Hello everyone. It's time to post pictures again! We're laying low this week (6/22-6/29) to rest up from our adventure in Denali Natl Park last week. I'll post pictures from Denali next week. We got lots of great (and not so great) animal pictures. We managed to photograph all the large mammal species in the park.

This batch of pictures follows our travels along the Alaska Highway through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. So, sit back and enjoy. Some are goofy, some are scenic, and lots of animals.

This is suppose to be the biggest beaver in Canada. It's located appropriately in the town of Beaverlodge, Alberta. Obviously it's just a statue but we thought it was cute. Actually, it's tied with another statue in Dauphin, Manitoba for the distinction of being the biggest beaver in Canada. The beaver is 15 ft high and he's perched on a 19 ft log.




Here we are crossing the border into British Columbia. Shortly after this was taken we were pulled over by the cops. We tow a car behind our trailer (behind our truck). That's illegal in British Columbia and they are very strict. We didn't get a ticket. We just unhitched the car and Kathy drove it (until we got out of BC). The cop said he was going to radio ahead to tell other cops to watch for us.

This shot was taken in downtown Dawson Creek, British Columbia. This is the official start of the famous Alaska Highway. The Alaska Highway runs from here to Delta Junction, Alaska, a distance of 1390 miles. The Army Corps of Engineers built this road in 8 months (not years) during 1942 (March to October, I think). Something like 30,000 people worked on it during construction. The original road was a "pioneer road" made of dirt, gravel, mud and temporary bridges. It's been undergoing upgrades and repairs for the past 67 years. It's actually a pretty good road along most of it's length.

The rest of these pictures were taken along the Alaska Highway in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.


OK, what kind of bear is this?? If you said grizzly because it's brown, your wrong!! It's actually a black bear. You can tell by the hump missing from it's back, the long ears and long, slender snout. In the western US and Canada about 50% of black bears are not black. They range from tan to brown, cinnamon, and even reddish brown like this guy. He was browsing along the side of the road in the northern Canadian Rockies in BC.


Look close at the sign on this outhouse. I think that says it all.

(In case you can't read the sign, it says "CLOSED, CAUSE ITS FULL"






This picture is really special (to me). This is a Stone Sheep. It's a cousin to the Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep you see in the US and Canadian Rockies. These guys only live in the extreme northern Rockies and can be very hard to find. Luckily this guy was grazing near the road on a steep hill. Also lucky that we found a place to pull the trailer over and park, and it's lucky that my wife is extremely competent with a telephoto lens. This was taken in northern BC

This is not an ordinary buffalo like you see in Yellowstone NP. This is a Wood Buffalo. They're found in SW Canada. I don't really know the technical difference between a plains buffalo of the US and a Wood Buffalo. If anyone knows please Email me the answer. This shot was taken in northern BC along the Alaska Highway.

OK, this is a black, black bear. If you keep scrolling down you'll see a picture of grizzly bears.
This shot was taken in northern BC along the Alaska Highway.

OK, now the trip is getting serious, We're crossing into the Yukon Territory. There are dog mushers, gold panners, and mounties on every corner!! Only kidding. Actually there are bears and moose on every corner. Seriously, there aren't very many corners...

This is really cool. They call this the signpost forest. It's located in the town of Watson Lake, Yukon. Apparently when the Alaska Highway was being built (1942) a soldier put up a sign for his hometown. The idea caught on and others started hanging up signs. The town liked it, so they now invite anyone to put up a sign when they pass through. They estimate that there are 60,000 signs but I think that estimate is very low. It looks more like a million!! The forest covers a few acres. There are wooden posts every few feet and they are covered with signs on both sides. The posts are about 8 ft high.

This old Cat bulldozer (I think it's a C-8) was on display at the signpost forest. It's one of the original machines that the Corp used to build the Alaska Highway in 1942.

