Pacific NW 7 - bear country

 

Next stop Invermere, travelling north up the wide valley between the Rockies and the Purcell range. We passed Columbia Lake, the source of the great river that starts flowing north here, then abruptly turns south through the next break between mountain ranges, into the US then west to the gorge we encountered before and then to the ocean at Astoria. The Copper Point Resort, where we stayed, was new, with spacious rooms and a view to the mountains. The town itself is rather spread out and more geared to winter sports. We drove high above the lake that it overlooks, Windermere Lake, on the Westside Road. Next day, we drove up ito the Rockies range, through a spa town, Radium Hot Springs, into Kootenay National Park, a less well known adjunct to Banff NP, which we would visit later. Passing up through the narrow gorge of the Sinclair Pass we saw several vehicles stopped on the road. Suddenly, Kathleen piped up: “It's a bear! It's a bear!” There, right by the highway, was a black bear, ambling along and stopping here and there to nibble the vegetation. It seemed to be completely uninterested in the vehicles. The dandelions had its attention entirely. We found out later that these are an important part of the bears' diet at this time of year, when they flower in huge numbers in cleared areas like these verges. We thought we were extremely lucky to see this, so close up, but on the way back we not only saw another black bear, but also a mother grizzly and her cub, both within metres of the road. The cub reared up, curious at the vehicles, but the mother seemed more into chewing the flowers. A real privilege for us to see this so close up and I got some wonderful photos. Also at the park entrance we saw a herd of mountain goats, grazing or just lolling about on impossible narrow ledges of the gorge. Earlier, in the park, we fond that almost all the trails were closed. We found out why when we did walk up one of them for several miles into the woods, at Kootenay Crossing. Every few metres there was a fallen tree, which we had to go variously over, under, or round, the result of winter storms, and we thought in the end that this was probably meant to be closed too, but they had not put up a sign. Later, we read about the bears and what to do if you meet one. It seems they like to use the man made trails and so that was a very real possibility: but we probably made so much noise blundering along 'the obstacle course' as we came to know it, that they probably kept well clear. But still, it made us a little more wary about future walks in the woods.