My little grizzly bear (that is if you consider 270lbs little) seems to have put his recent poking and prodding by humans behind him and is once again a busy bear doing not much but sleeping and eating berries day and night. Unfortunately, most of the berries are roadside, which creates a kind of spectator sport among the countless humans who endlessly parade by in their vehicles, often failing to respect or acknowledge his personal space. His patience is wearing a bit thin at times as idling buses and cars continually crowd around for the best look or photo. Many do not realize that he is actually a wild grizzly bear with long claws, lightning speed, and a bad temper.
He’s trying to ignore this bus and car while dining on his berries.
He figures maybe they don’t see him here in the bushes! Or up this high bank.
The high country along the continental divide is already looking a bit winter-like, even though autumn still has yet to arrive, if you believe the calendar.
(Click on any photo for a full size view)
Frost is a regular occurrence at night now, and some of the snow blanketing the upper elevations will remain till next June or July. Some snow banks never did melt this year, challenging that global warming theory! I’ll have to be winterizing or heating the rigs pretty soon to prevent any damaging freeze-ups. I’ve asked Al from the Bayfield Bunch to send me some of the hot humid weather he has been having, but so far have received none. Guess it might be time to head for the coast or south! Brrr.
With many of the bears feeding roadside, I guess it is a sad but inevitable reality that occasionally they suffer the perils of the roads. Today was one of those days, when this big adult male black bear got hit on the Kootenay parkway – famous for it’s high speed Calgary commuters headed to their weekend retreats, without much regard for anything that does not set off their radar detectors.
Similarly, the regular big truck traffic has effectively killed off all but a few of the elk in the park. Now, only smaller animals remain, but are little threat to the big rigs, so they don’t slow down that much either.
Of course, some of the wildlife does not appreciate the hazards, and will stand on the roadway watching the traffic stop around them. There is a good chance that this wolf has received illegal handouts from passing motorists, and is hoping for more. No doubt he will be hit and killed eventually, unless we can convince him to change his ways.
Taking the rest of this month off from work, and planning a few short road trips. Everyone at work is wondering if I plan to come back at all ;-)
Guess they will just have to wait and see …
Either way, I can’t wait to get back down south to – Borrego Springs, Slab City, Sierra Vista, Zion, Quartzsite, Kofa mountains, Lake Havasu, Baja, Roosevelt Lake, and wherever else the whim takes me. But first, I have to get young Hailey to the vet and get her all approved for international travel!
See you down the road!
That's quite an interesting job you have there Ivan. I would have trouble dealing with the animal deaths though. Yep, that colder weather looks like a definite reason for heading south soon alright. I actually did send you some warmer weather a few weeks ago but I think those greedy warm weather hogs in Winnipeg probably intercepted it for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI wish people would just slow down, especially at night and watch for the animals. Unfortunately many people just don't care.
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