More National Parks in Pictures......

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 05:51:53 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Canada

Calgary and adventures......
After travelling on with Macswayround, we rested about 100 miles short of Jasper National Park, at a lake named La Salle. We enjoyed an evening chatting around the campfire with Rod and Linda from Nebraska, whom who have also bumped into a few other times, as we travel in the same directions! The next day, at McBride, we attended to a few chores – including another of Nessie’s tyre valve that was kindly sorted out by Ray at the JNR Auto Services Ltd. Later, we made it into Jasper and enjoyed a night at the Whistlers Camp. We saw lots of Elk around the camp and were warned that the bulls can be particularly aggressive as this is rutting season. Jemma and Ben built a wildlife hide near to our camp and we sang around the campfire! We took a look around the town of Jasper and then drove through the beautiful scenery, stopping off to see the Columbian Ice-fields and Athabasca Falls. We saw a huge six wheel drive bus that is used for snow tours! We camped at Wilcox Creek. The next day we were blessed with absolutely glorious weather which was very uncharacteristic for this time of year. The mountains had a splash of snow which added to the beauty. Along the Ice fields Parkway, the lakes, including Mistaya and Peyto, projected a bright turquoise shimmer that danced through the trees. This highway runs through from Jasper to Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Mosquito Creek was kind to us and did not live up to its name! Ben tried a spot more panning for gold and Phil let his artistic flair rein as he sketched a moose scene. The children were keen to join in and I am hoping that I live amongst some budding artists too! Our southbound route led us out of the majestic Rocky Mountains, and into the flat lands of Calgary. At the Calgary West RV Park we were able to make a check on emails and found a surprise email from a couple we had met earlier on this summer in California! We had been invited to call in but after mislaying the relevant details, we thought we were out of luck. However, Nessie had been spotted by Reasa, and she and her husband Ron, both emailed to invite us over once more! How lucky we have been on Macswayround with such friendly people, and to top it all, we had landed with them on the night they were all having a block street party! We had a great time meeting some Albertan locals and were made to feel very welcome by everyone! Special thanks to Ron & Reasa for tracking us down and including us in some more fun times! The camp fire and food was lovely and the children joined right in with the other children on the block too! Nessie was celebrating at the party too, as she got an entire new set of Continental tyres, from OK Tyres, who had fitted us in, at very short notice, that very same day! Thank-you to Reasa for showing us some more sights of Calgary, including the stadium shaped as a saddle and the arena’s used in the Calgary Stampede each year. Our next stop was at the ‘Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump’ UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is the site where thousands of buffalo were stampeded over the edge of the cliffs, to their deaths. Radiocarbon dating of the bones reveals that this site was used to kill buffalo over 5,600 years ago and some of the buried deposits are over ten metres deep. Our final night in Canada (for now) was spent by a river close to the border crossing, in the Waterton Lakes Park. We enjoyed meeting Pat and Peggy and another chat around our campfire! The next day we crossed over into the USA and into the Big Sky Country of Montana! More about our adventures, next time! Please stay tuned to Macswayround!
Wednesday, 23 September 2009 05:34:09 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Canada

Calgary and adventures......
FACTOIDS: • 25 years ago (as of 2009) the Canadian Rocky Mountains were officially proclaimed as one of the Wonders of the World. • The Athabasca Falls – 23 metres of waterfall – has the most powerful flow of water to be found anywhere in the mountain parks. • The City of Calgary is nestled in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and offers the best of both worlds – a cosmopolitan city of over 1 million people and breathtaking outdoor adventure in pristine wilderness. • Every July, Calgary hosts the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth – the Calgary Stampede. This world class exhibition includes rodeo, midway, concerts, hundreds of exhibits and much more. • The Calgary Flames hockey club plays in the 19,289 seat Pen growth Saddle dome. This multi -purpose facility also houses the WHL’s Calgary Hit men and the NLL’s Calgary Roughnecks. • ‘Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the oldest, largest and best preserved buffalo jumps in North America.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009 05:33:03 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Canada

Calgary and adventures......
WILD LIFE HITS: more Canadian hits: • Moose • Wolf • Graylings • Wild Horses • Great Blue Heron • White-Winged Cross Bill • Belted Kingfisher • Wild Elk – (male & female-Cows & Bulls) • Red Squirrels • Chip monks • Common Loons • Northern Harrier • Yellow Bellied Marmot • Rock Doves
Wednesday, 23 September 2009 05:31:44 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Canada

Sunshine and Bears in pictures!

Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:35:25 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Alaska | Canada | USA

THE BEARS!!
We find ourselves still dreaming of the Dalton and our experiences along the only highway in Alaska to cross north over the Arctic Circle, in all the glory of the Arctic tundra in the fall! Next stop along our travels was at the Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park. We have really enjoyed our time at these State Parks, which are dry camps and very often beside a lake. Phil had a successful fishing session and we had Rainbow Trout for tea and then breakfast the next day! We crossed the Border back into the States and arrived in Hyder, Alaska. WOW – it was just as good as we had been led to believe and well worth the journey! We visited Fish Creek Wildlife Site, which has a board walk for the viewing of wildlife........ Grizzly and black bears come to this creek to catch Chum and Pink Salmon which spawn in the creek, during the summer months. The spawning fish were our first glimpse of an activity of nature which we hear about, but are rarely in a position to observe. We had to be patient for the next few hours as activity was scarce, but just as we watched a pair of Bald Headed Eagles as they sat majestically in the tree – up the river came a GRIZZLY BEAR, in search of an early tea! An amazing sight – we were lucky enough to be able to watch two grizzlies as they ran through the water and grabbed their salmon tea that day. They would catch one and then leave the water to eat, before re-entering the water for another go. They both settled on three fish each........and we have over 20 minutes of video footage which we watched over that same evening at the Bear River Campground in Stewart (back in Canada!) Our hearts took a good few hours to return to a normal beating pattern as the adrenaline took hold about the sights that we have been so honoured to see. There is something exhilarating about being that ‘dangerously’ close to nature- to a GRIZZLY BEAR, who was within metres of us and could have easily come and joined us up on the boardwalk if he had so wished! This experience has excelled what we have all been waiting to see, and we all feel elated and absolutely content with our memories, photos and video footage! To be in such close proximity to a mighty and powerful wild animal – born and living free – we only hoped that these bears didn’t have a headache or a grudge to bear!! As we left Hyder, just for a bonus, a Black Bear decided to walk out in front of Nessie – Wow again! When we stayed at Seeley Lake the following night, we were all still buzzing from our ‘time with the bears!’ For many, bears are obviously just part of a way of life –but to us they are the most amazing creatures to be able to spend a snippet of their time observing! Lions in Africa could well be our next stop.......! On Labour Day weekend there were lots of children at the camp we next found ourselves at (Fraser Lake), as this would be the final long weekend break before school returned after the summer vacation (8th September)in Canada. We believe that many of the US schools went back around August 17th. So, as all the children were having a blast on their bikes and in the play area, we were ‘surprised’ when they were all advised to go back to their pitches, as a bear had been seen in the camp! Once again, this made living amongst ‘the wild’ a very real experience for us and the children too!
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 18:32:04 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [1]  Alaska | Canada

THE BEARS!!
FACTIODS: • The Tongass National Forest is nearly 17 million acres in size and is the largest National Forest in the United States. It is also the largest contiguous temperate rainforest in the world. • Stewart holds the Canadian Record for snowfall: 911.2 mm or 27 feet in one season.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 18:30:37 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Alaska | Canada

THE BEARS!!
WILDLIFE HITS-Continued: • Dall Porpoise • Wolf • Marmot • Red Fox • Salmon – Chum, Sockeye and Silver • Stellar Sea Lions • Harbour Seals • Lion-Necked Jellyfish • Kittiwakes • Common Murres • Stellar Jays • Alaskan Black Bears • ALASKAN GRIZZLY BEARS!!
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 18:29:16 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Alaska | Canada

and the rest!!

Tuesday, 08 September 2009 18:53:34 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Alaska | Canada

Lots of photos to catch you up with us!!

Tuesday, 08 September 2009 18:45:58 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)      Comments [0]  Alaska | Canada