| Last weekend I embarked on a
spur-of-the-moment roadtrip that took me from
Salmon Arm at the north end of British Columbia's
Okanagan Valley through backroads to the
Yellowhead Highway and into Wells Gray Provincial
Park and then Jasper National Park. Three days,
2100 kilometres, three sunrises, two sunsets, 55
rolls of film and a lot of chocolate-covered
M&Ms. Oh yeah, and I saw a few bears too...16
of them! Unfortunately for me, I only took 3
shots of bears. That's right, only 3 shots out of
almost 2000 shots in total. A combination of
factors played a role in the measly bear shot
offerings, the foremost being poor lighting and
backgrounds. Then again, I would have been
hard-pressed to capture photographs that could
have expressed the incredulous time I had. In
all, I got to spend almost three hours watching 7
different new cubs-of-the-year over the weekend -
7 tiny bundles of 'play' the size of small
housecats.
The roadtrip also provided me with my closest
encounter yet with a wild coyote, as evidenced in
some of the portrait photographs below. Perhaps
the most incredible wildlife encounter of all,
though, was with a mountain caribou, a threatened
species in Alberta. I'd love to tell you about it
now, but I forgot to develop some of my rolls and
of course, I can't tell you a story without
photos!
Overall, the trip was a resounding success. I
witnessed some of British Columbia's most
magnificent scenery, had three outstanding sunny
days of weather, and got to hit the road again.
All that, and 16 bears, too. Who could ask for
anything more?
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