Somewhere in Glacier National Park

Somewhere along the middle fork of the Flathead River in Glacier I pulled off the road and took a shot.

Sinopah Mountain and Two Medicine Lake

Glacier National Park

Running Eagle Falls

Running Eagle Falls is on the east side of Glacier Park and is named for a Native American woman who lived in the early 18th century.  Running Eagle was a great warrior, but died in a raiding party across the continental divide on the Flathead tribe.  She was buried above this water fall.

Glacier National Park

The falls on the lower right are MacDonald Falls in Glacier National Park.  You still can't drive all the way in due to snow.  From the west gate you can drive about 16 miles in.

Flathead Lake

Old Barn, Somers Montana

Somers is an old lumber town on the north end of Flathead Lake in Montana.

Upper Bankshead

I wrote about Bankshead a while back, have a look here if you are interested in the story.  The picture before was taken in Lower Bankshead where most of the industrial equipment was located.  Most of the people lived in Upper Bankshead.  There isn't a whole lot left there.  Most of the houses and buildings were moved to Banff, Canmore, or Calgary or destroyed. 

The mine itself had three entrances along three different seams.  The "C" level was above Upper Bankshead and I hiked up there.  About all that remains is this old ruined concrete building that someone has decorated, some mining equipment, and some unstable areas associated with the old mine that has collapsed.  It snowed on me as I walked up the trail.

Stalking the Wild Elk

This isn't the best picture I ever took of elk (that would probably be this one) but there is a story here so stay with me.  I was driving down Hwy 1A just past Cascade Mountain when I saw elk well off the road.  I have seen elk in the area a number of times and always look for them when I go by.  This time I decided to turn around and stalk them to get a picture.

It was a mile and a half to two miles from where I was able to safely park to where the elk were.  I carried my camera, telephoto lens, and a large tripod through the woods and meadows and found them not too far from where I had first seen them from the car.  The wind was in my face so they couldn't smell me and I used trees and a gully to avoid being seen.  I got to within 200 meters of them and set up my camera to take this shot.

One saw me not too long after I took this and perked towards me, then another.  It didn't seem to bother them too much.  I don't think they could figure out what I was because my outline would have been broken up by trees and I was still.  I squatted down and snuck off so as to not disturb them further.  I was pleased with my rusty woodsman skills.

Sunday was a good day for spotting wildlife.  I saw coyotes, elk, ground squirrels, tree squirrels, bighorn sheep, a bald eagle, an osprey, mule deer, ....  Notice that the cow elk here don't appear to have calved.  I didn't see lambs with the sheep either.

Coyotes in Canmore

I saw two coyotes last Sunday in the Canmore area.  The first was inside the town limits on the east side of the highway.  He was a bit scroungy and moving quickly towards the brush when I saw him.  I had just enough time to point my camera and get a couple of snaps off.  You can tell it is a coyote but that is about it.  I saw the one above coming down the road in front of me about 10 miles out of town close to the Spray Lakes.  I just stopped the car, rolled down the window, and took a couple of pictures as he trotted past.

Smuts Creek near Mt. Engadine Lodge

The view from the bridge crossing Smuts Creek at Mt. Engadine Lodge. 

Mount Rundle (without the osprey)

I saw an osprey dive and catch a fish in Two Jacks Lake.  With Mount Rundle in the background.  I was too dumbfounded to take a picture.  Just watched it happen.  There has been a bald eagle over at Vermillion Lakes the last few weeks and I've photographed it perched in a dead tree but it was too small to make a very compelling photograph.

Awww

Almost too cute to post.  This ground squirrel seen at Two Jacks Lake - there were a bunch of them hopping in and out of their dens.

Robin, harbinger of spring in Canada

I have been seeing Robins for about two weeks now.  This was one of a pair at Two Jacks Lake near Banff.  They seem more colorful than the ones in Texas.  It is probably my imagination.

