Cecil and I set out today to make the short hike to Troll Falls in the hope of making some images with water cascading over them rather than ice. As we made our way along the transcanada highway I asked Cec if he fancied taking the more scenic route rather than the direct one. With this agreement we hopped onto highway 68 and made our way west on the dusty potholed road away from the crowds. What a great decision that turned out to be. As we approached Stoney Creek Recreation Area, Cec spotted a grizzly in the roadside forest.
I quickly made a u-turn and we drove back to his location, with telephoto lenses to hand we grabbed shots as quickly as possible. In a very short time he tired of us and headed into the forest and ploughed his way through the deep snow on a slope that was tough going, he sunk up to his middle a couple of times and appeared as fed up of the snow as the rest of us. Checking my images later I was able to zoom in on his tag, bear 164. This was great as I was able to look him up on the internet where he is described as a young adult with brown and blonde colouring. It seems he has been in trouble in the past and the aversion teams have had to chase him away from campgrounds. As bears age they tend to disappear into the forests and stay away from human contact but young bears are still inquisitive. 164 was radio and GPS tagged as part of a group of 10 young bears being studied by the aversion team. His history includes getting within 2 metres of a pair of hikers and chasing mule deer along highway 40. He's never shown aggression toward humans but doesn't seem to be overly concerned by them. So, because of his penchant for campgrounds the aversion teams will find him and use bear bangers, rubber projectiles or 'shotgun fired' bean bags to dissuade him from pestering campers. His last reported bad behaviour seems to have been in 2016 so perhaps he's learning, he did scoot away from us pretty quickly today, let's hope he continues that behaviour and stays safe in the forests of kananaskis. The day was already a winner and we hadn't even got our boots on. Unfortunately, after getting them on and hiking in to Troll Falls we found we were still too early for water over the falls which are still frozen solid for all but a short upper section. Around the snow covered base muddy footprints killed any photo opportunities and we returned to the main trail unimpressed. As we hit the main trail we turned away from the exit route and headed north for a while before turning east toward the river. We found a lovely short section of river filled with photo opportunities and suddenly we were in business. Incredibly vibrant dogwoods in red, yellow and orange burst from the riverbank heading skywards and the snow capped peaks behind them completed the image perfectly. We walked the banks and through shallow water onto a small island. After shooting for about 10 minutes our island got a lot smaller, the snowpack was melting as the day heated up and the river was now far too deep to splash across dry footed. After some rockhopping and log throwing we gave up and just plodded through in our boots laughing all the way like a pair of kids as our boots filled with water. Ultimately it was a great day, we saw the first grizzly of the year, walked a few kilometres, made a few images and enjoyed the spring temperatures. It's great to finally see the back of winter and be out in Kananaskis again.
3 Comments
Mum
29/4/2018 04:48:26 pm
Some wonderful colour in the scenery, and a curious cloud bank in the 3rd pic.
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Chris
29/4/2018 08:03:31 pm
That cloud is the edge of a storm moving in, glad it was there really as the sky is otherwise just flat blue (which is great but not so much for photos) As for 164, I like the sound of the fella.
Reply
Mum
30/4/2018 04:57:00 pm
Me too, he sounds like a naughty mischievous little soul. Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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