Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Critters


We have been trying to see critters while driving through the National Parks, but we have so far seen only elk, deer, and squirrels.  Now we love elk, deer, and squirrels, but we would have loved to have seen some other animals.

Monday was the day.  And we learned the value of timing.  Had we arrived at the ice fields any later, we would not have seen the bighorn sheep.  But there they were, right next to the buses at the glacier.  Daddies with their curved horns, mommas with their straighter ones, and babies.  All in a group.  But they were gone by the time our bus came back down from the glacier.  Timing.


We left the icefield a little later than planned, but since we had already travelled that direction once, we knew what was ahead.  As we approached the goat lick, things looked a little different.  There was a very obvious cautionary sign that made us think maybe there were goats there.  Sure enough, mommas and babies, licking right next to the road.  A highway person was there moving cones around so that the goats stayed safe, but it was rather scary when the momma and her baby just headed across the road.  Luckily, all three that we saw got across safely.  We were told there were several others before we got there, but they all made it, too.  Timing.


We thought that was a pretty successful day.  We arrived at the campground and gathered our mountain of laundry to take to Jasper.  On our way back from Jasper, just a little later than we expected, we rounded the corner only 1/4 mile from the campground.  And what to our wondering eyes should appear, but . . . no, not Santa.  A grizzly.  Right next to the road.  Not 25 feet away.  Chowing down on kinnikinnik or bearberries.  And let me tell you . . . he was focused on eating those berries.  Timing.


My brother wrote that here we had a nice camera of Don's, but we used an iPhone to take the picture.  True, but as Don says in his defense . . . who takes an expensive camera to the laundromat?

Anyway, sheep, goats, and a grizzly all on the same day.  Score!

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