivers were running high but the water was very clear considering that it was raining.  I’m not sure why but we enjoyed the whole experience.  You can see what I believe was St Mary Falls in the first photo.  It was a series of falls and to the right of us was a bridge that crossed over the river.

Virginia Falls is in the second photo.  We didn’t mind getting close to it because we were already wet and dressed for rain.  

The third photo was a gorgeous section along the trail.  The river dropped severely while making a horseshoe turn.  With the flowers blooming in front and the trees, snow capped mountains and clouds behind, we spent a while right here just enjoying it all.  Andrew got a much better photos than any I took here so I’ve included one of his.

Cameron Lake Non-Hike

We woke up in Waterton where it had rained all night long and continued to rain in the morning.  Andrew again checked his smart phone and determined that the better weather was still to the north of us.  But before leaving Waterton, we decided to see and do what we could.  We stopped at a visitor center and asked about hiking a trail that started at Cameron Lake.  We were told that we couldn’t possibly make that hike without crampons and ice picks.  Somewhere back in our family history, someone must have spent time in Missouri, the “Show-Me” state, because we decided to go and see for ourselves whether or not we could make the hike without crampons and ice picks.

We couldn’t make the hike.  We did make it to the parking lot as you can see in the first two photos.  You can also see Cameron Lake in the third photo.  The trail head was just to the left of the lake.  We turned around and went in search of a hike that we could make.

Red Rock Canyon

After we gave up on hiking the trail from Cameron Lake, our next hike attempt was at Red Rock Canyon.  It was still raining but it was a short hike and well worth it.  They don’t call it Red Rock Canyon for nothing.  It’s a very descriptive name indeed.

High Tech vs Low Tech

My son Andrew has always been a High Tech guy.  He has been Mr. Computer in our family since he was four years old when we got our first Apple IIe.  He has grown and matured over the years and also gotten more and more high tech.  Andrew frequently has to explain to me just what his gadgets are for and what they do.

I am Mr. Low Tech and always have been.  I still cut and split my own firewood and the only heat in our house is from a small wood stove.  I do most of my gardening by hand.  Vicky says that the longer I have things, the more I like them.  I told her not to get overconfident, we’ve only been married for 37 years (in 2011).

So how did Andrew and I do on our Rocky Mountain Adventure – Mr. High tech versus Mr. Low tech?  We did just fine.

We hadn’t planned to take hiking poles with us on our trip.  But my friend Denise Banachowski went here last year and told me we would need them.  She went later in the year and still encountered lots of ice and snow.  So I borrowed Denise’s hiking poles for Vicky and Andrew and April brought their own.  I found a stick that worked quite well. (See first photo)

Our conversation:

Boz: Dad, you need to get some modern hiking poles.  They’re great and they make a real difference.

Me: Son, I’ve got this stick that I found and it works just great and the best part, it was free.

Boz: But Dad, if I’m hiking up a steep hill, I can shorten my poles so they are just the right size. (he demonstrated it)

Me: I can too son, watch.  I then just gripped my stick lower down and demonstrated that it was now a shorter stick.

Boz: But Dad, my poles have built in shock absorbers that reduce the strain on me with every step.

Me: Mine too Andrew, watch.  I then pushed my stick down into the ground and of course, it bent – a built in shock absorber.

Boz: But Dad, I can adjust my poles down to 12 inches and put them in my backpack so I still have them but they don’t take up much room and I don’t have to carry them.

Me: 12 inches?  Heck, I can shorten my stick to 6 inches, or to 4 inches, or even less if I want to.

Boz: Okay Dad, show me.

Me: I could if I wanted to son, but I’m not going to.  All I’d need is a saw and a little bit of time.  But I’m not going to show you because then I’d need to find a new stick.

Andrew followed the Park Services and Outfitter companies advice and purchased “bear mace”.  I told him that I hitchhiked all through this country back in ’72 and I didn’t have any bear mace.  I slept all over these woods with food in my backpack and never had any bear problems.  But Andrew was prudent and purchased the bear mace and packed it in his day hike pack.  One day while we were hiking, April yelled, “Hey you’re bear macing me”.  We stopped to check and sure enough, the trigger guard had gotten lost and the bear mace was emitting a bit of spray.  Mr. Low Tech to the rescue.  I found a small fir cone, compressed it, and stuffed it under the trigger.  Now it was secure but with the cone situated so that if we needed it, the fir cone would come right out and we would be ready for business.  See the second photo.  One for Mr. Low Tech.

When it comes to cameras, I thought that was the one area where maybe I WAS Mr. High Tech.  I have a brand new fancy camera that Andrew gave me for Christmas.  But there I was at lunch up near Banff when I went to get a photo of a raven.  I looked over and Andrew was taking the same photo.  See the Third Photo.  One for Mr. High Tech.

