Grande Prairie Surrounds

Today Shawn took me for a tour around his patch. He has family scattered all around the general vicinity and dropped in on a few of them during our rounds.
Grande Prairie is surrounded by lots of lakes and we stopped in on a couple of the nicer ones.

Saskatoon Lake

Monday morning, after a bit of a sleep in back in Grande Prairie, Shawn took me for a cook's tour of the general area. We set off west initially with the first stop, Saskatoon Lake. It wasn't a big lake but there was no shortage of bird life. These Franklin's Gulls lined the shore, picking off insects etc.
Before I came to North America, I thought there was only one type of Seagull. How wrong I was.
There were a bunch of water birds out on the lake as well.

Beaver Lodge (the town)

Grande Prairie is along the route the Americans take to Alaska. The residents of the area decided to build this tourist attraction, The Big Beaver. So apparently the Canadians do have a sense of humour.

Farms

Bison Farming

Many of the local farmers grow canola around Grande Prairie. It seems to be a good option with the short summers that far north. So many of the fields looked like this one. The yellow was so vibrant and was such a welcome change after the drab white and brown of winter.

Bison have proven to be very difficult to photograph in the wild on account of the fact that they've been hunted out of the wild and are now in isolated populations on fenced reserves. The odd thing is that the farmers in the north seem to farm them in favour of beef cattle. Since this is their natural habitat, they can withstand the harsh winter way better than the imports.

There is a downside to farming bison. They're a bit of a handful to move. They don't like people and they don't like being antagonized. They can run quite fast and if they don't like you, they give you a head butt that you aren't likely to recover from. This big bull didn't take kindly to me getting out of the car and taking photos of him. He was sitting chewing his cud when we arrived, but soon stirred up the dust, stood up and gave me a nasty look. I didn't stick around to test his patience. The rest of his herd in the adjoining paddock had a lot less attitude.

The Wild Rose.

The Alberta state flower is the Wild Rose. Being much smaller than your garden variety rose, they don't attract the same attention. Having said that, the can survive the brutal winters buried under snow.

Dunvegan Provincial Park

About 90 kms north of Grande Prairie is Dunvegan Provincial Park. It straddles Peace River. As you approach the park you greeted to this sight. It was a lot like the Golden Gate Bridge, but much smaller and painted more imaginatively. You will notice the hillsides are carpeted with yellow. Its wild mustard. Canada is such a beautiful place in summer.

A real Beaver Lodge

On the way back to Grande Prairie, we stopped at this huge beaver lodge with the hope of seeing one of the local residents. I saw a splash as we pulled up and decided to wait patiently until he surfaced again. We spotted him a couple of times, but it was 20 mins until he was on the surface long enough to take a photo. It's not a great shot, but it's proof that I saw one of these elusive creatures. He's right in the centre of picture if you can't find him.

It was pretty cool visiting the north for a few days. I was able to experience something completely different. Thanks to Shawn & his parents, Lois & Ed, for the opportunity. I hope to see you again soon folks.

Sturgen Lake

We had another crack at fishing this morning but the skies were clear and the fish were way too skittish to even bite. We had a red hot 45 mins when we first arrived yesterday but after that it went very quiet. Fishing's a funny sport that way. So with the fish off the bite, we packed up, cleaned the cabin, and headed back to Grande Prairie.

Sturgen Lake

Kerri is working this weekend and I have 4 days off, so I figured it was a good opportunity to head up to Grande Prairie to visit Shawn. Shawn worked with us at Hatch in Perth before we came to Canada. He's currently waiting for the Aussie government to stop stuffing him around so he can go back to Perth with a new 5 year open working visa. He's currently marking time living in his parents' basement in Grande Prairie. "Where's Grande Prairie?" you ask. Have a look at the map above. It's about a 6 hour drive NW of Edmonton. Add 3 hours from Calgary north to Edmonton, its a hike and a half. (check on Google maps if you're still struggling). Fortunately I was able to jag a couple of cheap flights so I didn't have to spend two days on the road.
After arriving at Calgary airport a touch after 8, I was in Grande Prairie by lunch. Right away, we packed up the cars (& boat) and headed for Sturgeon Lake which is about an hour's drive to the East of G.P.

Many of Shawn's relatives have cabins at Sturgen Lake, as do many Grande Prairie residents. I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of nights with Shawn & his parents in one of the cabins owned by his aunt. They had already organized all the food & drink so I just had to show up & get myself a fishing licence ($36 CAD). By 3pm, we were out on the lake fishing. Not bad considering I'd left home in Calgary at 7.30am.

