MCCORMICK THE WONDER DOG

McCormick has been having a wonderful time also. We have had to do some extra training due to the large amount of animals we encounter. Rocks in a plastic water bottle has done the trick! She has thoroughly enjoyed swimming in all of the streams and lakes we have taken her too. 

2 HEADED SHEEP

Traveling to Banff today on the Bow River Parkway we saw a group of Wild Sheep gathered on a hillside. We stopped to take a photo and to our amazement we got this photo of a 2 headed sheep. Truly one of the most incredible things I have seen on this trip!

LONG TIME COMING

It is difficult at best to find wi-fi anywhere around where we travel. We are sitting outside an art gallery in Banff, Alberta and locked in to a connection. Our travels have been many and the things we have seen have been inspiring. We saw our first Grizzly bear a few days ago where we were camped at Lake Louise. Pretty awesome. Some humans are so silly though. They were actually running after him trying to get close ups. Today driving to Banff there were Bull Elk in Velvet along the road. We stopped to get a few photos and some people were actually walking up to them to have their picture taken with them. Anyone ever heard of "Charging"? Our hike around Lake Louise was fabulous with so many wonders to take in. It is difficult for anyone to experience the colors of the lake in photos...but I hope you will be able to get the gist. We saw numerous people climbing the cliffs. McCormick was the lucky dog to be able to swim in the Lake!

LEAVING ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE

We were given a tip by a local gentleman who has lived in this area all of his life about a back road through the mountains to put us back where we started this morning. What a gift this was! First of all we met this handsome fellow, the strong and mighty buffalo.  The on to the wild horses that apparently are descendants of horses that were turned out by the early fur trappers. We were told to stop by Ram Falls and take a hike back into this area. What a gorgeous gorge this was! 
We talked about the early fur trappers coming upon this in their canoes and wondered how many of them met their demise at these falls. Then we were brought back again to follow the Saskatchewan River back to our home base. Tomorrow, with sadness, we leave this area hoping to come back sometime to explore the many wonders indicative of this place.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE

We traveled through an incredible part of Alberta to visit Rocky Mountain House Historical Park where David Thompson spent the years of 1808 thru 1811. This was actually a home base for him while he did his exploring. He actually had spent time in the early 1800's there also. Here at this site the Hudson Bay Company and it's adversary the Northwest Company both built forts in which to receive the local Indians and their pelts of Beaver, Wolf, Coyote, Wolverine, Fishers Bear, Elk and Deer. By 1876 the last remaining house was disassembled and the wood was floated downstream on the Saskatchewan River to Calgary to use in building other forts for trading.

BEARS IN THE WILD

I was told that there were alot of bears in Canada right along side the road. I have been here for a week and never saw one bear. I was convinced that it is a crowd control ploy of the Canadian government to tell everyone that there are alot of bears in Canada. It keeps hikers out of the woods! But yesterday we saw a bear up on a hill. I am assuming it is a male because of the size. What a beauty. I probably won't hike much as I wouldn't want to meet this guy on the trail. After our bear experience last year, we will just look from afar!

A MANY SPLENDORED THING

We are in search of the Rocky Mountain House. This was a central staging area for trappers that worked this area and the North Saskatchewan River. As we headed toward this area we passed many glaciers including the Crowfoot Glacier and Cline River that flows into the Saskatchewan Lake. This is reminiscent of the many lakes in Oregon and Washington that are beyond their prime of being full. We decided to go out this evening and were gifted with some great photos of our first bear and mountain sheep.

EARLY MORNING KAYAKING

We managed to stay in the parking lot of Emerald Lake for the night in the hopes we could unload the kayak in the morning and kayak the lake before the arrival of all of the tourists that arrive daily. We were sucessful as we got up early, the temperature nearing 32 degrees. We were on a mission and one we soon accomplished. The quietness of early morning on the lake was deafening! We are the only people alive on the planet at this hour and the stillness surrounds us.

EMERALD LAKE B.C.

Traveling through the Rocky Mountains one wonders of the daring of the early explorers and fur trappers and the hardships they may have had to endure for their own personal gain. We who live in this era cannot even grasp the concept of these people who lived in the Hudson Bay Company and  the  Northwest Company era. We have it much easier now as we travel in the comfort of our luxury vehicles making it to our destinations in only a few short hours. What takes us only days to see took the likes of David Thompson months and years to appreciate. When David Thompson saw the natural bridge on the Kicking Horse River, was it still a waterfall? 

    Emerald Lake is beauty to behold! Why can't I have a little cabin on the edge of this jewel?

Off to see the Wizard at Emerald Lake

As we traveled along the desolate roads of British Columbia (thanks to the other tourists for not coming out yet) we are in awe of the beauty this region has to offer us. It is a gift to anyone that passes along this way. Eagle eye Steve spotted these moose down in a valley on the Kicking Horse River. Talk about gifts!!! We later stopped along the same river and shot the self portrait.

Golden British Columbia

The terrain of this area is spectacluar and difficult to realize in photographs. We headed north along the Columbia River towards Golden. From the headwaters to Golden this is considered the largest wetlands in North America. We stayed in a lovely place just a short distance from Mt. 7 where crazy people jump off with parasails and land in the field right in front of our camp. Today we left that area and headed towards Glacier National Park but stopped at a Wolf Life Center. What an incredible experience it was for us to be that close to Wolves.

Source of the Columbia

Being the history buffs that we are, we wanted to travel in search of the history of David Thompson(explorer, mapper, astronomer) and the routes he took to be the first white man to find the source of the Columbia. This has also been a dream of ours. We finally were sucessful in locating this incredible spot on the planet. Shown here is our camp on the Columbia River. We put our kayak in at this spot and paddled south, upstream to Columbia Lake and the headwaters. Along the way the wildlife was incredible and the joy we had tracing the route of Thompson overwhelmed us. As we turned to head back downstream, north, a white wolf came to the ridge above us to welcome us to it's domain.

Bonners Ferry, Idaho

We stayed at a lovely Private Home above Bonners Ferry. Our gracious hosts told us of roads to explore while visiting the area. We were definately off the grid. This is bear country and driving along we expected to come upon at least one bear. As we rounded a corner, off to the right was a marshy area and I told Steve if we were to see a moose I felt this would be the place. Steve looked in the other direction and immediately spotted this wonderful elusive moose. We were so excited and jumped out of the truck to photograph this magnificent mammal. Steve got this wonderful photo.

Photos of Boardman

Problems Connecting with the Universe

We have not been able to get much cell service or wi-fi up here. Please keep trying our blog and we will keep trying to load pictures. We did paddle our kayak up the Columbia River to the headwaters this morning. What a gift that was. We actually saw a White Wolf!

IN SEARCH OF RIVER COLUMBIA'S HEADWATERS

After escaping the rigors of owning our own business, we headed up the Columbia River Gorge in our search for the headwaters of the mighty Columbia River! We stayed our first night in the Boardman Oregon area. We found a beautiful place to stay right on our beloved river. As you see in my photos, there is much beauty in simplicity. We were blown away by all of the wind generators that have bloomed in the gorge. It must be Spring! Who says they are an eyesore? We feel that they are works of art that are creating energy that we all so desperately need and use.