Take a close look. These are grizzly bears. See the distinct hump on the back of the bear furthest from the camera?? Also notice the small ears and shorter nose. This is most likely a sow (female) with a second or third summer cub. Bears keep their cubs around for 2-3 years before they run them off and mate again. These bears look the same size but that's due to the flattened perspective of the long telephoto lens used for this picture. The bear closest to the camera (mother) was actually larger than the one in the back (cub). This was taken right along the highway.

This is a typical pull-off on the Alaska Highway. This one was especially scenic so we took this shot. The RV you see in the photo is NOT us. It's just another weary Alaska Highway traveller.

This is Mrs. Moose browsing on tender aquatic vegetation. We didn't see a calf in the area (which is normal in the spring) but it could have been hidden in the brush close by (also normal behavior for a mother moose).

This is a nice shot looking down the Alaska Highway. Those are the Wrangell Mountains in the distance (I think, they could also be the Elias Range).

This is one of our "lunch stops". Not bad, huh?? We were somewhere in the Yukon 100 miles or so from the Alaska border. That lake in the background was frozen solid. Keep in mind that this is May 31st. You can't tell from the picture but the truck, trailer, and car (way in the back) are covered with mud. YUCK!!

I think this is a nice shot to close this posting with. I hope you enjoyed them. The next batch will cover our time in Fairbanks including our trip to the Arctic Circle. See you then.

Dennis & Kathy

Photos from Canadian Rockies

These pictures are from the Canadian Rockies (except for the first one). This group pretty much follows my first "trip report" (May 24). Enjoy!!

Dennis

This is Devil's Tower National Monument in northeast Wyoming. It's something like 600 ft. tall. Geologist say it's the core of an extinct volcano. The shell that was around the core eroded over many millennium. The Indians have a different version. Their legend says that a party of Indians were camped in the area and a group of little girls went to play in the woods. They came upon a bear which chased them. The girls were so scared that they jumped onto a flat topped rock and prayed to the gods for help. Miraculously, the rock rose up and kept the little girls safe from the bear. The bear was so mad that it jumped up and tried to claw its way to the top of the rock. The grooves you see in the mountain are from the bears claws. The girls stayed on top of the mountain and eventually became one of the constellations (I can't remember which one).

This was taken at Tunnel Mountain campground in Banff National Park (Alberta, Canada). We drove there from Calgary in a snowstorm (keep in mind that this was May 15). The next morning we were greeted by this scene. The street was too warm for the snow but it stuck to the trees and grass. It was a nice tranquil scene. The campground was pretty empty so it was real quiet. The place was full of elk droppings. Yes, we saw a lot of elk while we were there.



This is a picture of the city of Banff taken from the top of Sulphur Mountain. No, we didn't climb it!! We took the gondola. The city center is off to the left side of the photo. Banff is in a big bowl surrounded by the Canadian Rockies. There was still lots of snow in the region even though it was May 15th.






Here's another shot from the top of Sulphur Mountain. It shows the extent of the snow on the ground. It was a little cold and windy but it was beautiful.









This is Lake Minnewanka in Banff Natl Park. It's really beautiful but it was still frozen. As we visited other lakes in the Canadian Rockies we found that they were all frozen. I guess late May is part of winter, not spring.








This is the lower falls in Johnston Canyon (Banff N.P.). It's a really popular spot with something like a million visitors a year. The trail to the falls was narrow and a good portion of it was made-up of metal walkways bolted to the rock walls of the canyon. With all that foot traffic I hope they did a good job building those walkways. I think the falls were something like 60 or so feet high












If you've never seen Kootenay Natl Park, this is it. There are no words to describe the visual impact of this scene. I still say "WOW" when I look at it. Breathtaking is a gross understatement.








This is world famous Lake Louise in Banff Natl Park. I hope it makes you go "BURRRRR" because it was really cold there. The wind was descending down the face of the frozen mountain in the background, across the deep frozen lake and right into our face. The air temp was near freezing and the wind was gusting to 20-25MPH. Jeeeez, was it cold!!! I hope you guys appreciate the pain I went through to get this photo for YOU!!