About 5 minutes after we started fishing, I had my first Walleye (above), the target species. It was easily a legal keeper (legal size is 17"). It was the first fish on the boat & the 2 locals were not amused. Shawn caught the next keeper, then I hooked into the fish of the day. This bad boy was 21" which is apparently about as big as you can catch in Sturgeon Lake. Two baits, two fish, 10 mins for me. I was on a roll, except I'd reached my bag limit, so technically I was done. The boys were liveried, particularly Shawn's Dad, Captain Ed, who hadn't even had a bite yet.

We kept fishing, with another 3 walleye to land before we had reached our bag limit. I soon had my 3rd fish with my 4th bait. This time it was a northern pike (the locals call them Jackfish, Fresh water alligators & slough sharks). It wasn't a large on by any stretch, but I had only seen them on the English fishing shows before, so it was cool to have caught one. They're a big hassle to fillet with a weird bone structure that means it takes an expert to avoid a mouth full of bones. They're slimy fish as well. Typically fishermen let them go.

Eventually Captain Ed got in the game and caught the next 3 keepers on the trot. We couldn't shut him up after that because he kept reminding Shawn that he'd caught one of his bag fish. Between the two of them they also hooked a few smaller Walleyes. Four of the six fish easily fed us, particularly with the accompaniments laid out for us by Shawn's mum Lois. Nobody went hungry & the fish and sides were all delicious. We definitely weren't roughing it that night.

We headed out on the lake a little after dinner with no success. Ed caught a couple of well under sized walleye, but no keepers. The next day it was a hot bright sunny day & the fish were to skittish to even bite. Fishing's a strange sport sometimes and after a hot streak for about 45 mins when we first arrived, we may as well have not bothered for the remainder.
It was still fun and a bad day out fishing is still better than the best day at the office.

Thanks to the northern latitude of Grande Prairie, the sun doesn't leave the sky until very late. This photo was taken at 11.45pm. Time gets away from you when the sun's still up. I didn't get to sleep until 1pm.

Jasper Wildlife

Jasper, much like Banff, has no shortage of elk. The bulls are all getting close to the end of the growth period for their antlers so now's the time when the velvet will soon rub off and the bulls will start to get a little temperamental. For now they're still just not too worried about anything other than eating as much as they can.

Today we got up fairly early, had breakfast and hit the road. We headed along the Maligne Lake road, where we had briefly seen a young black bear the yesterday, on the off chance that we would see him again. We were well along the road having seen nothing, before this big guy appeared to the side of the road. It was a start.

We were nearing Medicine Lake and getting all dejected that we had only seen the one elk. I then spotted this black bear sow just off the side of the road. I crept the car up to her in order not to spook her so we could take a few photos before she took off. It turned out that she wasn't in any hurry to disappear into the scrub which was great. It's as close to a bear as we'd been since the time we saw one south of Jasper last year.

While we were watching the bear, I heard a noise in the tree above her. It was a very young cub (from this year's litter). It was a fair way up the tree for such a small little bundle of fur (around 5m from the ground), but it was well out of harm's way for most predators. These little ones have a remarkable climbing ability considering they've only been out of the den a little over a month.

There was no way known that we were getting out of the car! There's nothing more dangerous in the Canadian forests than a female bear with cubs. We were just so lucky that they were so close to the road. And they're just so damn cute! You wouldn't exactly take one home as a cuddly toy for the kids though. Check out set of climbing implements on the end of their paws. An upset little cub would rip some nasty gashes in your skin, not to mention what his mum would do if she caught you trying to steal one of her offspring.
After about 5 or so minutes of watching the mother and her cub casually go about their business, the mum decided it was time to leave. The little one started down the tree (with some difficulty mind) under his/her mother's supervision. I was so stoked that we'd been able to see these to in the wild and so close!

That wasn't the end of it. Much higher in the tree (about 10m up) there was more rustling and scratching. It was the cub's sibling! This one was a little shy, but was summonsed by mum to "come down from there". Eventually the little family moved off into the forest away from peering eyes. We were completely buzzed. It was just a shame the light was so poor that most of the photos came out blurry. Fortunately some of them were OK.

Just after we thought we'd been so lucky to have even seen a bear, let alone her two cubs, we saw another. This young 3-4 year old was less than a kilometre from where the little family was. This could easily have been one of the cubs that the same mother had kicked out of the den at the beginning of winter. Who's to know? This one was much more photogenic.
WOW! 4 bears for the day already and 5 for the weekend. Stoked! Who cares that the weather was turning to crap.

