Calgary

Our last day was in Calgary where we stayed in a dorm at the U of Calgary! Remember those days of white concrete walls, 2 beds, 2 desks, (only) 1 chair, small closet and the bathrooms down the hall shared with 20-30 others!!!! How did we ever do THAT?

There is some great open agricultural land north of Calgary which is rapidly being eaten up with large developments with row after serpentine row of houses only a few feet apart... Ugly!

The last evening I went on a bird walk along the Bow River Park which runs through the city. As we returned to the parking lot, the leader asked me if I had seen a Gray Partridge in my travels yet? Heck, that bird wasn't even on my radar as a possible!!! It was life bird # 20 during the trip!!! What a great way to end!

Canmore

Canmore is a lovely town/city just to the south of Banff NP with extensive hiking trails, steep mountains and vistas, wildlife, proximity to Canada Provincial Parks and somewhat cheaper accommodations than can be found in the parks. It's every bit as worthy of visiting as the NPs. However, one must always be prepared for inclimate weather in these mountains! Guess what? Umbrellas aren't ideal for hiking in the woods! Best utilize a convenient rock overhang to wait out the rain.

Banff town

The next day we drove back into the park to visit the wonderful museums (yes!! more museums!) in Banff. The town is really very historic and interesting despite the horrendous influx of tourist. (We were told it is far more crowded in July and August!)

The Banff Park Museum was put together mostly by one man (1903) with the intent to showcase all the animals and other fauna and flora in the park. It was thought that that was the only way people would ever get to see the treasures in the park. Fortunately, a new philosophy now prevails - see the treasures in the wild. Nonetheless, the building and museum contents have been 'resurrected' and is a great visit, esp. on a rainy day!

The Whyte museum had a opening exhibit of Robert Bateman's (wildlife artist extraordinaire!) work as well as the exhibit explaining the origins of the Banff 'settlement' - (gold and hot springs) and the connection to the Luxton and McDougall families.

Lastly, the Luxton Museum of the Plains celebrates the history of the Native People. Norman Luxton was an important figure in Banff's development and a friend of the Stony Indians. He was a passionate collector of native artifacts and handiwork which is displayed through authentic activity scenes.

The Cave and Basin National Historic Site of Canada commemorates the birth place of Banff NP and the Canadian NP system. Arguments over the ownership of hotsprings here were settled when the government stepped in, in 1885, and declared the area a national park. The facilty was closed to the public in the 90's? when an endanger snail was discovered living in the warm waters (!) and when keeping the facility updated and open became cost prohibitive. The Upper Hot Springs remain open and gave me a warm, soothing bath to end the day in Banff! Course when I went to find Charlie and the car in the parking lot - it was teaming buckets of rain!!!

Lake Louise and Banff NP

We stopped at Lake Louise (in the mist) for the obligatory visit to the Chateau and a drive around the town. It was relatively busy with other visitors. As we continued south for our night in Canmore, just outside Banff NP south gate, we enjoyed one spectacular rainbow!

Colombia Icefield

It was cold, windy and rainy as we headed south through Jasper NP to Banff NP. Of course, we had to stop at the Icefield Visitor Center opposite the Colombia Icefield that feeds a number of glaciers including Athabasca where the Ice Explorer will take you onto the Glacier. It certainly is the thing to do (for others!). The Center has excellent information including one of the original 'buggies' that went on the glacier. And did you know that the Colombia Icefield feeds rivers that flow into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans? Pretty amazing!

More Jasper area

We have had 4 glorious days in Jasper area. Because the city is entirely within the park, its development has been entirely controlled since the park was established in 1907. Nothing can be done in the 'city' without Park (read government) approval. There can be no expansion of the city footprint, design is controlled and it is just a delightful community of about 5800.

Athabascan Falls was just spectacular. Wildflowers are just coming out - and we did finally see a male and female elk (not together), mountain goats and Rocky Mt Bighorn sheep - female and kids. But just being in this environment to look, enjoy, marvel, sense.... hard to describe.

Jasper National Park

The pictures tell the small and the big of it!

The sign at Mystery Lake explains the origin of the name. The lake disappears into cracks and fissures becoming nothing more than a trickling steam as the summer goes on. They have just found the outlet for this underground 'river' which is believed to be one of the longest known.

The picture of Annette Lake with Pyramid Mt in the background just gives a small hint of the vivid turquoise waters. Just great trails, peace and tranquility - and few people around to enjoy it all.

We saw mama bear and 2 cubs, golden mantled ground squirrels (VERY obnoxious!), marmot, mule deer, red squirrels and only a few birds today.

VIA rail across B.C.

WOW!! We have had a few days of sensory overload, and I expect it will continue. We boarded an Inside Passage Ferry from Juneau to Prince Rupert, BC. - depart Thurs, June 11@ 7:45pm, arv early a.m. Sat. (2 stops) The community is celebrating Seafest. What fun watching the parade of local bands, floats, organizations, native dancers, etc. - and - there were more people there than we have seen our whole trip!!!!