Ahhhh, that felt good. This style of fancy outhouse can be found throughout the national parks in the western US and Canada also. They actually call these "vault toilets". Curious name, don't you think?? I usual deposit my valuables in a vault. This deposit was not valuable.







We drove to the Columbia Icefield one day and rode this monster snow coach up to the Athabasca Glacier. Look at the size of the tires (that little speck standing next to it is me). This thing has 6 wheel drive and a top speed of about 15 MPH. The tires are something like 3 ft. wide to spread the load and reduce the impact on the glacier.

Here's a picture of that monster snow coach taken from a distance. Look how small it is compared to the glacial valley. The glacier we're standing on is a few thousand feet thick. That sounds big but it has receded a couple miles in length over many decades. They let us spend about 1/2 hour on the glacier. It was really impressive and very cold.





Avalanche!!! Actually, it's the glacier calving. Kathy was quick enough to catch this shot before everything settled down. That pile of snow could easily hide many large buildings. The picture doesn't portray the size of this valley accurately. It's massive!!







This is our rig parked in a campground in Hinton, Alberta, just to the east of Jasper Natl Park. Notice the snow-capped mountains in the distance. What a sight to wake up to each morning. There really are some advantages to this RV lifestyle. The day we drove to this campground (May 18th) it snowed nearly the entire time. When we arrived at the campground there was 6" of fresh snow on the ground, we had 2 more inches that night, and flurries the next day. The regulator on our propane tanks froze-up in the middle of the night. Can you say "no heat" when it's 25 degrees out?? Now you see one of the disadvantages of RVing. BTW, we drove through a snowstorm to get to this campground.

Now, if you don't believe that we had snow, here's the proof. Kathy whipped-up this snowman in no time. The snow was wet and sticky so it formed nicely. Sam (the snowman's name) lasted a few days before he melted.















This is Maligne Lake in Jasper Natl Park. Ho hum, another knock-out scenic shot. Boy, am I getting tired of pushing the button on this camera to get these postcard pictures. That little building with the red roof is a boat house. Since the lake was still frozen the only boat you could use was an ice breaker!!!






OK, now for my favorite pictures. Bring on the animals!!! As many of you know Kathy and I are primarily wildlife photographers. We do scenics when there are no animals around to shoot. Here's a small collection we found through the Canadian Rockies.

This is a Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep. You normally only find these in the high country but in winter and spring they come down to lower elevations because it's warmer and easier to find food. We saw them regularly as we drove from our campground in Hinton, Alberta to Jasper Natl Park. They were really cooperative for pictures. They had no fear of people or vehicles.







This is the boy's club. Three good sized rams in a group. Notice the full curl of the horns on the ram closest to the camera. He's a really mature male. These guys were part of a group of probably 2 dozen big horns that were feeding by the road one day. The group was a mix of rams and ewes (females) but I didn't see any lambs. Maybe they were hiding in the woods. These guys sure look well-fed, don't they??




Here are a couple elk that we spotted in the campground at Banff. These are both cows that still have their winter fur. We never did see any bulls while we were there.












What would a batch of pictures be without a rodent shot. They are so cute and cooperative. This is a Columbia Ground Squirrel. Kathy saw a Hoary Marmot too but didn't get a shot before it went and hid.











OK, one more rodent picture. Can anyone guess what this is?? No, it's not a chipmunk. This little guy is a golden-mantled ground squirrel. Now, aren't you glad you tuned into Dennis' blog??











You really know you're in the high country when you see Mountain Goats. We only saw one small group at low elevation during the 3 weeks we were in the Banff/Jasper area. Luckily they were cooperative and gave us some great shots.








Well, that's a quick view of our stay in the Canadian Rockies. I hope you enjoyed it. We sure did (except for the night without heat). The next batch of pictures will follow our exploits as we drove up the infamous Alaska Highway 1390 miles from Dawson Creek, BC, through the Yukon Territory, on to Delta Junction, Alaska and finally to Fairbanks. See you then!!