Since we hit the mother load with bears and the weather turning from average to crappy, we decided to postpone a couple of short hikes we were going to do on the way back to Calgary. We'll have plenty of time when we go up there for 3 nights next time.
About half way along the parkway I spotted this big, new looking, beaver lodge. These busy rodents had built themselves a nice new home & were trying to flood the road to reduce traffic noise. I assume they like to sleep during the day, being nocturnal and all. Clever little suckers, aren't they? Unfortunately, we didn't see any of the residents, but it was cool to see a live dam.

It was quite the day for wildlife. At Saskatchewan Crossing I spotted 4 white tailed deer grazing on an open grassy section of land. Mule deer are everywhere around outer Calgary, and the front ranges but I've only seen two white tails before last weekend (& that was a year ago). The white tails are also quite a bit bigger than the little mule deer. We caught a fleeting glimpse of one near Jasper on Saturday as it tried to commit suicide in front of the car, but other than that, it's been elk and mule deer only. This was a prime opportunity to sneak up close and rattle a few snaps off before they took off.

There appeared to be only the one doe (below) & 3 bucks. The buck's antlers have only just started growing and are well behind the elk.

Jasper's a beautiful part of the world & you should make the effort to go there if you are ever in Alberta. It's a bit of a hike (4-5 hours from Calgary), but even the drive is spectacular.

Jasper Surrounds

We woke up this morning and headed into the main street of Jasper for breakfast. It's the craziest thing. The B&B's (Bed & Breakfast) in the Canadian National Parks by law are not allowed to serve breakfast. Those Crazy Canadians eh?....
After a hearty feed we headed out exploring the area. The easiest and closest attraction are the twin lakes tucked in behind the Jasper Townsite. The first one along the road is Patricia Lake (above). Pyramid Mountain in the background dominates the skyline to the West of Jasper town site. It's a little out of place in the Rockies because it has a distinct red tinge. I guess the red rock type is why they named the town Jasper.

Patricia's neighbour, Pyramid Lake has a very similar view (above) but the tourist buses all stop there. Fortunately we were early enough to beat them to it.

The lakes around Jasper seem to be devoid of the turquoise colloids of the lakes to the south in Banff National Park.

Looking across Pyramid Lake (above) the mountains to the south of Jasper dominate the horizon.

We explored part the way along Maligne Lake road during the previous Jasper visit. Today we took more time to be a little more thorough by going to the end at Maligne Lake. Part the way along we were lucky enough to see a black bear scrambling up the hill away from the road.

Maligne Lake is probably the most visited lake in Jasper National park, with an endless stream of tour buses pulling up to the massive car park and disgorging their tourists in scary numbers. To be honest, the lake was a huge let down. Maybe it was because the weather had begun to close in, or maybe it's an afternoon lake (this photo was taken mid morning looking east toward the sun. I still don't think it's got that much going for it other than you can pay $47 CAD to crowd onto a boat and take the tourist shot of Spirit Island (which doesn't actually have any Indian spiritual significance at all). Not today thanks.

Medicine Lake (above) is way better than Maligne Lake (which feeds Medicine lake). We'd been to the north western end of Medicine Lake last year and this time we got to have a look at the south east end of the lake on the way back from Maligne Lake. The water level was much lower than last time, but it didn't make it any less interesting. Photographically, Medicine Lake is a morning or afternoon lake depending on what end you go to. It's one of my favourites. Check out the near vertical sandstone ranges to the right of picture.

Overlander Falls

After lunch we headed across the border into B.C. then north to Robsen. En-route we traveled through some gorgeous scenery. They don't call it "Beautiful B.C.' for nothing. Unfortunately the weather had closed in so it didn't make for particularly nice photography, but we'll be going back next time so stay tuned. We did stop and do a short walk down to Overlander Falls (above) which is in the shadow of Mt Robsen (below), the tallest peak in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
There were some crazy kayakers trying to kill themselves in the rapids and whitewater which as pretty funny to watch.
I promise to take some nicer photos of this beautiful part of Canada in August (weather permitting).

Cephren Lake and Mistaya Canyon

Today was the day we finally returned to Jasper after the flying visit nearly a year ago. This time we booked two nights at a B&B so we had time to go exploring. On the way up to Jasper there are a number of points of unfinished business for us. The first one we decided tackle today was Cephren Lake (above). Mt Chephren towers over Waterfowl Lake and is one of many of the roadside lookout spots on the parkway. There's a hiking trail from the Waterfowl Lake campsite that heads away from the parkway to two circ lakes nestled at the foot of Mt Cephren and Howse Mountain just to the south (pictured).

The trail branches about half way along making you choose between one or other lake. We chose Cephren and weren't disappointed. The only other people there were a couple of guys fishing. It was so peaceful! The slightly unnerving part of the hike were the numerous fresh bear prints along the trail.

