Friday, June 8, 2012

Day 7 (6-7-12 - Canmore, AB to Snaring River CG)


We left Canmore, AB.  After traveling 201 miles of gorgeous scenery, we made it to a really nice, secluded campground in Jasper National Park named Snaring River Campground.

It has been a great day, even though we had a lapse of mind, (or as some would call a senior moment,) and left the 12 volt ice chest plugged in last night. The battery in the truck was dead again this morning.  I know that Lauren would have got extremely mad about this happening 2 days in a row: if the scenery had not been so great.  We just chilled out and enjoyed the scenery and found out that the road we wanted to take had been flooded out earlier, but was cleared by the time we left.

We traveled through Banff and Jasper National Parks.  The views were unbelievable, (the pictures do not do it justice.)  The glaciers are AWESOME!!  We had to keep reminding ourselves that this is a trip to Alaska and we have over 1800 miles to go before we get to Alaska.  Canada is closer trip to home and we can get to this area on a shorter trip than Alaska.    It would be so easy to forget and stay here a lot longer.

We did see Bears today.  The first time we saw cars stopped with their flashers on, we cruised by and saw Elk. That was nice, but we were looking for bears.  We squeezed by the masses taking pictures.  We took ours pictures and kept on trucking.

Then, we ran into another bunch of vehicles in our way.  Lauren told me to go up and take a picture of whatever it was and we would pass by.  Low and Behold, IT WAS A BLACK BEAR!  When I saw it, I looked down the road toward Lauren and he saw the, “It’s a Bear” in my stare.  I didn’t want to miss out on the shot, so I took not one, but 3 pictures.  By the time I got back to the truck, my heart was beating out of my chest.  I had been closer to a bear than I ever imagined and luckily, I was still alive.  Lauren laughed after he asked what I saw and I told hem to feel my heart beating.   I have never seen a BEAR that close.  He said he figured out that it was a bear after seeing me look at him from up the road with that “Bear in the headlights look.”

Since then, I have been singing, talking about nothing, anything, to make sure that I don’t surprise a bear and be an appetizer.  Lauren told me not to worry when there is a big group of people taking pictures.  He figures that I can out run most of them and all I need to do is run faster than one person.

We saw 3 bears, (one was a cub), 3 elk, and 4 deer today.  It was hard to look for wildlife when the scenery is so gorgeous.

We had a really great campfire tonight I made sure the IPOD was playing the entire time that we were out.  Them there bears are BIG, I don’t want them to be surprised by my appearance. I will definitely be investing in Bear Bells and Pepper Spray.

By the way, we had my homemade chili and Lay’s Potato Chips for supper tonight while we were sitting by a wonderful campfire.  It cost us $8.80 (Canadian) for the permit to build the fire, but the wood was free.  It was a fantastic end to a fabulous day.

Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/H2tjtc1ZeCr2abSi8


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