I have visited the Rockies many, many,
many times in my life, even from an early age. But they never ever
disappoint. This year was a bit different, however, from former
recent visits. This year – given the dates I was staying – meant
that my sister's husband Art was unable to accompany us into the
mountains since he had to be at work. (Drat that work which keeps
interrupting our fun!)
While I am a feminist that believes in
equal rights between the genders, I do admit that there are some
times when I am much more comfortable when there is a man in our
company. One of those occasions is when I am on the paths of the
wild forests of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Why, you ask?
Well the Canadian Rocky mountains is
most decidedly “Bear Country”. No exaggeration. And we're not
talking friendly “Yogi Bear' type of bears either. We're talking
black bears, brown bears and grizzly bears. Somehow I just feel more
secure when Art is along, armed with his bear spray.
We stopped at the Kananaskis tourist
information hut. The man there said – since it was high berry
season - it was “LIKELY” we would see a bear. He told us to
“ASSUME” we would see a bear. Not exactly what we wanted to
hear, I admit.
We did not let this stop us, however.
We too were armed with bear spray – AND knew how to use it. I had
it strapped to my fanny pack belt and during those moments before
going around bends etc. may even have had it at the ready in my
hands. Note: A person must be able to react quickly, within 2
seconds of a charging bear. And we 'yodelled' every now and again –
a great way to warn bears we're in the area. There was a down side
to this, though – hard to get the Sound of Music's yodel song “The
Lonely Goatherd – Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo” out of my
head.
Happily we did not encounter any bears
on our walks although we had hoped to see them while in our car.
Wild life seen: Angry squirrel.
