Leaving the Rockies

Sad to leave Jasper - our favourite destination of the trip. A few memories here of the last two days:

Sam and Tom went Western Horse Riding, here Tom with his favourite horse and soon to be favourite
trail guide.

 Manouvering the horse into demounting block

 Cowgirl

 Very happy Cowboy to be

I meanwhile poked about the woods and among a mist of mosquitos found this Hairy Woodpecker

 Final memories and some eight Black Bears on the last day

 including this Cinnamon Black Bear and cub

 Mount Robson, the highest point in The Rockies  at 3962m high

 Enjoying one of their favourite foods - dandelions
 however still capable of outrunning someone on horseback and have been know to attack when annoyed

Noise of the forests goes to Varied Thrush, difficult to see, and near impossible to photograph but their mournful, long whistle was a top moment of the trip

Rockies Reloaded

The Rockies - brilliant. Previous post deleted due to poor upload resolution. Rockies were great, Black Bears fantastic and scenery like everyone says- utterly amazing

Horned Lark, the only species we saw at 7214 feet !

 Pine Siskin

 Chipping Sparrow

 Audubon's Warbler - always very high up, this one responded to a bit of pishing

 Big Horn Sheep - one of the reasons (apart from Gold) that people settled here - to hunt them that is.

 Red Squirrel

 Columbian Ground Squirrel - these were everywhere and on some campsites would almost come into the RV for food, which of course we didn't feed as per park instructions.

 Jasper

 Banff

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Grey Jay

I really like these Jays - this one at about 7 thousand feet

Bnaff

Well did the 500 km drive to Banff and some stunning scenery. Assorted pics below:
Tom enjoying a small bit of snow. Arrived in Banff and it was snowing !

 Campey family up high 7819 feet

 Not sure who is the most surprised here !

 Lake Morraine

 Lake Morraine

 RV fun !

Catching up

Just flicking through and adding a few more to the blog....
Tufted Puffin - a personal highlight if not the best pic in the world ! Seen in very choppy seas and did a couple of fly pasts in fairly dull conditions

 Western Song Sparrow - abundant but love the shade so this was a result seeing one out in the open

 Belted Kingfisher

 Great Northern Diver - always a pleasure

 Boarding the seaplane for our aerial extravaganza

 Pacific Slope Flycatcher

 Look out Tom's driving !

 Team Campey in Canada

Bear necessities

Friday 7 June
Went looking for Black Bears today, and found some, six in all. Totally fantastic and still in shock at being so close to such a fantastic animal - just one pic processed so far...

Another day in Tofino

Thursday 8 June
and another sunny day in Tofino which started with a trip out to look for Grey Whales, some Stellers and Calofornian Sealions, a bit of fishing and then a little more time spent with Bald Eagles. Finishing as any day round here does with a bit of surfing.

 and finally, it was time to hit the surf....