Moominmama's Adventures

  In which Moominmama turns back to avoid bears but gets more wildlife photos than ever before... One of the striking things about arriving in Kananaskis Country is all the bear warnings. Every provincial park bathroom door, trailhead and many roadside placards warn that you're in bear country. The bear photographed above was nothing to worry about! It is located outside the Canmore Public Library but very much an emblem of the region!  Real bears, grizzlies and black bears, are not hard to find here, drawn to the highway verges, trailsides and sunny mountain fields where the buffaloberries grow. (Moominmama snapped this grizzly from the safety of her car.) Moominmama learned about these berries in Alaska where they're called soap berries because, besides being tart, they taste soapy. Moominmama can personally vouch for this! But the bears love them and come down from higher ground as the berries ripen, then follow the harvest up the mountains as the berries ripen at higher el...

In which Moominmama despairs of getting a good photo of the Canadian Rockies due to smoky haze and rain... Smoke from the west continues to drift east, leaving me with mountain shots that look woefully overexposed. With the forecast calling for rain, Moominmama hoped the precipitation would clear the air. Instead it brought in low clouds, obscuring the peaks entirely. But no one in their right mind complains about rain when so many places in Canada and the northwestern U.S. are burning.  And the rain did let up at various times, inviting Moominmama to do some nice hikes up to some glacial lakes. I saw several bears (from my car), bighorn sheep (in the middle of the road), ptarmigan (including a mama and chicks) and pika, (see below) adorable members of the rabbit family, who live among the rocks at high altitude. Kananaskis, the area on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies, is lesser known compared with the national parks in Banff and Jasper to the north. Rather than national...

  Wherein Moominmama joins an International Peace Park hike across the U.S.-Canadian border and enjoys a demonstration of Blackfoot Pow-wow dances... This year is the 49th summer that rangers from Glacier National Park and the Waterton Lakes National Park have led International Peace Park hikes from Waterton to Glacier across the 49th parallel. The two national parks abut one another, and back in the 1930s, our two countries decided to create the first international peace park, an idea that's been repeated elsewhere since then. As is the custom, one of the rangers reads a few words at the border restating a commitment between the U.S. and Canada never to raise arms against each other. Participants straddle the dividing line and shake hands. I'm not in the photo because I was taking it! But the dividing line is visible (see the v-shape beyond Ranger Frank), and is required to be cut or mowed regularly. Having seen the wall at our southern border, this carving through the brush s...

  In which Moominmama avoids Glacier National Park, asking if magnificent views of the Rockies can be had without the crowds? Moominmama camped in the Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park during her first year on the road. And it was a spectacular visit, a highlight of the summer .  But Two Medicine campground is closed this year, and the rest of Glacier National Park in August is a traffic headache, likely made worse by the decision to end timed-entry reservations. Instead, Moominmama decided to scope out the Eastern Rockies of the Lewis and Clark National Forest, just below Glacier National Park. The second consideration was escaping the heat!  When a ranger at First Peoples Buffalo Jump recommended Gibson Reservoir, I looked it up and realized it was close to a forest service campground, Home Gulch. Home Gulch is located along the Sun River, which was dammed to create the Gibson Reservoir in the mountains. The river, with its flow controlled by dams, irrigates mu...

  Wherein Moominmama visits an unusual local museum and a "buffalo jump" on the northern road across Montana... Montana's Hi-Line runs along the Canadian border, far from the bigger cities to the south. Most of this is rolling grassland, and Moominmama found a picturesque and private spot to camp just south of Havre, about halfway across the state. Havre was originally named Bullhook Bottoms, as it was located below the volcanic Bullhook peaks which have a divot as if a giant bison bull had hooked out a chunk of the rock.  Moominmama did a short hike of the hills but wasn't sure exactly which divot was the "bullhook." Back at the turn of the century though, the owner of the Great Northern Railway who was planning a major railroad stop in the community, urged the community to pick a more dignified name, and the French locals opted for Havre.  Havre, in those early days, was as wild west as it gets.  In 1904, two local cowboys visiting the saloon got annoyingl...

In which Moominmama endures brutal heat in North Dakota but pays her respects to the originator of our national parks, Theodore Roosevelt... It was 103° upon my arrival in Theodore Roosevelt National Park -- it's a shock to get out of an air-conditioned car into that kind of heat. But I counted myself lucky because it had reached 108° the day before. These badlands, beloved of Theodore Roosevelt, are remarkably green despite the heat. The winds here have blown dirt and seeds onto the mounds and buttes over time, allowing plants to grow where most badlands remain barren.  These buttes are also surrounded by massive grasslands. With the life-giving Little Missouri River nearby, even big Cottonwood trees have a chance in this landscape -- and they are surely a blessing when the sun blazes! Moominmama arrived shortly after the brand new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Museum opened. Designed by a Norwegian architectural firm, it draws inspiration from the surrounding badlands in some l...