Australian Shepherd Molly Montana writes of her outdoor adventures with human, Kinsey Barnard. Kinsey takes the photos. They live in Montana and travel in their RV Clementine. Exploring is their favorite thing to do. Follow them and enjoy great stories, travel photos as well as travel & hiking tips particularly in Montana
One of the very handy things about living where I do is that I can get to Canada, British Columbia, in about fifteen minutes.
Yesterday morning was really a stunner so, still reeling from my website debacle, I decided to treat myself and Koty to a trip to Kikomun Provencial Park. I love this little park and it's a scant thirty miles from my home.
The park has a number of small lakes but my favorite is Surveyor Lake. There is a trail that loops around the entire lake and two beaches for people to launch their watercraft or just hang in an awesomely beautiful landscape. Koty and I probably spent two hours strolling the trail and taking in the sites. During that brief time I saw a loon, a pair of mergansers, numerous mallards, a great blue heron, a woodpecker, and a slew of painted turtles.
Another special feature of this lake and trail is the Canadian Rocky backdrop one can see from the west end of the lake, just spectacular.
Below are photos of some of the wonders that we saw.
A couple of redheaded mergansers out for a paddle.
Unfortunately, this loon was a bit far afield for my lens but I couldn't resist "shooting" it anyway. Loons are one of my most favorite birds. Not only is plumage design extraordinary but it's call is simply alluring. It is one of my most favorite sounds in all of creation.
The Surveyor lake water is crystal clear. This photo was taken of the lake bottom right through the water.
The view across Surveyor Lake to the Canadian Rockies, more precisely these mountains are called the Kootenay Rockies.
Painted turtles lined up on a log taking in the sun.
This was as much of the paint job as I could get a picture of from any of these turtles. Painted turtles are usually pretty shy guys and dive in the water at any sound or disturbance.
I nearly forgot to mention, the wildflowers were starting to bloom. If there is such a thing as a wild snap dragon then that's what this is. I'll have to look it up to make certain.
Mornings like this one are what life is all about for me. Imagine, I can be in and drink up this wonderland in a matter of minutes. I am one lucky ducky!
I took a little wander up into B.C. and stopped by the Kootenay Trout Hatchery. The drive up was really lovely as we are still getting snow and the Kootenay Rockies were gleaming with fresh fallen snow and pastures are turning into green velvet carpets.
I always stop in at the hatchery any time I'm in the area because it's a very nice little campus and there's no telling what you might see.
The Kootenay Trout Hatchery raises approximately 2 million trout, kokanee salmon, char and white sturgeon annually and provides research facilities for biologists. Lakes throughout British Columbia are stocked with these rainbow, brook and cutthroat trout to enhance recreational fishing opportunities. White sturgeon are also raised here as part of conservation programs for the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers.
At the entrance to the hatchery there is a moat with trout swimming in it. Some of them are REALLY big. This was the first time I've been that the water wasn't clear, algae was floating on the surface. Clearly temps are rising.
Inside the facility is chock full of displays and information. The photo below is of young brook trout in a display aquarium. The trout were lovely but the fascinating thing, to me, about this photo is that it was taken practically in the dark without a flash. Oh, the marvels of digital technology. The camera I was using has a max ISO of 3200 which is what made this image possible.
Your tour is self guided which I like. The main room in the facility is what they call the "trough" room. It's kind of like a trout nursery, each of these troughs has thousands of tiny fish swarming in them.
But, the main reason I always stop in is because you never know what wildlife you may find on the grounds outside. There is a lovely pond on the west side of the facility that form time to time will have a variety of birds. This particular day all there were only a few mallards paddling around but I have seen osprey, heron, eagles and hawks. I was there smack dab in the middle of the day which isn't prime time for viewing or photographing wildlife. This because I spent the morning over at Kikiomun Provinvcial Park. I'm still working on the images I collected at the park. Still, I always like watching the ducks. I just never tire of observing wildlife.