Sunday, 8 am, we boarded the Skeena train on the VIA rail system for a 2 day trip across British Colombia. The trip takes you along 2 major river systems and the only road across southern BC. Despite the time on the train, 13 hrs on day 1 and 9 hrs on day 2, the fact that we were such a small group (only 25-30) of travelers - mostly European - made for good fun and conversation. The picture shows Mt Robson, the highest peak in Canada which is on the western edge of the Rockies.

Tracy Arm Fjord

A truly spectacular day of sun and awesome 'beauty' on an all day tour to Tracy Arm fjord and the S. Sawyer Glacier. To paraphrase the author of a book about Tracy Arm - "a journey to Tracy Arm isn't about a checklist of spotted species, or an accounting of facts and figures or miles on a map. Such details add context, but ultimate meaning lies in grasping the magnitude of the drama of creation and destruction cast on a scale so grand it must be felt rather than understood."

Compare this glacier to the Mendenhall which ends in a lake accessible area close to Juneau.

The ice Charlie is holding was scooped up at the terminus of the glacier where we watched the events unfolding for over an hour. It's hard to imagine the age of this ice -- but not the age of the 'cutie' deckhand to the right of Charlie!

The images fill in the rest - 100s of seals and pups floating on ice flows, humpback whales feeding, black bears at water's edge, Bald Eagles fighting over a fish, steep glacial rock walls, spray from up close and familiar water falls, vivid blue ice floats,, the thunder and crack of the ice calving off the glacier and the glacier itself - 200' above the water and 900' below, 1/2 mile across and a constant work in progress. Spectacular day!!

Publish Post

Juneau

We're on our second day in Juneau and have had 2 very busy days. We hobknobbed with the hundreds who came off the 4 cruise ships on day one - WHAT A MOB SCENE!!! Imagine over 1000 (2000?) people hitting 2 street's worth of multiple 'harbor view' shops all at once... the shops all selling furs, jewelry, native crafts and more things that one doesn't need than you can possibly imagine. Tonight we watched a store owner assure a buyer that the 7' 'stick' she was buying would definitely get shipped safely. We couldn't imagine her concern until we asked what was so valuable about that stick. It was a narwhal "horn"!!!!!! Very rare and just what the owner wanted to sell - $15,000 or more!!!

We also visited the Mendenhall Glacier just outside the city, walked some lovely trails, missed seeing the bear (yay!), but got great views of the porcupine!

Charlie's Impressions!

This household has all the tools for survival in Nome - snowmachine, dog sled and ATV!

But Charlie is not ready to move to Nome! Too messy for one thing! Seems whatever anyone owns ends up in the front yard or out in the boonies wherever it stopped - like snowmobiles! We actually saw a couple of guys heading out with snowmobiles on trailers ready for one last ride - in the wind and rain!! Probably warmer than in Jan. at least!!

ONE orange was $3.29! A gallon of windshield washer fluid - $9.99! Parked next to almost every house was at least one snowmachine and one ATV. But these people are innovative and resourceful as the covered 'buggy' indicates. He visited and is glad to have left.

Nome

We arrived in Nome with temps in the 50s and departed on a beautiful sunny, 50s day today, Mon, June 8. However, the weather in between was typically Nomeish - highs of 41-42, high winds and overcast to steady downpours!! One makes the most of it!! Each of us come away with different impressions. For me, it was 3 intense days of birding with a final tally of 84 species which is very good with 5-6 life birds - up to 16 now, I think! The hunt was as exciting as the find! I joined up with some others and friends and we all had a great time. Charlie was able to 'relax' for a couple of days and do his own thing. Ice was still in the harbor and snow in many places.

Independence Gold Mine

These images show what we encountered on May 13, when we first tried to visit the Independence Mine outside of Palmer. (snow!). I'm glad we went back today, June 3, (right) to actually visit this site. Since it was active from 1936 until 1941 when the government shut it down because it was not essential to the US war effort!!, this was a very productive gold mine. The manager was a keen historian so much of the history of this place remains in pictures, ledgers, bills, etc. It is a state site and the information signs are excellent as well as access to what remains so this was really interesting. At the Wasilla Visitor's Center we met a young woman who was caretaker herein the winters of 1991, 92. The 12 mile road in was not paved and electricity was by generator, etc. She loved it! Still lives here in Palmer.. and says you get used to the DARK winters! I think that would be harder to get used to than the cold.

Interestingly, neighboring Wasilla (hear me Sarah!!) is the ONLY Alaska town we have passed through that does NOT have WIFI access at the library!!! We're back in Palmer before we head to the city - ANK - and then to Nome on Thursday. Yay!! New birds!!!

Mt McKinley!

Well, it's right between us there!! Do you see it?

I think that is the question everyone asks... we may have seen it while on park road in Denali, but not here. (Signing information all over in the NP left a lot to be desired.) However, the view and day we headed S out of Denali were spectacular regardless.

A note about the signing for state areas, access, camping, rest stops etc. It has been superb!!