It appears that we are well past due for an update on the old blog!

Hard to believe that two weeks have passed by since the last entries!

This time there are some new pics of things at work, around home, and an exciting development in my camping/RV department.

Because of the almost 'coastal' continuous rain, and other complications, I have only managed to make it out to the Sundre homestead twice this year. Of course, I was on the road down south till the middle of April this year.
But the grass was starting to get out of control, so I had to make an attempt at cutting it. Much of the mowing was done during, or between the frequent showers that kept passing through.
And, my sister had come up with a whole bunch of trees just begging to be planted around the house and yard.
So, with only a couple days to spend, I was pretty busy trying to get it all done before I had to go back to work.

Harley was along for the ride of course - his first ride in the new truck. He seemed to approve of it, though he did not even try out the heated seats!
He was glad to get out in the grass, and managed to catch some mice when he wasn't following me around the yard.


Back at work, more of the roads are now snow-free (and about time), so I got to make like a tourist and take some tourist photos. This one is Peyto lake, on the Icefields Parkway.
And, they are finally starting to twin the highway through this section of the park, which means that they are putting up fences to keep the wildlife off the highway.
So, I took some shots of the bare posts before the wire is strung up, because from now on it change the whole scene along the roads. It is hoped that it will reduce the number of animals that get killed by vehicles on the road, but that it does not reduce their mobility, and cut off travel routes that they and their predecessors have used for centuries.

But the biggest news (drum roll), may somewhat change the face of this blog in the years to come. Or it may not!
I used the following logic: What use is a 'line of credit' if it is not used, I ask you.
So only two weeks after buying a brand new truck, and the same day that I got the camper attachments welded onto it in Calgary, I went over to one of the numerous RV dealers and clinched a pretty dang good deal on - a brand new 5th wheel trailer!
Of course, that meant a new hitch had to be installed and added to the debts rapidly accumulating. So far, I have just picked it up in Calgary and brought it home to a driveway location. But I was very pleased how easy it was to tow with the new truck. I think it will take some practice to get 'backing up' perfected.
Everyone asked if I was going to retire the old truck camper, but the answer is an emphatic NO!
The truck camper is still by far the best option for most of my travel. It can be driven around in towns, parallel parked, taken down rugged logging roads, and end up in lots of great camp spots the 5th wheel will never see. But the 'fiver' will excel at longer-term stays with a lot more space and a few more conveniences.
The new rig has two slideouts at the rear, so the resulting room is about 14 feet wide - which is pretty good for an 8' wide camper. It also has A/C, a ceiling fan, an AM/FM/CD/DVD/MP3 player with speakers inside and out, a heated mattress (!), and a fireplace with a remote control!
That's it for now. I hope the next update does not take so long to get online!

Finally. A bit of action at work!

We got a call the other day from an ambulance service at the scene of a wreck just outside the park boundary. Apparently a four-wheel quad had gone off the edge of a logging road, and the driver was lying injured at the bottom. Some of us responded by road, and our helicopter also was dispatched.The weather was really getting bad, as a gusty storm front with rain was passing through.
The patient was lifted out of the ravine by the rope under the helicopter and delivered to the waiting ambulance. To avoid the long, rough ride in the ambulance when spinal injuries were suspected, it was decided to put the patient and stretcher inside the helicopter and fly directly to the hospital.
The bears are back - big time. Lots of bears are roaming around the valley bottoms this time of year as there is still a lot of snow in the high country. We have been dealing with 6-8 grizzlies and a fair assembly of black bears too. This shot is of three grizzlies taking a short cut through a section of the (fortunately deserted) campground. Various of the bears favourite haunts are closed to the public to give the bears some space and a place to eat in peace and quiet.
We are often pretty close to these bruins, but don't always have a spare hand to hold a camera at times like that.
So with a little experimentation, and a steady hand , you can take a photo like the one below using a standard digital camera - held up to the eyepiece of a spotting scope. These bears are feeding happily in an area that was formerly a trailer court and has now been rehabbed. People are able to watch safely (?) from behind an electrified fence .
A rub-tree used by grizzly bears to have a good scratch - and mark their territory.

I checked out the conditions of the (closed) Tak Falls road the other day and found it still has some obstacles left over from the winter.
Rockslides.

Snow slides.


And a Hoary Marmot surveying his domain and catching some rays from the top of a big boulder on roadside.On the home front, it has been raining and cold a lot, so the mighty hunter has been sticking close to the fireplace, and doing his 'hunting' by watching some television!


On the camper front, I got new camper tie-down attachments welded onto the new truck, so it should be ready for a test of the camper - if the weather ever smartens up.
I also wired in the new camper plug on the truck to supply power to the camper, so that will need a road test soon.
There are some other big changes on the camping horizon soon, so - stay tuned!

