The Three Bears.

And it was no Fairy tale!

Lovely blue skies again this morning but with a frost first thing! As we had breakfast someone came in for coffees for his workers as they couldn't do the work on the roof as it was too slippy! It was -2C! We had a little walk around the village before leaving and some rose bushes, presumably recently watered, had icicles on them.

Setting off North towards Jasper, a long drive, we passed though great scenery; wide blue/green rivers and of course mountains. We stopped at Blue River to break the day by taking a River Cruise. This actually was a Jet boat onto Mud Lake.

Great mountains here with snow on top but we were looking for wildlife. To start with there was a Blue Heron (saw lots on the train journey from Seattle but not so close) We scanned the Lake shore but saw nothing. The guide spotted two bald eagles, one in a tree and one circling. Great.

Into another cove and there was the prize. Not a bear but three!

We watched the mother and cub foraging along the shore for about 10 mins. It was wonderful to be so close and they seemed quite unperturbed.
They are Black bears and the cub (the slightly lighter one) will have been born this year. They spend most of the day foraging. The black one was a distance away and is apparently a male. After a while the cub disappeared into the woods as the mother appeared to sniff the air. It wasn't us that interested her but the male. She seems to have sent the little one away to protect it and headed towards the male to warn him off. He scurried away into the woods too!

She will keep the cub another year before mating again. By mid October she will find a den for her and the cub to hibernate for the winter. This is a ski area that apparently gets 7 metres of snow on the slopes! In the summer it is full of berries for the bears and if they get fat enough they will mate again and if not they will wait another year!

There you have it the three bears!

Now in Alberta in Jasper National park. We have crossed into Mountain Time from Pacific Time and have lost an hour! Time to eat.