This weekend was the best weekend that I have had in a long long time. Mind you the activities of my recent weekends include vehicular breakdowns in the middle of nowhere, and nose surgery, so really, it wasn't a hard act to beat. Still... best weekend in a long time.
It started Friday... um... yeah, as usually weekends do start... I left work, got the Jeep and was on my way. There was a slight issue of whether I would be able to get away or not because I was getting a special kind of rig in, but, the rig wasn't needed yet so I was on my way. I hit the road around 5 which would mean that I would end up at Bella Vista at around 10 pm.
This drive was amazing. I mean, usually the drive is pretty incredible as you go through the Kootenay Plains, the Icefield Parkway, and then Kootenay National Park. So the scenery is always amazing, but this time it was the wildlife that really did it. As I made my way passed Rocky Mountain House the first thing I came across was wild horses. First I saw three wild horses, and then a bit later I saw a herd of about eight. Then as I continued through the the Kootenay Plains I saw a few bighorn sheep, and a bunch of deer. Over the course of the entire drive I had to have seen at least one hundred deer, with underestimation if any estimation is to be had at all. The real kicker that made this trip incredible was that I saw six bears. To see one bear while driving to Invermere during the spring is not that unheard of, but six?! That is something.
A Bear in Search of a Snack
A Bear Eating Grass... A Lot of It...
I ended up getting to Bella Vista at 10:10 pm, which was actually 5 minutes before my predicted time. We had a late supper and then headed off to bed.
There was stuff that I was supposed to do this weekend, but somehow the stuff slipped away as fun things started happening...
We got up and had a fantastic supper and then I did a little work (emphasis on a little), then we took a trip to town and had super fantastic ice cream cones (as they usually are from Candyland). Then it was lunch. We had some guests and they started to arrive. We had lunch, farted around doing yard work, well... mom did yard work and I watched... What? I'm not allowed to lift over 15 pounds because of my surgery!
Early afternoon my dear friend Chloe and her two dogs Remi and Robbie came over, and with the folks and the guests we headed on a long walk. Thus starts the nonstop adventures...
Purple Perception (So Real it Looks Fake)
The first stop on the walk was the abandoned barn down by our field. Naturally I brought the bow and arrows for good measure (no, not for self defence, but bowing and arrowing in the field is always a good time). I have been in this barn a few times and there are a few relics from its being not abandoned days, like rusty horseshoes, a rusty saw, you know... some rusty nails... and stuff. Mom thought that we should retrieve some of this stuff so that people didn't walk off with it. People walking off with the stuff might sound strange, but a surprisingly large number of people stop for photos or to investigate. Anyways, we headed to the door, but since one hinge was broken it was stuck in the mud. Usually I would manhandle the door open, but given my 15 pound lifting restriction I was unable to do so. With the front door being stuck we headed to the back. It was open a crack so a few of us snuck in. Naturally, as I snuck I managed to catch my shoulder on a rusty nail which then tore my shirt and the skin beneath (don't worry I had a tetanus shot in 2009, and yes I checked to confirm).
The inside of the barn was as sketchy as I remember, but much of the hay has sorta mushed down so it was walkable, but super sketch. There were concerns of the barn falling down, and it was some kind of rank smelling in there from the rotting hay, and right were we went in there was some kind of dead mystery animal. We don't know what it was, maybe a baby deer, but it was desiccated and yeah... All the cool stuff was on the other side of barn so we decided to abandon our quest until I could open the front door. That was a good call.
The Wonders of the Walk
Somewhere to Be
The grown-ups headed across the field whilst Chloe and I took a few shots with the bow and arrows. No targets, just for distance and shits and giggles. Having wasted enough time we headed after said grown-ups to enjoy the walk. The walk was... enjoyable. We walked around the lake and didn't manage to lose a single walk. On the way back us kids headed up a hill to take a detour back to the house. Evidently there are huge numbers of trails up there and we ran into six bikers. We looked around a bit, found some rusty car parts... like a door, and a tree that was struck by lightning. You can see the tree in a video later that I took later... later in this blog.
Lilac
Skywards
Walk done we needed to return the dogs. We took them back to Windermere (where they were living for the weekend), had some smashed potatoes (baby potatoes boiled, bashed with a pot, and fried in butter), and headed back. We had left the bow and arrows in the field so we left Chloe's car on the road and headed out.
