I was hoping to catch a dawn photo of Cameron Lake in the process. The morning was a bit overcast & very windy. We didn't see any animals on the way to Cameron Lake, but took a nice photo of Mt Rowe (above) lit up with the early morning sun.
Cameron Lake itself wasn't quite as spectacular as I was hoping thanks to the wind & cloud but the photo above didn't come out too bad.
As we were leaving the Cameron Lake car park we saw a black bear sow with her two cubs crossing the road. They scurried into the brush beside the road before we could get a photo but we followed them down a small service track. Unfortunately the photo above was as good as we could get. Mother bears can be very protective about their cubs at times & this one lead hers away as quickly as she could.
Strangely, as soon as the bears went away all sorts of animals & birds appeared like the ptarmigan (above) that was starting to grow it's white winter feathers, and a couple of mule deer. When we arrived back at our room, the mule deer had set up camp across the road from us as well (below). The deer are very comfortable in the town site because the predators stay away from the humans. The lush lawns are much tastier than the natural grasslands.
Back in the township we grabbed some breakfast from our favourite shop (Zum's) & ordered a hiker's lunch while we were at it. We loaded up our backpacks for a day's hiking & set off for the lake ferry. We had planned to do the Crypt Lake hike that day but the howling wind had put the boat that takes hikers to the trail head out of action. We were disappointed at the time but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Time for the backup plan. There were a couple of other hikes we'd planed to do the next day. The one we decided to do was to Forum & Wall Lakes. The trail head is near Cameron Lake & heads West out of the national park & into B.C. & the adjoining provincial park. As we stepped out of the car a Steller's Jay (above) made a pest of itself. We set off along the trail which is more of an old fire track than anything. 30 mins later & we were at the border! The sign below was a bit of a dead giveaway.
Half a kilometre later we were at a crossroads. We had decided initially to only hike to Wall Lake which is slightly further but a flatter trail than the Forum Lake trail. Forum Falls (below) lies 200m from the cross road so we decided to take the short detour. It was a pleasant reward for such a short walk. 
After stopping at the falls, things started to unravel a little. We decided that since we were diverting, why not hike up to Forum Lake. After all, it's only a couple of k's. How hard can it be? The trail became very steep almost immediately which was expected beside a waterfall. Little did we know, it would continue nearly all the way to the lake. At the top of the waterfall, there was another shorter waterfall (below) that was almost as pretty was the main cascade.
The steep trail continued its steep ascent until it finally leveled out into open forest. We were up high near the tree line made evident by the golden needles Larch trees (below). These are the ones I spoke of in my post from Lake Louise.
From up close you can see how the yellow needles are a photographer's dream in the fall.
Finally we reached Forum Lake (below). The photo shows a pretty little blue lake with surrounding cliffs, but it doesn't show the howling icy winds that were cutting holes through us. I was so glad at that point that we weren't hanging off a ledge at Crypt Lake in those winds (I'll explain that comment later).
We didn't stay long at Forum Lake & started the decent through the forest. We had lunch at the campsite at the bottom & decided what to do next.
After some deliberation we made the call to walk the extra 5 km round trip to Wall Lake (above). Besides, we were already half way there. Kerri wasn't completely pleased about it but we went anyway. It turned out to be the right call because it was by far the more picturesque of the two lakes & also protected from the harsh winds. In hindsight we should have turned around at the falls & gone straight to Wall Lake.
An added bonus was that there were a couple of Mountain Goats (above & below) on the cliffs above the lake. They were a long way off, but they were definitely goats.
I wanted to follow the trail further around to get closer to the goats, but Kerri started heading back having had enough walking. I continued a little way around before turning around. I was a little nervous having seen some fresh "signs" of grizzly bear activity in the area (below). Hiking alone is a bad idea at the best of times in North America. This was asking for trouble.
I caught up with Kerri eventually after what seemed like hours. The wander back to the car park along the mainly downhill track was uneventful. We were very glad to get back to the room & put our feet up for the afternoon.
Later that afternoon we set off animal spotting again. The cloud had turned to spots of rain, but we were in luck. A black bear with 3 cubs were eating berries next to the red Rock Parkway. These bears were of the cinnamon persuasion. The ones that morning were at the dark end of the colour variants & these ones were the light end.
Unfortunately the light was very poor so the photos came out quite grainy, but they were quite comfortable going about their business while everyone sat & watched them.
Finally we reached Forum Lake (below). The photo shows a pretty little blue lake with surrounding cliffs, but it doesn't show the howling icy winds that were cutting holes through us. I was so glad at that point that we weren't hanging off a ledge at Crypt Lake in those winds (I'll explain that comment later). 
We didn't stay long at Forum Lake & started the decent through the forest. We had lunch at the campsite at the bottom & decided what to do next. 
After some deliberation we made the call to walk the extra 5 km round trip to Wall Lake (above). Besides, we were already half way there. Kerri wasn't completely pleased about it but we went anyway. It turned out to be the right call because it was by far the more picturesque of the two lakes & also protected from the harsh winds. In hindsight we should have turned around at the falls & gone straight to Wall Lake. An added bonus was that there were a couple of Mountain Goats (above & below) on the cliffs above the lake. They were a long way off, but they were definitely goats.
I wanted to follow the trail further around to get closer to the goats, but Kerri started heading back having had enough walking. I continued a little way around before turning around. I was a little nervous having seen some fresh "signs" of grizzly bear activity in the area (below). Hiking alone is a bad idea at the best of times in North America. This was asking for trouble.
I caught up with Kerri eventually after what seemed like hours. The wander back to the car park along the mainly downhill track was uneventful. We were very glad to get back to the room & put our feet up for the afternoon.
Later that afternoon we set off animal spotting again. The cloud had turned to spots of rain, but we were in luck. A black bear with 3 cubs were eating berries next to the red Rock Parkway. These bears were of the cinnamon persuasion. The ones that morning were at the dark end of the colour variants & these ones were the light end.
Unfortunately the light was very poor so the photos came out quite grainy, but they were quite comfortable going about their business while everyone sat & watched them.
