An excuse not to exercise

Another bear story for you!

With my new job they expect all employees to take a full one hour lunch break. Having never had to take a one hour lunch break ever in my working life, I struggle to find things to do for this significant amount of time. Having pondered this dilemma for over a month (and having realised my winter plumage appears in Spring) I have decided I shall fill it with a delightful lunchtime jog.

This was the fifth lunchtime run I ventured out on and to be perfectly honest I was thoroughly enjoying them until I decided to try a new route - note to self, never try a new route, simply do laps of old faithful ones.

While running along  my known faithful route I decided to take a trail that led off to the right, a decision I regretted within five minutes after realising the trail quickly turned into a wildlife path by the number of hooves and paw prints on it. Not a shoe print in sight.

Starting to panic and seeing shadows everywhere (it was very much like the Snow White scene where she is running through the woods. Except it wasn't dark, an there were no angry trees, no cob webs and no man threatening to cut my heart out... or at least he hasn't appeared yet) I was officially lost in the woods. The Canadian Rocky Mountain woods.

Ten minutes, which felt like 30 minutes, of frantic bush-whacking running I noticed a larger path in a direction I had no intention of going but needs must and off I go. Another five minutes of 'Pheobe' running and whooping to make sure the bears and cougars know I am coming I finally reappear at the backside of Larch Island - note the 'island' part. I somehow managed to cross a riverbed and ended up on a random little island. This island incidentally actually does have a crazy man on it that will attack you but I was fortunate enough not to be greeted by him on this occasion.


It was just along from this epic adventure that I was came across the pictures scene - hilarious. Mrs Black Bear was having a picnic in the area and I was running along paths next to her.

I will certainly be sticking to the pram-trails from now on.

The Cave and Basin

During one of their last days in Canmore we went to the Cave and Basin in Banff National Park. I should note here that the entire time they were visiting I was assuring them that bears were not an issue, ooops.

We were welcomed by a delightful ranger who advised us that there was indeed a bear in the area and we were to just be cautious. My sister without blinking just responded with 'well that's that then, back to the car!' She wishes.

Off we toddled along the decking walkway that at points was easily 12 feet above the ground, when a ranger went running past us speaking into his walkie-talkie. Watching where he went - just to the viewpoint on the walkway - and pointing out over into the fields my brother-in-law swung his backpack over his shoulders and started to run along the path to the ranger where he was shown where there was a grizzly bear laying among some trees.

For ten minutes we were happy upon the decking taking photographs of this young female grizzly who appeared to be napping. Then she got up and decided to take a like walk toward us – might I repeat at this point we were at least 12-15ft above the ground on the platform walkway so we felt safe enough. The ranger was there with us too so all was well… that was until a fisherman appeared from halfway along the walkway. Without sounds panicked I squeaked ‘ehm.. where did you come from?’ to which he squinted at me and said ‘those stairs’ pointing to a set of stairs that led right down to where the bear was heading.

The bear wouldn’t come up the stairs would she…? Of course she did.

By this point I don’t know what was more funny, my brother-in-law squealing with delight that he got to stay near the ranger and photograph the grizzly or my sister hyperventilating while explaining ‘but my son has only been eating salmon! He must smell like salmon!’ Bloomin hilarious!! Of course my sister says this cheekily but I genuinely feel she may have been slightly serious.

We are ushered up toward the Visitor Center, but not before the ranger shouts at my sister and I (and several other tourists) to stop in case the grizzly makes a direct line off the decking up towards us. Again, it was hilarious watching my sister and all the while my nephew is grinning from ear-to-ear oblivious to what is going on around him. Obviously we all survived and my brother-in-law got some amazing shots of the bear who appeared in that weeks Rocky Mountain Outlook newspaper – the poor girl was just hiding from a frisky big male.

(Unfortunately I did not get any photos of this incident but my brother-in-law did)

Entering into summer

With posts becoming few and far between you do wonder what we get up to all day.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my lovely parents came over for a week at the end of February - celebrating our 'Canniversary'. This celebration brought with it a number of enlightening moments, many of which will reveal themselves over the coming months and year.

