canada and us 1999

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Yet another trip to Vancouver - I can't seem to stay away! This time I travelled with a friend, George, from Vancouver down through Washington State and, the surprisingly dry, eastern Oregon to southern Idaho where we did a bit of hiking - including a memorable hike up to a frozen lake at the top of a mountain near Salmon river, in the Sawtooth Wilderness Area (see right). It a very empty part of the US, with few traditional tourist attractions, which was nice for a change! Then down via Craters of the Moon NP, to Wyoming. Then on to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park, before returning to Canada via Glacier National Park, to Banff. Then on to Whistler for some summer skiing before going to stunning Pacific Rim on Vancouver Island - another must see if you're in these parts!

Clockwise from top left: Pacific Rim National Park Vancouver island, Ice covered lake, Sawtooth Idaho, Yellowstone NP and Salmon River, Sawtooth Wilderness, Idaho.

We intended to do a bit more camping (and less driving) than we did, only spending two nights under canvas in Grand Teton. We did have a good excuse for this, it was freezing, literally! We were even snowed on in Banff and it goes some way to explain why we saw so many bears, even in June. They appeared to have been forced down to lower pastures in search of food. We saw lots of them, some by the side of the road, some under the chair-lift in Whistler and best of all up close and on foot in Grand Teton. We were hiking around a lake on a fairly well worn track, when we rounded a corner and about 100 metres in front, sauntering down the path came a black bear. My heart just about stopped as it spotted us (bears have poor eyesight), charged us (they're fast don't try to outrun them), but stopped a few metres short when it realised we weren't budging. It then proceeded to try to climb a nearby tree, we made our exit up the slope, when it tried to follow us, but fortunately it soon thought better and disappeared into the forest. A once in a lifetime experience (well so I thought until I went to Africa), we were lucky it was a 5 foot tall black bear not its huge grizzly cousin! I don't think we were at much risk, although the bear was clearly more scared than us. We did have an escape route - there was a group of other tourists right behind us, who would have made a much tastier snack. Hiking, summer skiing, whale watching, bears by the dozen, miles upon mile of empty roads and superb panoramic views. This region's has it all!

Above: mother and cubs beside road, Canada. Below: bear chickens out and tries to climb tree, unsuccessfully.

Above : heart in mouth moment, as bears spots us and starts to run. Below: confused bear follows us up the hillside!

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