Goodbye to Waterton-Glacier

We did a little driving around Waterton-Glacier before we headed north for Banff National Park and better weather.  These are just a couple of the sights in Waterton.  We stopped to see the Prince of Wales Hotel.  The hotel was closed for renovation but we walked around it and took a few photos.  You can see it in the first photo, sitting on the green bluff on the right side of the photo.  The second photo was more zoomed in.  The views from the hotel were also really great.  It looks like it would be great to stay at this hotel.

We wandered down a side circular road that said something about buffalo on a sign.  We were almost done with the loop road before we finally saw some buffalo.  They were a ways off the road and it was still raining pretty hard, but I’ve included one photo.

Bow Valley Parkway Wolf

We made it to Banff National Park around 4:00pm and we reached the Bow Valley Parkway about 5:00pm.  We noticed “Wildlife Warning Signs” that said to go slow due to wildlife.  We were all skeptical about how much wildlife we would see – with a designated sign.  But we were dazzled by all the wildlife that we saw.  We saw white-tailed deer and Big Horn sheep, but our favorite sighting was a wolf with five puppies.  We never got a photo of the mom with all five pups as they were running around wildly.  But we did get some great photos as you can see in the attached photos.

We later learned that there are only about 35 wolves in Banff National Park, so we felt very lucky to have seen these.

Johnston Canyon

After making it to Banff National Park and driving the Bow Valley Parkway, we checked into the Johnston Canyon Campground which was the only campground open in the area.  I was taking a walk around the periphery of the camp by myself late in the evening when at about 9:30 or so, I spotted a big black bear.  He was only about 35 yards away but he wandered away from me.  So we knew that we were in the ‘wilds’ of Banff National Park.

The next morning, we awoke to blue sky and sunshine which was a real treat for us.  We got up early and hiked just across the road from the campground.  We hiked up Johnston Canyon to just beyond the Ink Pots and back which was about seven miles.  The waterfalls, moss, rivers, cat-walk, trails, and snow-covered peaks were all glorious to see.  Our hike took less than five hours and we ate lunch at the Ink Pots. 

I’ve attached some photos from our hike up Johnston Canyon.

The first photo was a series of waterfalls.  A tunnel led through the rock on the right and you can stand there with the spray from the falls coming right at you.

The second photo was one of the Ink Pots.  They were blues and greens and circles and bubbling areas.  They were interesting but not wildly dramatic.

The third photo is another falls farther along up the canyon.  The snow just to the right of the falls was old glacial blue in color, if you can notice it.

The fourth photo, I titled: “Three Ladies on a Bench”.

Andrew's Johnston Canyon

These photos are from our same walk up Johnston Canyon.  They are similar to my own photos in terms of the subject matter.  But as you can see, Andrew is more of an artist with his camera.  I think these are some great photos.

Banff (the town)

We continued to enjoy our day of sunshine with a visit to the town of Banff.  It clearly seemed like a tourist town but a very nice one.  We found an abundance of restaurants, shops, and outdoor type stores.  We wandered around town and had dinner and just enjoyed the town and the sun.

You can see the main street in the first photo.  Banff is surrounded by tall mountains, mostly with peaks in the 9,000 to 10,000 feet range.

We had dinner (2nd photo) at the “Elk and Oarsman” restaurant.  We ate on the top floor, in the sun, with beautiful views in all directions.  The third photo is our “starters” plate at the restaurant.  It was served on a piece of slate and included venison salami, bison meat, crackers, cheeses, and fruit – all very delicious.

After leaving the restaurant, Andrew and I got separated from the girls.  I quickly developed a plan to find them but then Andrew said, “Follow me dad, I’ll find them”.  As a parent, you have to give kids a little room to show what they can do.  I kept quiet and followed Andrew.  In less than two minutes, we found the girls, as you can see in the last photo.  What can I say, “the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree”.

Around Banff

We took full advantage of our day of sunshine in Banff.  It was a non-stop day (like all the rest) but it seemed more relaxed than many of the others.  We took the Banff Gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain.  The gondola took us up some 2,292 feet in eight minutes to an elevation of 7,486 feet.  The views were really spectacular with mountain peaks 360 degrees around Sulphur Mountain.  Most of the peaks are in the 9,000 to 10,000 foot range and there are almost too many to count.  You can see the top of the gondola ride just to the right of April in the first photo.

From the summit, we also hiked up to the historic Sanson’s Peak Meteorological Station.  The second photo is taken from the summit looking at the meteorological station.  The path is all done in boardwalks.  It’s not that far but it was about 375 steps up to the station, and of course, another 375 back down. 

After our long day, and upon descending on the gondola, we went next door to the upper Sulphur Springs Hot Springs.  We soaked our muscles in hot mineral waters for an hour or so and we all felt better.  You can see us soaking in the third photo.

I noticed that the garbage cans right in town on the main street looked to be bear proof, or at least constructed to make it hard for an animal to get into them.  As we were leaving town, we saw why.  There were elk grazing right in town.  You can see a small one in the last photo.