The grounds are lovely even if for just a stroll and a picnic and there are some very nice aspen standing about. I was able to make this image of lichen on aspen which struck me as extraordinary.
If you're in the area and want to check it out, the hatchery is located just a few miles off highway 3 on Wardner/Fort Steele Road bewteen Fernie and Cranbrook. It's open 365 days a year eight to four.
Its looking more and more like spring is already here and winter isn’t coming back. I was at my desk this morning when I heard “Yaak, yaak yaak!” I looked out the window and there on the pond was a mallard! Seems a little early for him but there you have it.
I made my first 2010 foray into British Columbia on Wednesday. First stop Kikomun Provincial Park. I thought maybe I could sneak in even though it doesn’t officially open until May 1 but the gate was locked.
I headed for Kikomun Bridge and the Kootenay River. As an aside, in the U.S. the river’s name is spelled Kootenai. At this location the river was still mostly frozen over but in other places it’s completely open and flowing free.
I learned something this week about Canada. We all know it is a sparsely populated country. But, for some reason it had never registered how sparsely. The entire country has fewer than 34 million souls. That’s less than California, which has around 37 million. And Canada is a very big country ranking number four in land mass in the world. Because this is so I can just stop right on the bridge and fool around as much as I want and not be in anyone's way.
What I observed from the bridge was a bald eagle and his eagless sitting on the ice. It looked like they had just finished a fish breakfast. You also get a fabulous view of the Canadian Rockies from this location. Unfortunately, a smoky veil hung over them, as it is now open burn season.
Next I wanted to check out the Rocky Mountain Sheep Project and the Bull River. On the way I thought I saw something interesting down the bank on the shore of the Kootenay. I unloaded Koty and we searched for a way down the bluff. I did find something interesting and this is what I found, a Kootenay Illusion.
Koty found something interesting too, the little rotter! We had had to cross a railroad track to get to the river. A poor elk had fallen prey to a cowcatcher and was rotting on the tracks. Before I knew it Koty had one shoulder down in it. That’s my boy!
The Rocky Mountain Sheep Project is a great place to hike and catch a glimpse of wildlife, most likely Mountain Sheep. The Project is right on the Bull River. In the spring after the water settles down from the runoff this river is the most beautiful glacial colors you’ve ever seen.
We hiked in the Project for a couple of hours and never saw anything but a couple of black tail deer. It will be different in the spring. The whole sheep herd will come to the meadow and it’s quite a beautiful sight.
From the trails you can get great views of the west side of the Kootenay Rockies. The snow pack looks a little light for this time of year, not surprising considering the mildness of the winter.
Back at the ranch I was greeted by about 25 mule deer in various states of repose around the house. After speaking with the welcoming committee it was time to kick back and watch the sun set.
As usual we did a lot of walking in the woods this week much of it along the Galton Range which looks down on the Tobacco Valley. It was gorgeous. If you've not seen the Canadian Border anywhere but at a manned crossing you might find the image below kind of interesting. The snow makes it possible to see the thin white line that is the border, nothing more than the equivalent of a fire break. The break in the line is Lake Koocanosa which is still iced over.
The mountain range in the distance is called the Percells which run right up into British Columbia. I believe the tallest of the peaks is Mt. Henry. There is a forest fire lookout up there. I must get up there one of these days. In any event the view was mighty nice.
We have had very little snow this week and very mild temperatures. Even all my forest friends have taken notice. Birds are sing songing and the squirrels are out and about. I saw a real cutie posed beautifully on an old stump by the time I got a bead on him this is what I got ...
The sun has been shining quite a bit and it really transforms the world. If the Tobacco Valley has any short coming I suppose for me it would be that the winters are dark and dreary. So, when the sun does make an appearance it's like manna from heaven. I love the patterns in nature and tree bark is a favorite subject. In the image below the sun is really showing off this Ponderosa.
