So today was interesting, mostly because I was I bit stupid and naive. I went out for a morning walk along the river and it was very cold as it was snowing so I went by myself. I followed the road next to the river and then branches off onto a path once the road ended. There were lots of squirrels around that grabbed my attention - they’re funny little things out here, they shout at you to warn you off and have a squeaky noise like a guinea pig. So the whole time I was watching for wildlife and very wary of elk and bears being near. At some point I gave up looking for wildlife and headed home, only to see this on the footpath that I had just walked from:
(Picture taken the next day)
It was snowing at the time and settling well but this had no snow on it, so it was obviously quite fresh! Got safely back home and immediately googled what I had seen, turns out it was ‘bear scat’ from a black bear! So I had been very close to a bear whilst out walking on my own. It was within the boundaries of the camp we’re staying in, so I had a false sense of security! That really unnerved me so I’ve now bought some bear bells to attach to my wheelchair that will help bears to know that a human is around. The worst thing to do is accidentally creep up on a bear. I went to tell reception as youre meant to report any indication of a bear close by. They seemed quite cool about it and just advised us to make noise whenever we’re out somewhere, hence the bear bells.
Later we drove to Miette Hot Springs as it was so cold and snowy we needed warming up! Before pulling out of the complex we saw what we first thought was a wolf trotting along but after some research we now know was a Coyote. It was very quick so I didn’t manage to get a pic. About 5 seconds later we saw lots of elk chilling
Then as we pulled out of our complex we saw this beautiful Bull Elk.
Bull Elk are actually really dangerous especially at this time of year and are what people warn you about, much more than bears, so it was fortunate that we were safely in our cars. One stupid Chinese woman decided to get out of her car and wander only a few meters from it to get a good picture, really dangerous!
The drive to the hot springs was very pretty, especially in some places where either there were lots of autumnal colours or the lake was a piercing green colour.
The snow had fallen heavily at the springs and it was still snowing whilst we were in them. The access was quite good as we were given a wheelchair that could go in water and the pool had a gradual slope down into it, then once in the water I could swim off. Didn’t take pics as couldn’t really take phones into pool area but it was pretty!
The drive home was very snowy but thankfully we had our 4x4 Rocky Rogue to get us through it. Once Home I fell asleep and then woke up at about 8pm, we were both hungry but I was too tired to go out so we got a takeout. There are loads of nice restaurants that allow you to order a meal and then pick it up soon after. So we got some yummy healthy food from Earl’s. It was just what the dr ordered!
We then tried a variety of chocolate bars -none as good as English ones, and put on face masks.
T’was a good end to the evening.