Mistaya Canyon

Second on the list was Mistaya Canyon. It's one of the more accessible points of interest on the Icefields Parkway with a short 500m walk down to the canyon. Mistaya canyon is the lesser known of 3 canyons in Banff and Jasper National Parks, but by no means uninspiring. As with Maligne Canyon, it's quite spectacular when you're there, but the photos don't nearly tell the story. The overcast skied didn't make for especially good photography.

The B&B in Jasper wasn't quite what I'd expected as it was just a segregated area of a couple's house. Having said that it was very nice and I would have to say better than any hotel we've stayed in since we arrived in North America. We have three nights booked there in again August.

Moraine Lake & Lake Louise

Kerri had to work today so I dropped her off and headed for the hills. The weather was pretty clear so I decided to try to snare the Moraine Lake & Lake Louise shots I've been looking for. It was clear but the high peaks still manage to attract clouds and worse. Having said that I managed to get my shot. No mirror reflection but close enough.

Next on the agenda was Lake Louise. I was really hopeful but Lake Louise in full sun is interesting enough, but photographically not so much. It is definitely a sunrise lake.

I didn't find much else other than this bull elk with a head full of new antlers munching fresh green grass on the side of the Trans Canada.

Denali to Fairbanks

The morning after the long day in the park we slept in, packed out bags & spent the day exploring the Denali township. Before we left for the lodge, we went to check out the river behind our cabins and Mush Mountain (above) that shadows the town. (The strange crags on the top of the ridge look like a dog sled team. Hence Mush Mountain.) We were hoping we'd see some wildlife in the process.

We were in luck. Our two moose from the previous morning in the same place. This time they were in a spot where we could stand on a nice safe elevated deck and observe them without danger.

It was quite a bit later than the day before too so the light was way better for photography.

The calf must have only been a couple of days old because his little legs were still very wobbly.

He wasn't much into swimming either. His mum kept trying to coax him in. I can't say I blame him. The snow run off was close to freezing.

Mum was there to make him feel better after the swim.

Eventually they moved on so we set of for the village to explore. Unfortunately the village doesn't have much to offer. We checked out the tourist shops and did a couple of short walks.

We just wanted to go back into the National Park again. The most interesting wildlife were these swifts. They're way more colourful than the common ones you see around suburbia.

We eventually ran out of things to do and set off for the train station to wait for our ride to Fairbanks. The appearance of a track maintenance train has us a bit worried until it rolled off making way for the Denai Star.

The first part of the journey was through Healy Canyon (above). We enjoyed the view from the dome car (below). You are meant to rotate out to give everyone else in cattle class a turn but there were only a few others interested which allowed us as long as we liked. I think most travelers only go as far north as Denali before turning back to Anchorage.

The scenery gradually changed until it was almost flat which was when we returned to our allocated seats. The sun was a bit much and the seats in the dome aren't that comfortable. The terrain became quite swampy in parts drowning a seemingly endless forest of semi-stunted trees. Among the swamps, we saw a couple of moose and even saw a beaver! It was my first one. Even if it was only for a fleeting moment. The trip was actually quite pleasant with the bright sun (despite the time of evening). There's not much of particular interest to mention, it was just a nice peaceful journey in a very different countryside.

Our flight left Fairbanks in broad daylight at 10.30pm. Early in the fight there was a layer of cloud that made for interesting light late in the day.

The plane took us back over the path we had taken over the previous few days including Mt McKinley. You can see from these photos how far this giant mountain towers above the surrounding range and plateau.

We arrived in Anchorage at 11.30pm with the sun still obvious in the sky (despite the clouds). The sun didn't really go away properly until just before 1am. By the time we were in the air again (to Seattle) at 2.30am the sun was peaking over the horizon.
After quite a long lay over in Seattle (where we tried to catch some sleep and nearly missed the connecting flight to Calgary) we arrived in Calgary exhausted around lunch time.

Alaska Summery

To sum up the trip to Alaska I it needs to be broken into two halves.
The southern part of the trip was very wet and quite depressing at times. Having said that, there is some spectacular scenery and the wildlife is both abundant and very cute.
The northern part in the Alaska Range was much drier and very different, equally or more spectacular and the wildlife was certainly on display.

Would I do it again? Yes, I think I would, but would maybe spend more time in the north and not bother with Prince William sound. Maybe Early September or late August would be a better time of year to go. The weather is really difficult to predict up there but we hit it a bit early I suspect.

For more photos from the trip visit my Flickr site.
Resurrection Bay
South Central Alaska
Alaska Range