As always, adventures ensued. Six arrows. Three each. We fired them off and then went to retrieve them. We got Chloe's and then headed onto mine. We found two right away and then had to look for the third... yep... it landed in the swamp. Eff.
Archery (my rolled up pants make me look like a hobbit... does that counteract the effects of my herculean body)
To Calgary
Awesome Archery Skills
Oh well. I rolled up my pants and headed in. Yeah. The water was surprisingly warm once my feet were numb...
Arrow in the Swamp
We then continued to practice our awesome archery skills by firing the arrows back at Chloe's car; since that was the direction we were headed and all. The car was most definitely out of range so it was not a big deal. I fired first as can be seen in the amazing footage below...
Arrows are Fast
Ok, so the moral of the story is... arrows are fast. I still had another shot, so I aimed for Chloe's car that was most certainly, definitely, far out of range... like... so far...
Armed and Dangerous
Right before the camera shut off (thank goodness it did for the cussing that ensued may be offensive to some viewers) you may have heart a "clink." That "clink" was my arrow landing head first and near terminal velocity straight into the road... about 30 feet from Chloe's car that was so so so out of range. I guess maybe it was only so so out of range.
Oops.
Found It!
The Road
Arrow 1, Road 0
It was a good night. Having our fill of almost hitting Chloe's car we headed back to the house. I had a quick supper (Chloe had eaten whenst we had smashed potatoes with her family), and then we headed outside for a fire. We didn't know if we were going to have a fire, but there were no mosquitoes, it was super calm, and it was wet. Most of the summer it is too dry or too windy to have a fire, and when it isn't windy the mosquitoes are too bad, so this was a rare opportunity. We tossed some wood in the firepit, and had a glorious bonfire.
Some of the others from the house joined us for a bit, but mostly it was just Chloe and I and the beautiful view... until it was too dark... then it was just us and the... um... dark.
It being late, and us having had our fill of fire we hosed everything off and called it a night.
What a day, almost got tetanus, almost shot Chloe's car, almost got shot by Chloe (being contingent on shooting Chloe's car)... overall a great Saturday.
The next day everyone was planning to leave pretty early. I got up EAF and headed back to that tree that had been struck by lightning. I was not satisfied with my lack of photos so I took some more and took this video that is barely coherent (due to the early hour) but still shows you how totally awesome this tree that was struck by lightning is.
The Devastation of Lightning
Beside the Blast
Lightning
After I returned, the remaining lot of us headed for another walk. This was a nice loop in land, and as we came back we noticed that on the shady side of the hill there was about a zillion yellow flowers, so as they walked back on the path, I walked up by the flowers and took about a zillion photos. We looped back to the house where everyone packed and began to depart.
In the Woods
Yellow Flowers
Escape
Flowers Everywhere
My trip back to Drayton Valley is about 5 hours, but this time I was preparing to take longer. I always see things that I want to investigate or take photos of but I never seem to have the time. This day I was making the time. And off I went...
A Bella Vista Bee
My first exciting sight was this sheep... asserting its dominance as it totally stole my right of way on the highway...
Ownership by Horns
I continued up the familiar leg of Highway 93 back towards Lake Louise. I did not stop anywhere here because I have seen it quite a bit, and because my goal was to see the rest of my drive. Also, there are so many people it is hard to get photos just at the side of the road, but there are other days for that.
I fueled up at Lake Louise and was off through the Icefields Parkway. It must not have been 5 minutes past the park gates and I saw a small black bear. This was a good start. It was just a glimpse and it wasn't a good spot to grab photos so I forged on. It couldn't have been 10 minutes later when I saw a bunch of cars pulled over on the other side of the road... I knew what that meant. The coast was clear so I drove the jeep across the road and to the far shoulder. I knew there had to be a bear, and I knew he had to be close because all of the people were taking photos, but I could not see him because he was over the bank. I pulled up to the shoulder and could not have been 10 feet from the bear. I started him because he jumped a bit but then he just sat there. With my window down I snapped a photo and got some up close and personal footage.
A Big Brown Bear (No Zoom Needed)
10 Feet from a Brown Bear (I am whispering so it might be quiet)
Spectacular.
After the bear returned to the trees I headed off down the highway. I stopped at a stream on the side of the road and did a bit of hiking. I took note of the snow in the shadows, and the little mossy things that closely resemble the ones we found in Labrador.
