Kelly Date June 14, 2009

Lower Waterton Lake, AB

There is no one on the beach at the Lower Waterton Lake this morning.  There is no wind and it is very quiet other than the lapping of the water on the shoreline.  Finnigan is sniffling his time away and I am waiting for the morning sun to get high enough to reflect off the mountain faces far across the valley.  As much as I enjoy photography it can’t quite do this place justice.  Wish you were here to see what I am seeing right this minute.  You take a breath - you breath it into you very soul.  

After a great start taking pics, I spent some time at the local cafe on the internet catching up on emails and my blogs.  Always fun but time consuming.  It takes about an hour and a half to do this and I’m off.  After consulting the area map on the side of the wall I decided to drive up to Cameron Lake as I’m thinking again to get some great pics.  It’s not too far and shouldn’t take any more than an hour there and back.  The drive up is very scenic and there are lots of places to stop for the day and picnic or just hang out.  I see several vehicles parked along the roadway taking one of the many hikes in the area.  

On the return portion I say a sow and two cubs who were kind enough to keep right on cruising for green stuff while myself and two other vehicles could take pics.  The cubs are beautiful and look very healthy - one brown - one black. They continue to hang out and seem so not to care that anyone is even nearby.  But you can’t stare at them forever so I went down to the huge hotel that sits on the bluff overlooking the lake only to discover more bears.  When I pulled in off the highway I thought there was just a long walk up the driveway so got out of my vehicle to start the trek.  Having gone only about 20 feet or so I discovered this wasn’t the parking overflow, rather it was any number of men, women, and children standing outside of their vehicles to go and look at the two cubs 

ubs stuck in a tree not 5 feet off the driveway.  The mother/sow is just off from the tree watching her cubs but on the ground and not too sure what to do.

Okay, I find the scenario very upsetting and walk up to the first lady standing there with a young child (age three) running around and ask her if she realized how dangerous this situation was to herself and her toddler.  “Oh, yes but we can get in the vehicle in just a couple of seconds.”  Unbelievable!  I turned around and went and got back in my vehicle and slowly drove forward telling anyone who would listen that not only were they endangering their own lives, but the lives of the bears.  I was fairly upset at this point - what can I say, I like bears lol. I went up to the hotel and had them call the Park Warden to clear the 

area as it is a narrow trap that the bears can’t escape from without confrontation.  After causing even more of a fuss I departed, but the driveway was significantly less crowded.  Yea me!  

The rest of the trip was not nearly as eventful so will end it by saying I put in a lot of driving hours, Montana is beautiful and my favorite place so far is Waterton Lakes National Park.  

Total Distance:  388 kilometers