Year Four - Day Twenty-Three

Summer's View

It stopped raining for the first time since we've been in Canada! Wow the mountains are breathtaking!

We are going to ride the gondola at the Lake Louise Ski Lodge into the grizzly bear area which is off limits to hikers and hope to see some bear action! Since Buster cannot come with us, he is spending the day at doggie day care here in town.

We drove the Bow Valley Parkway into Lake Louise because it is supposed to be good for wildlife viewing.  After catching a glimpse of a mule deer crossing the road, and a few Columbian ground squirrels, we saw a big black bear crossing the road!  He just waltzed across like he owned the place!

We had a lunch buffet at the ski lodge, which was excellent, and then went up the mountain in the gondola after about a twenty minute wait while it was down for repair.  Hmmm...we were a little wary, but we made it up without a hitch.  No bear sightings on the way up.

Sam and Daddy played in the snow for a while. Yes, snow! They just had their last snowfall three weeks ago! After checking out the exhibit center, we rode an open ski lift chair back down. About halfway down we did spot a grizzly bear! Woo hoo!

 

Driving back along the Bow Valley Parkway, we spotted TWO black bears together on the roadside! One was black and the other one brown - awesome! That is five bear sightings in two days!

A little later, we were crossing a bridge area and in the road trotting along in front of us....a HUGE black wolf!  He just trotted along the road with us following him for a few hundred feet before he jumped off into the woods. Sam snapped some pics from the open sunroof, but got a little nervous when we got really close to him. :)

The last animal we saw of the day (besides Buster) was another big horned sheep under the overpass.

We picked up Buster at the doggie day care, but he was not a happy camper.  The sitter said he cried the entire time we were gone, so we can't leave him again. Bummer.

It was an awesome wildlife day for sure!