The Stream
Moss Like in Labrador!
Then I continued on my way and stopped at Bow Lake for some photos of the lake and the glaciers. Bow Lake, btdubs is still almost completely frozen. I guess it makes sense because not far above it are huge glaciers that mark the edge of the Ice Fields. In the photos the glacier doesn't look that huge, but those sheets of ice are 50 metres thick!
Glacier
The Shores of Bow Lake
Having investigated all that I could without either skates or a bathing suit I continued on my journey. My next stop was a place called Mistaya Canyon. I had seen the pull off before so it sounded like fun. It was only a short walk to the canyon so I headed in. The canyon is not super deep, nor is it super wide, but it sure is something to see. The river rages through the rocks in a very convoluted fashion and over the ages it has worn its way down. There was a bridge over the canyon so we could look down, and there was a fence to stop you from jumping in... the fence only went so far on either side of the canyon so me, and a few other adventurous onlookers headed around the fence and towards the canyon.
Mistaya Canyon
Raging Rapids
A Better View
It was great.
I wanted to look down into the canyon, so at first I was trying to lean over to look but I couldn't get very far without feeling unsafe, so instead I laid down on my belly and stuck my head over the edge...
This is what I saw:
Mistaya Canyon
Ok, so... yeah... I had nose surgery just a little over a week before, and one of the things they said was that you should not bend over. If you bend over the blood rushes to your head and increases pressure on your nose and then you can have a... situation. So, my situation was that I was so excited that I forgot that I was not supposed to bend over... and... well... evidently hanging your head over the edge of a canyon counts as bending over.
Oops. This movie is an apt demonstration of me learning my lesson... be warned, if you watch there is a little blood...
Nose Surgery Woes (Warning: Some Blood)
Thankful that my nose had stopped bleeding and that I didn't need an Emergency Room that I didn't have I hopped back in the Jeep and headed on my way. I was almost at the Saskatchewan Crossing, and then I was turning onto Highway 11 and back onto the Kootenay Plains.
This has been an amazing weekend for bears, and it was only a few minutes before there were a few cars stopped on the side of the road. I joined them, cracked open the sun roof, and stood up. I was able to just sort of stand there and rest on the roof as I watched a small black bear lounging in the sun. He was eating grass, and then when he ran out of grass where he was he would sort of shift to a new location. Some may say he was being lazy, but in the interest of saving energy the bear would not stand and move, he would sort of... slither. That might not be the best word, but you can be the judge of that:
Black Bear Eating Grass
The Kootenay Plains really are quite exceptional, and on the plains is the Bighorn dam and reservoir. At this point I was becoming aware of how long this drive was taking me so I didn't stay long, but I did manage a little hike that gave me an enormous view:
The Bighorn Reservoir
Aqua Waters
Reservoir
Underfed and starting to get tired I continued. I watched the gorgeous scenery pass me by with the reservoir and the Kootenay Plains and then I passed the reserve, and then Nordegg, and I was on the homestretch to Rocky Mountain House and then Drayton. It was this homestretch that I had seen the Wild Horses on the way to Bella Vista, and I am happy to report... I saw them again...
Wild in the Trees
Wild Horses Chillin'
Wild Horses on the Run... Um... Away from me...
And Away...
It was getting late, so after watching the horses run off I kept going. I did stop for one more set of photos on my way to Drayton, what can I say... I couldn't resist.
Burning the Clouds
That 5 hour drive? Yeah, it took me 10 hours. It was so worth it. So. It has shown me some of the beauty of those drives we so take for granted, and it has given me ideas of what I need to revisit. Especially the Kootenay Plains (Siffleur Falls, the Wildlife Reserve, the Douglas Fir Natural Area), and definitely the Ice Fields.
This was my first test drive with the Jeep again. The Jeep works great. It looks like my automatic lights are broken (maybe there is a fuse for that) but having the alternator fixed seems to have increased my driving range by 150 kilometres!!! That is super fantastic.
This has been a long blog, but the best adventures are. This was a great weekend, and not one that I will forget anytime soon. You've seen a lot of photos here, but there are a bunch more in the albums (
Columbia Valley,
Icefields Parkway), so take a look if you are interested.
Its been almost a week since this adventure, but just writing it... just reliving it... I need a nap!
Until next time.
Adieu.
