I forgot my tripod in the car (as usual..) so all of these shots are handheld. Thank God for vibration reduction technology…

More info:
Buntzen Lake website
Buntzen Lake Map

Even though we had quite a bit of snow on our way there, the ride was magnificent! It cleared out and by the time we entered the park, we had blue skies!

Icefields Parkway (photo taken by Kris)

Icefields Parkway

Icefields Parkway (photo taken by Kris)

Athabasca Glacier

Athabasca Glacier (photo taken by Kris)

Columbia Icefield
(photo taken by Kris)

Our next visit was Johnston Canyon. It’s a really short hike, but because of the icy sections it took us a quite a while to get to the actual falls.

Johnston Canyon

Johnston Canyon (photo taken by Kris)

Johnston Canyon (photo taken by Kris)

We spent the evening in Banff and did a leisurely stroll through the village. It’s a really neat little town with lots of stores and restaurants.

The next day we decided to go to Lake Louise. We had never seen it in winter and I have to say, it was a pleasant surprise! Because the lake was still frozen you could walk all the way to the very back of the lake and it was even groomed for cross country skiing.

Walking on Lake Louise

Kris has way more pictures of our walk, but that’s for our next post.

One other thing I wanted to quickly mention are the wildlife overpasses. Recently I read a book called “Walking the Big Wild” and it made me pay attention to the efforts that Parks Canada and Banff have put in creating wildlife crossings. The crossings are structures that allow animals to cross human-made barriers safely. The ones created in Banff are definitely the most recognizable wildlife crossings in the world. Banff has 22 underpasses and 2 overpasses. There are plans to build at least 17 more!

Wildlife Overpass

Anyway, that’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed reading this post. More to come soon!

The most exciting part of the present was the fact that Kris made me foster mom of a little bear called Max.

MAX –Squamish

Max arrived at Critter Care on the evening of November 4, as a feisty furball in a trap. He had been wandering around on his own for the past two months, finding food wherever he could. Max was never seen with a mother bear so it is unknown how he lost her. He weighed in at a healthy 60lbs, and was named by Critter Care’s executive director Gail Martin.

Max spent the first few days at Critter Care in isolation, where he quickly settled into his new surroundings, but never lost the attitude. He is now sharing the enclosure with Rose, Kira, Kaymona, Jeanette, Sabbath, and Simon. Our second and third bear enclosures are attached so we have opened them up for the bears to move freely between the two sides.

Max is still not sure of all these new bears. He insist that he doesn’t need any friends and is fine on his own, but we know better. Eventually they will settle down and begin playing, eating, and sleeping together. Max will hibernate here at Critter Care and then be released in the Spring.

- Critter Care Wildlife Society.

Photo credit: Critter Care Wildlife Society

We just found out that Max is ready to be released in the next few weeks. I will receive more updates on the details of the release soon! Most likely they will release him in the Squamish area (his original habitat).

Today we also went to a volunteer orientation: both Kris and I will be spending some volunteer hours at Critter Care. We will be helping with cleaning the cages, laundry, food prep, washing dishes, washing animal carriers, maybe we’ll even be involved with the release of some animals. Also, since we live in an area with lots of wildlife, we will be involved in picking up animals and safely driving them to Critter Care.

We’re really excited to help them out and hopefully we will be able to make a difference in the life of some BC mammals!

Wildlife rehabilitation is extremely expensive, and CCWS does need all the help they can get! For those of you that are interested, you can also sponsor injured and orphaned wildlife! Sponsor rates start at $35.00. For more information visit the CCWS website.

I took some pictures earlier today of the small creek flowing next to our house as test shots which I added to this post.
Normally I do not upload the full resolution of the pictures, but since these are just testshots, links to the the full resolutions are available below if you would want to take a look at the results.

Warning, the links below are large files (12-17MB jpeg) and might take a while to load, click the expand button top right of the ligthbox after opening to see full size.
Picture 1 full size
Picture 2 full size
Picture 3 full size

Shortly after ordering them online the decals arrived in the mail. I have to admit, the package looked nothing like I expected. I started to believe that the end result wouldn’t be anywhere close to the pictures on the website.

After about 6 hours of work (including prep time) I was proven wrong.

I took quite a few pictures during several stages of the project.
All taken with my mobile phone so quality isn’t really good, but it will give you a bit of an idea of what we were up to this weekend.

The decals

Getting the right configuration

Almost ready to stick them on the wall

Starting with the trunk

Little branches

End result!

Evening light

We’re definitely happy with the end result!

So, time for some completely random, unconnected pictures from Vancouver and Vancouver Island:

Hope you like them!

The Britannia Mines opened around 1900 after copper ore was discovered in Britannia Mountain around 1890. After a couple of years, a town had grown around the mine and in 1907 the Post Office was opened in the town. The town had to be relocated in 1915 after an avalanche killed 60 people and destroyed a large part of the camp. The new town became known as Town site or Mount Sheer.

By 1929, the Britannia Mines were the largest copper producer in the then British Empire, but eventually high operating costs forced the mine to close on November 1, 1974.

In 1975 the museum was opened as the BC Museum of Mining and in 1988 it became a National Historic Site of Canada. A couple of years ago, in 2010, the whole museum was renovated and renamed to the Britannia Mining Museum.

The museum is definitely worth a visit and a detour, we really enjoyed the museum will definitely visit again for some more in depth “investigation” and it’s always a good excuse to get a coffee in the next door Galileo Coffee Company, who make one of the best Americanos + their baked goods are awesome!

For more information:

Britannia Museum Official Website

Galileo Coffee Company

When we first hiked the Lighthouse Loop section 3 years ago, 50 percent of the trail was boardwalk. In the meanwhile, all the boardwalk has been removed and replaced by a gravel path, probably since the boardwalk was a nightmare to maintain. This doesn’t mean that the trail is any less beautiful, this is probably one of the most beautiful, easily accessible hikes you can do in this area. The loop is 3 kilometers long and will take you through Pacific rain forest, amazing vistas of the Pacific ocean with rocky coastline battered by the waves and as the name gives away, a very nice lighthouse.

The whole trail is a perfect spot to go storm watching if you want to fully experience the power of the waves and the wind. If you rather stay dry and comfortable, there’s always the Wickaninnish Inn which provides a 240 degree ocean panorama from their dining room. There’s also a possibility that you’ll spot some of the wildlife in the area like whales, sea otters, eagles, …