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Gosh darn it; this being at home and going to work hasn't created much content for the old blog.
Usually I can depend on taking some decent photos that lead into a bit of a story, but this month has been really quiet work-wise, and the weather has mostly been cool and wet.

The snow has been slow to start melting, so when it finally does get really warm, there could be some flooding and high water levels in the area. This has already resulted in some long term closures of the Trans Canada highway in Glacier National Park on the long weekend due to a persistent, annual mudslide. Perhaps these latest closures will convince someone that more extreme measures to control the slide would be in order?

Most of the snow has melted at least in the valley bottoms, so I took the opportunity to check on an old long-abandoned warden patrol cabin in the Bow valley. This one was the (Mt) Hector cabin, that was built long before there was a road between Lake Louise and Jasper. There does not appear to be a lot of horse graze in the area, so I suspect it may have been primarily a winter patrol cabin. Like most cabins of the era, it had a forestry telephone and the remains of the wires can still be found in the area.





At work, I try to keep an eye on the beaver activity in the McNair pond area.
The ice is just about off the pond and the beavers are doing their best to flood out the road.
I guess the biggest news (if you have been following the blog over the past few years) is that the dependable old 4x4 that has carried Harley and I far and wide has now been replaced.

This truck has carried Harley and I and the camper far and wide over the years, from Yellowknife, NT all the way to the tip of Baja Mexico. For a while we made annual pilgrimages to Las Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo, and to the Merritt Mountain Music Festival. Lately, it has taken us on extended trips down south in the winter, and to Mexico for the last three winters. And it has served us equally well through raging blizzards and deep snow, to the heat of the desert in Death Valley.

It had accumulated almost 300,000 km (180,000 miles), and may not have been up for some of the new challenges - which might include a 5th wheel rig, as I get closer to doing the traveling thing full time. But in spite of it's age and mileage, it was still the perfect truck, so when the chance came to upgrade, it is not surprising that the new one could be it's younger twin.
Here's the two of them comparing notes at the dealership in Calgary.
The new one is also a GMC Sierra, 3/4 ton 4x4 extended cab, short box - and blue!
It also has leather interior and power seats, etc.

But the new truck has a big 365HP Duramax turbo diesel engine that promises lots of power, improved fuel economy, and years of dependable service.
I have not been a fan of diesel engines, partly because of some of the problems with the older ones, the smell, and the NOISE! But these new ones are hardly any louder than a gas engine, but have lots more torque for pulling and for braking. And as far as cold weather starting, I hope that most of those are in Arizona , or Texas, or Mexico.
Unfortunately, I have likely excluded myself from Mexican road trips for a year or two - or at least until Mexico can guarantee the Ultra low sulphur diesel required by all the new engines :-(

In the meantime, I have an appointment to have belly-bars installed on the new truck, so I can put the camper on and hit the road for short road trips at least.

Stay tuned and it hopefully will not be nearly so long till the next update with some new photos and adventures - or at least more details on outfitting the new rig.

Since returning home (or at least that place where I stay between road trips), the weather has finally started to turn around with some warm and sunny days after a string of new records for cold temperatures.

So, I was out hanging around the Bow Valley. And I mean quite literally hanging, with nothing but air under my feet. And nothing above me but a rope and a rescue helicopter.

Once again, as we do every year, we were practicing our rescue techniques for reaching stranded or injured hikers, climbers, and skiers. Rescuers, and a search dog if required are lowered to the ground by the helicopter in areas too steep or rough to land. They carry all the first-aid gear needed to stabilize the patient and package them into a flyable stretcher. Then the helicopter returns and picks up both the rescuer and the patient , and they are flown to where the helicopter can land, and usually a waiting ambulance.

This year, the practice session was held only a day or two after we had flown a very seriously injured snowboarder, who had fallen in some very rough terrain just outside the boundaries of the ski area.

Both the pilots and the rescuers have to be re-certified each year in this rescue technique.

Helicopter returns to pick up a rescuer and a patient in the orange bag.
And off into the wild blue yonder - to a waiting ambulance.
Everyone contemplates this 'training patient'.
And in this scenario, the patient is moved onto a stretcher inside the helicopter for a direct flight to the hospital or a waiting EMS unit.
The 'patients eye' view of the process, as I volunteered to be rescued this year!


The bears have been a bit slow appearing this year, not that I blame them with the weather we have been having. But we are still getting a few calls about agressive wildlife behaviour.
Although some people have been quite alarmed by the random attacks from out of nowhere, it was a bit hard to take this attacker too seriously!
Scoping out the next victim.

Moving in for the peck, or wing-strike.

And if you think that this bird was guarding a nest, it must have been on all sides of a 4-way intersection, as she (?) was following people all over and not just in one location!

And we've had a big black wolf traveling in the area for the last few days. I had seen him the day before, but well out of range of a decent photo. Today I found him roadside, and managed a few snaps. He was not as close as the grouse!