Tour Divide and Much More…

Tour Divide and Much More…

Last Friday was the Tour Divide, a bicycle tour that travels from Banff to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. We had about a hundred bikers come through the park, most of them fairly early in the morning though there were some that started late and a few that started the next day.  The Tour is not exactly a race, though there are some bikers who do compete to see who can get there first or perhaps beat the record time, but most of them see it as a personal challenge.  There were two young people from Ohi, California who came through yesterday on their way to Mexico.  They did not want to travel with the rest of the tour but did want to challenge themselves to the bike route.  It was a horrible rainy day and the poor kids were soaked, tired and hungry by the time they got to our campground but felt better after they lit a fire and dried off a bit.  They carried on this morning hoping to do about 15-20 miles today.  

We never fail to see Rocky Mountain Sheep hanging around on the hill down to Canmore.  They are shaggy this time of year still having some of their winter coat on but are so interesting to see and watch.  They are so sure-footed it’s amazing.  The other day we saw a mama and baby and that little baby followed his mama up the steep, rocky hillside just as quick as could be.  They are pretty amazing and seem to like to pose for pictures.

This morning we went down to Boulton Creek to pick up supplies and on the way down we saw a cow moose and her calf.  They are such funny looking animals.  They disappeared into the bush so quickly I couldn’t get the camera trained on them quick enough to get a picture.  Hopefully we’ll see them again.

The lake continues to rise as and as it does it seems there are more and more birds on it.  The eagles are still hanging around and now we have a variety of ducks on the lake.  There are some that are small and colourful…they might be wood ducks though we haven’t been able to get close enough.  I think the ones in this picture are merganzers…am I right?

good weather

My friend Wilma gave me this stick for my birthday.  It is a weather stick and tells you if you’ll be having good or bad weather.  If the weather is warm and sunny, the stick points up.  If the weather is cold and rainy, the stick points down.  We’ve had both good and bad weather and the stick continues to predict it correctly….pretty interesting!

Notice that the stick is tied to the tree.  We are not allowed to put nails in any trees or disturb the vegetation in any way.  The conservation officers would give us a big fine if they saw a nail in a tree!

bad weather

This is a picture of Wilson, our mascot.  We found Wilson lying on the beach and he reminded us of his namesake, the Wilson basketball in the Tom Hanks movie, Castaway.  In the movie Tom is stranded on a deserted island with no companion except, Wilson, his basketball who he spends most of his time talking to…at least we have our campers to talk to but it’s still nice to have Wilson around!

 

Flowers are popping up all over the mountains.  These little purple ones look like some sort of lily or iris with their spotted throats.  I’m not sure of their name, but would like to know.  The Indian Paintbrush are just beginning to show colour…it won’t be long and they will be all over in the meadows and mountainsides.  Wild strawberries are crowding the grassy areas right now.  You can hardly walk in along the shore in front of our campsite without stepping on them.  I expect they will have tiny little berries and the animals will have a grand time munching on them.

We haven’t seen any bears this week but continue to keep our eyes open for them.  They are out there, most likely sticking their tongues out at us as we pass by them in our vehicles.  I would love to see a mama and cubs and get some pictures of them.  Down near Peter Lougheed Mountain, about 15 miles from here, there are quite a few reports of grizzly bears.  We have been asked to attend a meeting on Friday morning with Conservation Officers and other Campground Managers so everyone knows what to do if there are bears in the campground.  We always tell our campers there are bears around (even if there are no reports of them) so that they keep their campsites clean…it helps keeps animals away and I think the campers are kind of excited to hear there are bears in the area…so much for little white lies!