Speaking of Koty; he had some of his pals stop by to play. The deer are really funny. They know Koty is on a tether and just how close they can come to him without risking an altercation. Koty pretends to be indifferent hoping to lure them within range.
It won't be long now until we can get out and about. I'm beginning to get that yearning for spring. What usually happens is we get this great weather in February and get all excited that winter is done. Then wham we get hit with one more serious winter patch.
Bow Lake, in Banff National Park, is unquestionably one of the most beautiful lakes in all the world. The melting glaciers give it color beyond imagining and it changes all the time depending on lighting conditions.
PS: Christmas is coming so here is a gift idea under $20. Choose five note cards and tie them in a packet with a pretty satin ribbon. Your gift will be unique and personal.
So, off we went we went to explore the Allison Creek area. This drive takes you on a dirt and gravel road up along Old Man River, which apparently is a good one for river rafting. Unfortunately, the road left the river before we knew it and mom never got a picture of it.
This road also turned out to be a good one for wildflowers. We came across a huge filed of these pink flowers on long stocks. Of course, mom slammed on the brakes to takes some photos. There I am alone in the car on a road in the middle of nowhere and along come these huge dump trucks that start dumping right where I am and the next thing I know This huge piece of heavy equipment is headed right for me! Yikes!
We continued the loop and it was a long one. At the summit we came across a firefighting out post and naturally mom stopped to blabber and take a couple of photos which already published over at Simply Photos if you'd care to see them.
We finally did find Chinook Lake. It's a pretty little lake not far from the highway and right beneath Crowsnest Mountain. This photo was taken on Thursday and ....
This photo was taken on Friday. During the night a big storm blew in and dumped a pot load of snow on the mountain peaks. The sunrise that morning was spectacular! Please see Rocky Mountain Morning . This was the shot that almost got away. Mom took it in her PJ's!
That pretty much sums up our second trip to southern Alberta. It was another great one and I recommend exploring around in this area if you ever get the cahnce. Some very beautiful scenery around these parts.
Well, off we went like a herd of turtles. You may recall we were up there a couple of weeks ago and had to return early on account of I was off my feed. So, we packed up Clementine, hooked up Shadow and back to Crowsnest Pass we went. We ended up at an RV park in Blairmore called the Lost Lemon. Wow! Was it a lemon. Worst RV park we ever stayed at. People were so crammed into this place the awning of one unit touched another. Usually, I like to park myself outside while mom does her work but not here. I couldn't get in Clem fast enough. Mom needs electricity for all her equipment and there are not a lot of choices in this area. If you can live with just electricity we later found a really nice provincial park at Lundbreck.
Not only is the park way nicer but get a load of these falls! They are called the Lundbreck Falls and are on the Crowsnest River.
Back to mom's favorite old saw about clouds and silver linings, the wildflowers this go around were really great. They were all over the place. This particular bloom we found on Miner's Path just up the road in Coleman. It's a nice little path that ends at a small waterfall. You can see more of the wildflowers we saw at mom's Simply Photos Blog
We did a whole lot of driving around this trip mostly because mom kept missing turns an getting lost but the thing about it is we learned a lot. You can really find stuff when you're lost! For instance, Albertans have a great sense of humor as can be seen from this ranch sign. And, let me tell you, they had some beautiful asses out in the pasture! I woulda chased anyone of them!
And, at least here in southern Alberta, Montanans have a whole lot in common with Albertans. It's the same western flavor. This is truly cattle country. And, awesomely beautiful. Mom really loves it! Course, when mom was a little girl she dreamed of being Annie Oakley while other little girls dreamed of Barbie. Don't tell her I said so but I think she turned out more like Calamity Jane! :)
Stay tuned for part two. Mom finally finds Chinook Lake and Old Man River. No kidding, it's really called Old Man River!
