May 4, 2005

May 4, 2005

Waterton Lakes National Park

DAY 321

 

Today was partially sunny and warm, down on the prairie where we're camped. It was partially cloudy and cool, up in the mountains in Waterton Lakes National Park, and it rained heavily for a short time in the evening back at the campground.

Today was all about good fortune, combined with good timing. Joanne commented on the drive back from the National Park that "we've seen horses pissing, Whitetail Deer shitting, and Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep humping" !

I started the morning by doing my regular preventive maintenance, then completed the repairs to the trailer roof. It was pleasant to be outside in the morning, being serenaded by the singing of meadowlarks. I haven't heard meadowlarks in quite awhile. I unhitched the trailer as Joanne prepared a picnic lunch and we set off for Waterton Lakes National Park, the Canadian side of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Fifteen miles west on Hwy. 505, then 15 miles south on Hwy. 6. Just before the entrance to the park, we turned off the highway to drive through the bison paddock in the rolling foothills at the base of the Rockies. It was a slow, circuitous drive down a narrow, winding one lane trail, and we saw six bison. We entered the National Park, and drove towards Waterton Village. Just before the village, we saw The Prince Of Wales Hotel, a lovely looking, grand, old hotel high on a hill overlooking the town. We drove up to see it. It was still closed for the season. But ... as we drove into the parking lot ... HOLY SHIT ... a large herd of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep walking slowly across the parking lot towards the hotel front entrance. I parked, and jumped out with the camera, following slowly behind them, shooting pictures. They walked across the front deck of the hotel, and over to the windows of the ground floor hotel rooms. They began munching on the remnants of last season's flowers in the flower boxes underneath each hotel window. WOW ! I walked slowly to within about 50 feet of them, taking pictures. When the biggest males starting giving me dirty looks, I retreated. I got back into the truck, and tried to count them. There were at least 15 !

We drove down from the hotel, and into town, exploring the pretty little tourist village. The town was mostly deserted. Tourist season hasn't begun yet. WHOA ! On the lawn in front of a cottage, there were 2 Mountain Goats, resting and grazing on the lawn. I jumped out of the truck, shooting pictures as I walked a large circle around them. They seemed rather unconcerned. We drove around the village, and into the campground to check it out. We drove out of the village, looking for the 16 km. / 10 mi. road up into the mountains to Cameron Lake. We wanted to have a picnic lunch at one of the picnic sites along the road up into the mountains. We drove high up into the mountains, and stopped at a picnic area beside a cool, clear, mountain stream. We had lunch, then drove the rest of the way up the mountain road to Cameron Lake. The road was closed 2 km. from Cameron Lake because of snow. We turned around, and slowly drove back down the mountain, stopping frequently to take pictures. As we got near the bottom of the mountain, we came across a large herd of Mountain Goats on the road, and on both sides. I turned off the engine, and coasted slowly downhill towards, and through them. Joanne took some pictures out her window, as I kept Bo silent. After passing right through the herd silently, I restarted the truck, and backed up slowly. They didn't seem too concerned as I backed through the herd, taking pictures out my window as Joanne kept Bo silent. Actually, it's not that hard to keep him silent when he sees large animals. He's afraid, and only growls very softly, until we're well away from them, then he does his brave, loud barking routine. We drove the rest of the way down the mountain, and into the village again. I was going to turn back onto the highway, when Joanne said facetiously "let's go back into town and see more wildlife". We drove back into the village, and stopped at Cameron Falls on the edge of town. We went for a hike up the steep hill to the top of the falls to take some pictures. We hiked back down, and continued to drive around the village. As we got to the campground, which we had seen earlier, we were surprised to see a huge herd of Whitetail Deer grazing on the nice lawn in the campground. I took more pictures, until the memory in my camera was full. Gee ... I shot 65 pictures today ! And the auxiliary memory card for the camera was back in the trailer. I guess that's the end of my picture taking for now. I was thinking that it would be just my luck to run into Sasquatch now that my camera memory was full.

We drove back to the campground. I took a short nap. We took Bo for a long obedience walk around the small lake, to the big barn and main buildings. As we approached the main buildings, a very friendly black cat came running out to visit us. I put Bo into a "sit / stay", then repeated "leave it" commands. He sat there nicely, silently quivering as Rose the cat came over and sniffed him. Good, good dog, Bo ! Excellent work ! ! ! What great progress from the unruly terror he was when we got him in Alabama less than 5 months ago. We explored around the farm yard a bit more, taking Bo over to the corral to see the horses. So far today Bo has been up close to bison, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goats, Whitetail Deer, Prairie Dogs, Canada Geese, ducks, horses, and Rose the cat. Quite a day for a little dog !

DSK