To quote Tolkien from Lord of the Rings “The road goes ever on……………”
Today was magical.
Today was when we realized that all the sacrifices have been worthwhile, that we really did make the right decision to do what we are doing.
We woke up at cold o’clock, and were on the road just before 9.
If possible, the scenery got better as we moved norther.
The rolling farmlands and forests of central British Columbia are awash with riots of greens and yellows, and the browns of the pine trees all over the mountains, the tops of which are still speckled with snow.
Ecology lesson # 54 - We discovered that the brown trees are dead, killed by the pine beetle, the little bugger, and is a natural pest in these parts ( like Taylor) and is not considered too much of a problem.
The first sign of good wildlife viewing to come was a magnificent bald eagle perched in a tree, casually lording over his kingdom. ( bit like me dad, except for the tree part)
We came through one mountain pass which has an annual average snowfall of 41 feet!!
After a timely brunch of bacon and egg sandwiches, we proceeded. And then, not long after I told Marlipops that I had a feeling about seeing a moose, we did!
Big as a house, munching green stuff right by the side of the road, not a care in the world.
That was the cream on the cake for the day, we thought.
How wrong we were.
A bit later on, 2 mooses on the right side of the road, one jogging along beside us.
Of course, both times we were going at about 40 mph, with traffic behind so we couldn’t stop, but a bit later we did stop.
Actually we didn’t really have a choice.
Mr. Moose ambled out of the trees to our right, looked at us with a disdainful air, and strolled across the road, almost daring us to challenge him!
We then saw a coyote, on the side of the road.
Now the really fun bit. We were driving carefully down a wiggly bit from the mountains, and not 100 feet in front of us a young black bear ran across the road and disappeared into the woods.
So, after we caught our breath, we moved on, slowly, and Marlipops said “Are you driving really slow coz of the wiggly road, or coz we might see something else?”
No sooner were the words out of her mouth, then another black bear, we think fully grown, reared up from the grass on the left of us, probably 20 feet away.
After seeing lots of deer, another bald eagle and several Kamikazi ground squirrel things,
today was a good wildlife day.
To sum it up:
Moose 4, Bald Eagles 2, Black Bears 2, Coyotes 1, Ground Squirrels 2, Deer lots, and Wolves 0, as usual.
It really is difficult to describe the grandeur of this part of the world, 99% unspoiled, mother nature at her finest. It almost brings tears to my eyes to realize that we have seen wildlife, been to places, and experienced things that most people only see in books, or on TV.
We both are very lucky.
