After a very long 2-day drive across Western Canada, we finally arrive in Jasper town, our base from which to explore the National Park of the same name in the Northern section of the Canadian Rockies. Jasper town is quite a lot bigger and far more touristy than I would ever have imagined, but unless you are prepared to camp it is the most convenient place to stay in the park. As we would discover over the next days, the same goes for the most popular spots, to say that they are incredibly busy would be an understatement.
On our first day we set off for Maligne Lake renown for its beautiful baby-blue water in a spectacular setting of photogenic peaks.
Black bear on the road
We have barely passed the park gates South of Jasper town when we come across our very first black bear! It is neither fearful nor aggressive, just quietly ambling along as if it was alone on the road. After criss-crossing in front of the cars a few times, it finally disappears into the bushes to the side of the road.
Even though these bears don’t seem to be at all dangerous, getting out of the car to get a better look or take pictures is strictly prohibited. The best one can do is lean out of the window, which is not exactly ideal!
Before we get to Maligne Lake we stop off at the much smaller emerald green Moose Lake, very pretty, but sadly, despite the promising name, there is not a moose in sight. Moose (called elk in Europe, not to be confused with the North American term elk which refers to a particular species of deer, the wapiti ) are part of these elusive and almost legendary animals that I have dreamed of seeing for many years. Two trips to Norway, but the only moose I ever saw where the ones on the road signs. They may well be the biggest antler-bearing animals in the world, but they are far from easy to find.
Moose on the Loose
We are just turning out of the parking lot to head home for the day when my eye catches a movement up on the grassy bank to our left. My instinct is much faster to recognise the shape than my mind and I can’t help yelling ”moose” even before the animal moves into sight from behind some trees.
I can’t believe our luck, only 50 to 60 meters away from us there is a moose cow with her calf, calmly grazing on the strip of green between the road and the wood at the top of the bank.
However many pictures of moose one might have seen, meeting this animal in person for the first time is an unforgettable, mesmerizing experience. They are simply huge, with the most impressively long nose and their legs are so long and spindly that it looks as though they were walking on stilts.
The two slowly make their way down the bank, stopping here and there to nibble a little grass before calmly negociating their way through the moose jam to the other side of the road. I catch a final glimpse of them dissolving into a line of trees and bushes separating us from the parking lot below. My last impression of the two is the bloodcurdling scream of a young child in the parking lot, visibly terrified by the sudden appearance of these two tall long-legged creatures!
The Curse of the Pine Beetle
At Medicine Lake on the way home we stop to have a look at the bald eagles nest overlooking the lake. The only chick is nearly fully grown at this time of the year, and its impatient calls leave no doubt that it is dinner time.
The huge, probably quite old nest seems to be precariously teetering atop one of the only few remaining conifers in the area, the rest having been devastated by a major forest fire a few years earlier.
Surprisingly, fires have always been part of the natural life cycle of the forests in the Rockies. They help keep the aggressive pine beetle at bay and at the same time allow the forests to regenerate by nourishing the soil, creating openings for sunlight to penetrate and spreading seeds. The pine cones actually have a protective wax coating that needs heat to open and release the seeds for the next generation. When you look at the expanses of forests covering the mountain sides you will instantly notice a number of impressively large patches of rusty brown inbetween the swathes of dense green.
The rusty brown trees are the ones that have been killed by attacks from the pine beetle and they are so dry that a lightening strike can easily set them on fire. In the natural regeneration cycle this is exactly what happens. But decades of eliminating fires paired with the effects of global warming have allowed the pine beetle to devastate forests at an unprecedented scale. The pine beetle is native to North America and has always been part of Western forests, but in the past it was present in relatively small numbers, and even during the odd surge its spread was localised. Gobal warming has not only boosted the beetles’ population and facilitated its advance, but the resulting rising temperatures and frequent droughts have also rendered the trees much more stressed and therefore more vulnerable.
Elk too close to fit the frame…
The Canadian Rockies are home to different species of deer, both elk, also called wapiti and the smaller white-tailed deer. We saw both of them, although elk seemed to be far more common. As they are not being hunted in the National Park they are not particularly shy and are far more tolerant of humans than their European cousins. I don’t think I ever had to tell a European stag to back off because he didn’t fit my frame…..
Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goats, two other Iconic Animals in the Rockies
The other two iconic animals in the Rockies are bighorn sheep and mountain goat. Bighorn sheep, named for the large curved horns of the rams, are not too dissimilar from European mouflon. The can be found on rocks near the road where they like to lick mineral salts and regularly cause trafic jams when over-excited visitors stop to watch.
The Rocky mountain goats on the other hand bear no resemblance to any goat I have ever seen. With their thick white wooly coats, their square faces and their little beards they are rather exotic looking.
A subalpine to alpine species endemic to North America it is perfectly adapted to climbing on rocks and ice. It is part of the Capridea subfamily that also includes goats, wild sheep, chamois and musc ox. However despite its vernacular name it isn’t a member of the goat genus, but instead is the only surviving member of the genus Oreamnos. Not all that common we were lucky to spot mountain goats on two occasions. The nanny (female) goat alongside the road leading East out of the park even had a kid following her.
The second time we stopped at a small parking bay off Icefields Parkway enticingly called ”Glaciers and Goats”. After all the panels we’ve come across with pictures of various animals that one could possibly encounter on the way and that we never saw I am not overly optimistic. But the viewpoint looks promising, so we head through a little woodland to a small natural balcony overlooking the valley with the snowy peaks and glaciers on the opposite side. I can’t see any goats, but then I don’t really know where to look for them. In the rocks on the other side, in the valley below? Suddenly my nose picks up a familiar musky very goaty smell…
Squirrels Galore
The North American continent is home to a variety of different representatives from the squirrel family. During our stay in Jasper National Park we managed to see three of them: The American red squirrel, which, despite belonging to a different genus, looks a bit like a slightly smaller version of the European red squirrel.
Then there are the golden-mantled ground squirrel and the tiny least chipmunk, the smallest of the chipmunk species. We regularly saw American red squirrels when hiking through forests. The golden-mantled ground squirrels seemed to somehow stick to barren and rocky landscapes, or at least that is where we saw them a few times.
As for the tiny least chipmunks, we found them in both in coniferous woodlands and alpine meadows.
The Rockies are home to countless species of birds
It goes without saying that the Rockies are also home to countless different species of birds. A lot of them may be common for North Americans, but for someone visiting from Europe they are rather exotic.
One morning, just as we were setting off for the day, I noticed 3 or 4 falcons cutting through the air on the other side of the railway track. I guess they must have only just fledged, as their flight still looked perfectionable. Too far away to identify I initially thought of kestrels. To my great delight I found three of the juveniles, which turned out to be merlins rather than kestrels, sitting in a pine tree at the back of the hotel the next morning.
