Wildlife in the Canadian Rockies deserves its own post.  We saw more wildlife in 3 weeks than we saw in 2 months in Alaska.  It all started on our way to Canada when we stayed a few days near Newport WA where we took our kayak out on a small lake and spent about 45 minutes watching a moose munch on water lilies.  We stayed away so as to not disturb her and then the moose started swimming sort of toward us.  This is a very large animal so we paddled as fast as we could to keep a good space away.  The moose swam as fast as we could paddle but never came too close.  It was awesome! Wikipedia says moose can swim 6 mph for up to 2 hours.  We believe it!

Moose and kayak

Moose love water lilies

Once in British Columbia and Alberta we saw Bighorn Sheep in and near Radium Hot Springs.  One group of very mature sheep had huge horns and were totally oblivious of traffic in the median of downtown.

Bighorn Sheep

Very mature Bighorn Sheep

Further into Kootenay National Park, 11 km of the only highway had “no stopping” due to bears on the road.  We didn’t see them.  Banff National Park had warnings posted all over due to wolves visiting a campground looking for a bite to eat.  (We’d all heard of bears visiting, but wolves?)  As we visited Jasper National Park the wildlife really got busy.  First we saw lots of elk lounging along the highway next to the Whistlers campground.

Young elk and calf

Mama elk

Then we saw bears… many, many bears…

Mama bear with 2 adorable cubs on a paved trail

Young cubs wrestling

Roadside bear

Roadside bear again

Bear swimming across lake

Then we had a rare sighting of caribou

Caribou

And more elk, huge bull elk

And coyote

And eagles

Eagle near Medicine Lake\

And lots of wildflowers

Harebells

Enjoying the wildlife.  Remember you can click on the pics for a larger view.

Wildlife watchers