Well, phooey! We had to cut our Waterton/Glacier trip in half. It's kind of my fault although I really couldn't help it. I went off my feed, which isn't unusual for the first couple of days of a trip but when it started to drag out mom got worried and I'm glad she did! I'm fine now but I was mighty uncomfortable I can tell you that. Turned out that some bones I had eaten had made kind of a calcium block in my intestine. Mom thought I wasn't pooping because I hadn't eaten but that wasn't the reason and I couldn't tell her. Lucky for me the block had worked it's way nearly to the exit and an enema fixed me right up. I guess that's more than you wanted to know but there it is.
Our last day at Waterton we went up Red Rock Canyon to the Crandall Lake turnoff. Mom wanted to walk along Crandall Creek and see if she could find some nice wildflowers. We didn't find any wildflowers of note but we did find this big black bear. He was just strolling along enjoying the day. No one's heart was in the walk so we headed back to the campground. That's when mom decided we were pulling up stakes in the morning.
Mom always likes to say every cloud has a silver lining and really it does. On the way home we stopped at the Crowsnest info station and discovered there was a really neat place to explore only 75 miles from home and after fourth of July we are going to do it! The photo is of Crowsnest Mountain.
We went straight to the vets when we crossed the border and after I got fixed up there we headed to the ranch. At the gate we were greeted by a Whitetail doe and her fawn. You gotta get a kick out of those whitetails when they go flying off!
So, we hung around the ranch for a couple of days and visited with our friends here. Mom chopped some wood and I played tag with a doe. It was really fun. I was in my enclosure and the doe and I chased each other round and round until we were both pooped out. Mom was too busy chopping wood to get a photo. She's got her work cut out as we had a lot of blow down this winter and there's nothing tougher to split, and she does it all by hand, than dead wood.
Yesterday we took a little trip down to the Stillwater National Forest. Wanted to check out Fish and Bull Lakes. These lakes turned out to be yawners. The bear grass is starting to come out and mom did get this photo of some lilly pads from a bluff overlooking a private pond. I was a nice hike anyway.
So, that was our week. Hope yours was great too!
Visit my mom's website to see her most recent photographs. Or visit any of her many galleries. Prints start at just $8.95.
Surprise! Surprise! We are on the road again! We just decided to pack our bags and head over to Waterton, Alberta. Didn't arrive until late afternoon and it wasn't until we got here that we found out it was the annual wildflower festival. When we got here there were very few people and very few wildflowers.
Wednesday we took the hike up to Bertha Lake. It's not far, just a little under 5 klicks, but it's mostly straight up. No problem for moi but I noticed you know who doing some huffing and puffing. We were in the snow by the time we got to the lake so there wasn't much you could do once you got there. Mom thought the most scenic thing about this hike was this view of Waterton Lake. In the afternoon we went over to check out the buffalo at the Bison Paddock. Bison Photos
Thursday we took a drive up to Pincher Creek just to see the countryside. It's quite rural and pretty. Being on the east side of the rockies, the plains stretch out before you as far as the eye can see. Lots of cattle ranching and some of the most beautiful bulls we've seen.
One things for sure there is a lot of water running around in Waterton Park. The late spring has put the wildflowers back a couple of weeks but there is water runing out of these mountains everywhere. Mom spent the afternoon taking photos of the new fawns around town and I took a siesta. Fawn Photos
From a wildflower point of view we haven't seen a lot. Yesterday it was looking like they were finally starting to bloom. Then last night a big storm blew in so who knows what we'll find today.
That pretty much sums up our week. It was a stellar one for sure. Hope yours was too!
Kootenay Rockies
Mallard in Flight
Kootenay River Ice Image
Bald Eagle and eagless Image
Kootenay Illusion
Koty Explores Kootenay Ice
Bull River Image
Kootenay Rockies Image
Dancing Deer Sunset
Canadian Border
Percell Mountains
Squirrel?
Ponderosa Bark
Lakota Sunrise
Koty & Friend
The View