Fullerton Loop

The Fullerton Loop is a nice 2 to 2 1/2 hour trek in Kananaskis that turned into 3 1/2 due to my trail finding skills.  We took an unplanned detour down the Elbow Trail where there weren't any footprints except for the deer and bunnies.  After backtracking, we found the Fullerton Loop trail which climbs a ridge that overlooks the Elbow River Valley before looping back through the forest.  The trail is pretty slushy in places in the shade, and there was even moderately deep snow on the north side of the ridge, but made for a pleasant outing.

Nice Spring Day

I had a nice walk home along the river today...  This is the view back towards Eau Claire and the city from where the new pedestrian bridge is being built.

Geese and Goslings

These geese and goslings were down at Prince's Park.  The goslings seem to wander from group to group.  I saw a pair of geese herding more than 20 around.  Another smaller group wandered by and two of the goslings in the first bunch peeled off and went with them.  Another time two strayed off and followed a pair who didn't seem to want anything to do with them.

The Canada Goose lives 10 to 20+ years. They mate in their second year and generally stay together for life. The female lays 3 to 8 eggs in a shallow nest and both parents guard it.  Protective parents lower their head, stick out their necks, and hiss as a warning like the goose on the right.

In like a Lion - Out like a Lamb

Oh wait a minute, that saying is supposed to be for March isn't it. We woke up this morning, 5th May, to snow and a few degrees below freezing. We don't mind it though. We're Canadians.

This picture taken of our patio just outside the living room with my trusty 14-24 ultrawide angle lens.

Galveston

Seagull

Pipers

Canadian Goose on Vermillion Lake

Bankshead

Bankshead is an abandoned coal mining town in Banff National Park.  At one time, Bankshead was more modern than Banff, sporting electric power from a coal fired plant and indoor plumbing.  The Canadian Pacific Railway started mining coal there in 1903 but it was closed under low prices and a strike in 1922.

Coal still stretches under Cascade Mountain but by the late 1920s it was no longer deemed acceptable to mine and gather resources in the National Parks.  The buildings were moved off or demolished for the most part with the exception of foundations or shells.  A nice trail with interpretative signs leads through the site though and some of the buildings were moved to Banff where they can still be seen.

This shell of a building was the lamp house.  Each miner had their own numbered lamp that was given to them as they entered the mine.  At the end of the shift they knew to send a search party if the lamp wasn't returned.

Canadian geese on the Bow River as seen from the Sundance Trail.

This is the Bow River just below the falls in Banff.  Picture taken at dusk on a tripod and then digitally enhanced to bring out some shadow detail.

Banff Golf Course

We are starting to get an idea where to find the wildlife now.  Last weekend we saw elk, sheep, deer, a bald eagle, and any number of ducks, geese, and such.  Must have seen several hundred sheep.  This elk was on the golf course at Banff - those are sand traps in the background.  There was a small group of 3 males.  We also saw cows down by Vermillion Lakes.  Still haven't seen a bear although I know they are out.  There was a fisherman on the Bow River just below the falls....

Between Exshaw and Dead Man's Flats

It was a beautiful day but you can see the rain clouds to east in this picture and we drove through it on the way back to Calgary.

Inunnguaq

This is just downstream of the confluence of the Spray River and the Bow.

Castle Mountain

Red-winged Blackbird

Seen at Vermillion Lakes

Wabbits

It's springtime and the rabbits are out.  Saw 5 of them together out on the lawn between the apartments and the river.  I'd see a lone rabbit here and there late last fall and over the winter.  I actually wondered how they could find each other in the city to maintain the rabbit population.  I shouldn't have worried.  Like I said, it's spring.

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

This group of young rams was on Hwy 40 in Kananaskis. How do I know they are young? Well, they don't have much of a curl yet. Just down the road was a small group of ewes and yearlings. And to top it off, after coffee in Canmore, we saw a larger group of sheep between Canmore and Exeter off Hwy 1A.

Blond Coyote

We had a snow last week but it is definitely warming up and the animals are starting to move.  Within the last couple of weeks there have been reports of grizzly bears up and about in Banff National Park and an area outside of Canmore has been closed due to cougar activity.  Meanwhile I photographed this coyote at Spray Lake just south of Canmore on the road.  It's coat was in good shape, seemed well fed, and more than anything else just seemed curious about us.  Beautiful...