Photos of bighorns that greeted us by the entrance to the Canadian Rockies, and a photo of the bear that kept threatening a man trying to get too up-close and personal.




RVing the Canadian Rockies – Mom Sees a Bear in the Wild

Sweeping views of boundless scenery and amazing wildlife—those are what we remember from our trip through the Canadian Rockies. When we left Edmonton, we headed towards Jasper and as we entered the park, we saw our first bighorn sheep. They were in the road just outside the gate, wandering around like shaggy bums looking for handouts. Then we spotted some moose and our first bit of snow. Mom and hubby got out and threw snowballs at each other against a backdrop of moose and mountains. What a picture postcard setting that was.

Our first real crisis would involve Mom and her dream that night. She had attended church services at Shakers Acres the day before and the minister had told about a boy with some food in a tent in his backyard who was attacked and killed by a bear. So that’s what she dreamed about. “I sure hope we don’t see any bears,” she remarked as we sat at a picnic table at our campsite in the thick woods, enjoying breakfast.

Later as we drove through spectacular scenery, we suddenly spotted a black bear by the side of the road eating dandelions. No cars were parked on our side of the road, so we pulled the motorhome over to watch. A couple of cars had already pulled up on the other side, and two guys were out in the middle of the road trying to get pictures. One had his camera on a tripod and kept inching closer and closer to the bear.

I decided I had to get out of the motorhome to get some pictures, only I’m not your average idiot. I planned to stay behind the RV and use my telephoto lens! As I grabbed the camera, Mom screamed in a terrified voice, “You’re not going out there, are you?”

“Of course I am,” I replied. “The bear’s got enough bait right there in the middle of the road. He won’t be interested in me.” I hurried out the door and positioned myself behind the back of the motorhome where I could make a quick getaway if needed.

Well by this time, that bear was getting real irritated with the guy who kept moving closer to it, so it charged him. When the man backed up a few feet with his tripod, the bear turned and went back to its dandelions. However, the numbskull with the tripod kept pushing his luck, and the bear made a few more running, threatening steps towards him. Then it made a sudden turn and slowly ambled my direction. By this time, several cars had pulled up behind us and stopped to watch. As I backed up and turned to go in, I bumped into Mom, who had plastered herself against my back so she could watch over my shoulder.

We got untangled and headed inside, but not before the bear sashayed past us as if we were the least of its worries. I guess it knew it was outnumbered, so it simply strolled between the vehicles to get to the huge meadow on our side of the road where it didn’t have to put up with the curious crowd of gawkers.

Mom had seen her bear and unlike her dream, she had survived it. We continued our trip down to Lake Louise, Banff, and on to Radium Hot Springs before heading back to Washington State. The only other critters we saw were mountain goats, marmots and some tiny chipmunks that came up to us at Lake Louise. All the wildlife helped create wonderful memories of the trip.

Mom was in her late seventies then, and this wouldn’t be her last excursion with us. Her next short trip with us would infuriate her and provide hysterical laughter for us and some museum employees in Montana.