NORTHBOUND SIX: CRITTERS

Living by their own rhythm,

they move on

I catch only glimpses

The Pacific Northwest hosts all manner of flora and fauna. So many of the critters were captured in this well done diorama.

Chilliwack, BC

We travelled way east this trip to revisit Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada; a favorite location. The Athabasca River Valley is huge, filled with lakes, and surrounded by spectacular mountains (see Ch 1). It is where we had seen the most bears and the only elk.

WAPITI (ELK)

We learned to go out in the evening for sightings and often took our dinner with us. One picnic site was next to a group of moms and calves. Around 8pm we enjoyed our picnic among lilac bushes while they munched grass and flowers in the meadow beyond.

Occasionally they heard me crunching leaves underfoot and went on full alert before resuming play.

Evening scenic drives were punctuated by other wapiti sightings. Most of these shots were taken around 10pm. We love the long Northern days.

Such a privilege to see them at rest in their own habitat.

This one's velvet is absolutely perfect.

BEARS

What we expect to see are plenty of black bears and maybe some grizzlies. The only polar bear of the trip was this berg at Edith Cavell glacier pond, Jasper.

Black bears have that iconic shape even in real-life. Unless they are next to each other, it is hard to discern their size from photos. These are from all over Canada.

This very large Jasper black bear was madly tearing bark away from the base of the tree, presumably to get to something juicy underneath.

Satisfied, he sauntered away.

Incredible to watch.

We were told at Wabasso Campground in Jasper that a young bear found a Monster drink at a campsite and managed to drink it! He continued to look for more in the following days and they had to move him to a more remote spot.

A typical warning sign, in both Canadian languages.

Between Smithers and the Hazeltons, this little guy was busy eating clover and looked up to see me. I missed the shot of his super round cub-face but needed to be able to jump back into the truck in case there was a mama somewhere. This is when he took off!

Hwy 37, past Meziaden Junction

Miles further along Hwy 37. There is something so charming about wild animals showing up in fields of flowers. If either of us saw a black shape, we yelled BEAR!!

A biggy heading for the trees. Haines Junction, Yukon.

Still in the Yukon, we pulled over across the road from this family foraging. They weren't bothered by us, but when a large semi roared past them, the cubs ran into the forest.

I've never seen such stink-eye as that Mama bear gave the truck.

Destruction Bay area

We pre-paid for boardwalk viewing at Fish Creek in Hyder, Alaska to watch bears catching salmon. The salmon were late, no bears, (except the wrought-iron one ahead). We did enjoy the boardwalk along the stream.

Every park and campground has posters and pamphlets explaining "Bear Awareness" regarding hiking and camping. This was my favorite.

Surprisingly, we did not see grizzly bears this trip. We have seen them in the past in Jasper and Denali.

In 2022 we did the grizzly tour off Vancouver Island. It took us into Knight Inlet across Queen Charlotte Strait, through the islands, toward mainland Canada. There we enjoyed a quiet day offshore watching this mom and her five year old cub.

MARINE ANIMALS

The largest port in Prince William Sound is Valdez (of oil-spill fame) which is the termination of the Alaskan pipeline. The Sound is now clean and gorgeous. A tour boat or seaplane is the only way to get close-up unless you work a transport ship or fishing boat.

Valdez Small Boat Harbor. No tankers or barges here. The weather was sketchy the day we actually had our tour to Meares Glacier, but we enjoy dynamic skies and the Sound is pretty protected in terms of rough water. It was grand. So many critters on the way.

Buoy boy, a sea lion hauled out to rest.

An otter raft, one of the many groups we saw during our day on the water.

The white faced one is older.

I can't stand how cute they are.

Just adorable.

Steller Sea Lions haul-out at Bull Head

Mostly males, a fairly unpleasant lot. Supposedly not a rookery, but clearly there were some pups in the group, like this little guy at left (see arrow).

Always ready to bump one another from a precarious spot.

A calm moment before the fish-ball frenzy.

Fish ball: Yum!

The calm was short lived. In and out of the water, even biting each other!

At Meares Glacier, we watched and heard the ice calve. Even relatively small cleavages were incredibly loud and awesome to witness. A man near us said "the ice is speaking."

Harbor seals dot the ice below the glacier face.

The flat bergs serve as haul-outs. Literally, on these ice beds, some birth pups while others molt for new fur coats. This is a critical time for their survival.

With their shifting, this floating berg was rocking as much as our boat.

At first this little face (upper left) seemed curious about our boat.

A moment later, we realized it was wariness as they are so vulnerable.

Always room for one more.

Let sleeping whales lay – the captain waited about 15 minutes for these two to be active. He could have blown a horn, but respectfully went on instead.

SEWARD

We had taken a boat out at Seward before, but this year we visited areas we had not yet seen. We walked along the waterfront over the few cloudy days we were there. We were continually surprised by water creatures popping out, letting us glimpse the busy, less obvious, world.

A Harbor Seal swimming by

Next, an otter swam by. He soon disappeared underwater, and came back up with a meal. We watched as he methodically devoured his king crab.

Past Seward, the rainforest was amazing at Logan Point. A moss Lynx, how fun is that?

ELSEWHERE ALONG THE WAY

We often saw the local fauna as taxidermy. I so appreciate such skill. There were so many polar bears, black bears, brown bears, grizzly, Kodiak, etc. Ironically, I took no pictures of bears being displayed. There were also many displays of birds and of salmon; stuffed, or drawings, or charts. I couldn't resist these two fabulous specimens at Museum of the North, Fairbanks.

Caribou

Ribbon Seal. We had seen authentic clothing made from this fur; what a treasure.

Like elk and deer, moose drop their antlers every fall and collecting them is a local endeavor.

This most excellent moose on moose carving was at our friends' home in Kenai.

We were surprised to see only one moose this trip; a female in the bushes, in the rain, at Denali.

I took this pic on our first trip to Denali. The Alaskan/Yukon moose is the largest subspecies, a grand specimen.

Wolves, we saw only mimics.

Wolf shadow: it covered an entire mountainside one minute, gone the next.

Stumpy: the only other "wolf" we saw.

This (flesh & blood) coyote was very nonchalant, convinced he was invisible.

I thought this little fox had gotten hit by a car next to the road. I was madly trying to find a local vet or animal rescue on my phone, no luck. When I cautiously approached him, he stood up and yawned before ducking into the shrubs.

The cheeky little pup was just taking a nap.

On our drive up to Old Masset, on Haida Gwaii, we saw at least twenty of these very small Sitka Deer, each alone, munching greens along the two-lane road.