A Few More Bears

Here are a few more bears from our latest trip for you to enjoy!

 This bear was busy scrounging for food and really didn't care that we were close enough for pictures!

 Occasionally it would look our way just to see if we were still there!

This shot makes me think that the bear was a bit camera shy and just wanted to be alone!

I don't know how Brenda spotted this guy way off in the bush but she did! I was barely able to see him with the long lens. It was nice that this bear lifted it's head so I could at least get this shot! 

Jasper in June...with a side trip to Banff

The trip to Jasper and Banff last weekend ended up being just awesome.  There were many bears along the highways and I was glad that we were able to spot our first three black bears with no traffic around.  We were able to spend about 2 hours watching the three of them do "their thing!"  As you watch these animals you get a great sense that they only wish to be alone so they can forage for food and rest without human interference.  Keeping our distance to respect the animals was our first priority and the close-up shots are because the bears walked nearer to us, not because we chased them.  I think if more people were educated about wild animals and learn to respect "their space" we would have fewer problem encounters.

The third bear we saw was much larger than the first two.  I noticed that he had a tag on his left ear.  While watching this bear, Brenda and I both could see that his teeth looked in poor shape.  I'm guessing that this guy is quite an old bear and he didn't want much to do with us when he noticed us.

One of the things that constantly amazes me is how stupid some people can be!  This shot was taken along the Icefields "Raceway"!!!  This bear was eating grass along the side of the highway and before long there were probably 20 or 30 cars that had stopped along the shoulders with many more cars and motor homes stopping and blocking one lane as well.  As seems to be the norm on Alberta's highways some idiot in a speeding red pick-up towing a car almost drove into the back of a motor home that had stopped behind traffic on the highway.  This idiot then swerved into the oncoming traffic lane and forced the oncoming traffic to swerve onto the shoulder to avoid a head on collision.  Unfortunately I couldn't get the plate because of his speed but I did see that it was a B.C. plate.  Had this idiot flown by a couple of seconds later he would have hit the bear and no doubt several other vehicles!  WHEN WILL THE POLICE START ENFORCEMENT ON THE HIGHWAYS IN OUR NATIONAL PARKS?  It's getting to the point where it isn't safe to drive the speed limit!

Back to the photo...this motorcyclist had stopped to see the bear and didn't keep her attention focused on the animal.  The bear suddenly decided to cross the highway walked behind her about 10 meters from the biker and she didn't even notice it cross.  Can you imagine what could have happened if the bear suddenly had taken an interest in this biker?

Brenda and I stopped for a bite to eat and were immediately joined by this little guy.  He obviously wanted to join us for lunch and made some real attempts at looking cute to entice us to feed him.  Was it hard to look into this little guys eyes and not give him something...yes!

We were lucky enough on Sunday before sunrise to see this calf elk with it's mom!  We watched them for awhile and were able to see it feeding, but unfortunately behind some trees where we couldn't get any pics!  It would have been great to get those shots but just watching them was reward enough for the day!

We spotted this Mountain Goat feeding on the side of a cliff.  We watched and took a lot of pics.  We didn't see any other goats around, but he didn't see to mind us.  He had an itch that he had to scratch in the bottom photo.

We also spotted this young Bighorn Sheep and it's mom on Sunday.  I think the photo's say it all...

I must thank Brenda for taking these great shots of the photographer in action!  I am very proud of her for braving this 8 km hike that we did on Sunday!  I can't believe that in the two short years after her stroke (with many life threatening complications) that she was able to enjoy these views and all the other remarkable places and wildlife that we saw this past weekend!!!

We couldn't go through the parks without getting some landscape shots as well.  The shots below were taken at various locations through the parks!  Please enjoy them!

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Bear Encounters

We headed back to Jasper and Banff this past weekend in search of bears.  We had some great encounters with 9 different black bears!  The pictures below are the first three bears we saw.  We watched these three for about 2 hours as they fed, relaxed and drank.  It was awesome watching these three without the distraction caused by huge crowds and traffic jams when they are seen next to the highways in the parks.  I will write a full story about our trip in the next post.  In the meantime I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them.