March was a whirlwind personally as I moved to a new job. I am very fortunate to work for such a great organisation and the work they do is phenomenal - or phenomenally Canadian according to L. I work with Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative dealing with all things donation related. It is wonderful fun and I am continually learning every day about the projects that we lead or support on, from the tip of Yukon all the way down into America to Yellowstone National Park. For obvious reasons all things bear interest me the most though hearing about the destruction and damage of Dam's (Site C being the most current and horrific) on the environment is overwhelmingly sad. Yet the government see $$$$$ rather than nature. Plonkers.

April was by far my most cherished month here. The arrival of a beautiful baby boy and most beloved sister!! I haven't seen my nephew since he was three moths old and now he is a full year, they changes in him were astounding. He looks like a little man, or more specifically my dad. He is the cutest and most charming baby ever, and a super-duper flirt with the ladies! Waving and grinning
at every girl he saw! We had a wonderful time together and couldn't believe how quickly time flew by.

And here we are at the end of May. Yikes. This month we had L's mum visit us for a week and to take full advantage of the Holiday Monday we decided, at the last possible minute, that we would drive to Victoria. That is correct, a 14 hour drive EACH WAY for a 3 day break. On Friday night we strated our ambitious drive and stopped in Sicamous, then at 5am Saturday morning we continued the journey to reach Cordova Bay on Vancouver Island. It was the best decision ever as I have missed the ocean so much, I am truly a water person and lakes just do not have the same influence on me.

Sunday we explored downtown Victoria, enjoying Fisherman's Wharf and a marching band competition in front of the Legislative Building then on Monday morning 4am (after watching an amazing sunrise) we drove back to Canmore. Worth every minute.

Catching up almost to present - which would include the tale of L cutting his foot on a rock while climbing Saturday and 24 hours later being taken to hospital by moi with blood poisoning. He had to have 4 days of IV antibiotics, we are now friends with all A&E Dr's at Canmore Hospital, and now he has a further ten days of heavy duty oral antibiotics to make sue it doesn't come back.

As you can see we are keeping busy and continuing to explore Western Canada. With one more significant visitor booking to arrive in August for three weeks of climbing, hiking, kayaking and surfing who knows what stories we will come back with!

Jiminy Cricket

To the delight of Lewis the activity options in Canmore are endless. This is no word of an exaggeration and should you ever be bored in Canmore, well, there is no excuse really.

With seasonal hobbies to suit everyone from Nordic skiing, downhill skiing, snowshoeing and winter climbing to mountain biking, hiking, trail running and rock climbing to mention a mere few, your days, weeks and months are pretty jam packed with fresh air.

To this end Lewis decided to invest in a mountain bike for me, as going out whooping in the forest and trails alone is not ideal. The purchase was made on a Saturday morning and by noon I find myself in the middle of a single-track trail near the Canmore Nordic Ski Centre wondering how my body is going to take the beating.

I think it was beginners luck and going into the unknown that made it such a wonderful day. We were whizzing through the trees all the while whooping to alert any wildlife – there are three black bears and a grizzly that regularly visit the area and the thought of rolling into the back of them was not a valid alternative to using my breaks.

Bumping over tree roots, rolling along fallen trees and holding on for dear life while leaning as far back as possible when going down dusty sleep hills was only just the start of it. All the while Lewis is exclaiming “I cannot believe how good you are at this, you are doing so well!”

In actual fact what was going through my head went something like “I am going to die… TREE STUMP!… all I need now is a bear or a cougar to pounce on me and I am finished… TREE STUMP!!... why oh why are mountain bike seats harder than cement?... TREE STUMP!”

I also discovered that such thoughts mixed with serious concentration on the twists and turns of the trails reduces my vocabulary to a simple and surprising name: Jiminy Cricket.

Lewis: Look at you Watson! How are you feeling?

Me: Jiminy Cricket!

Lewis: What? What are you saying?

Me: Jiminy Cricket!

Lewis: Are you seeing crickets?! Amazing! Where?!

Me: Jiminy Cricket - Cricket!

To that end – I cannot wait to get back out and ride more trails.