trans-canada, prevailing winds & solo travels questions

[shootingstar]

If you are camping in the Rockies, you do need to exercise precaution ..even if it feels like no big wildlife is around at that very moment. Do all the typical stuff, ie. hanging your food from a tree branch at a safe distance from tent/picnic table, making noise while you walk about, etc.

There are wild bears in the Rockies. When you go to Banff, sometimes enough deer venture into town. The townsfolk there have enough problems with deer munching on their gardens, etc. Bighorn sheep come down from the mountains in spring for tender grass and might be hanging out near the secondary highways where traffic volume is not as high as Trans Canada highway. Yes, we've spotted elk several times along the Bow Valley Highway. It is magnificent to see.....from AFAR.

I've biked, hiked and x-country skied several different trips/visits in areas within the 250 kms. radius of Banff area since my partner lived in Calgary for 2 yrs. During different seasons: fall, spring, summer and winter.

I have encountered/see bears twice. lst time when we were biking on the Contintental Divide from Lake Louise towards Fielding. It was a baby bear, eating a fish by the water. But we had ripe bananas in our panniers..and so we sped off our bikes as soon as we spotted the bear.

2nd bear..which was bigger bear...was less than 15 ft. from me...I was in Waterton National Park in Alberta near the Montana border. Bear was on a common hiking path near the parking lot...not far from our hotel. I was starting to hike at that time. I simpley backed away and started to jog away. This was in the middle of the afternoon. I was in civilization, still not in total wilderness..

My partner has seen a teenage moose right by the road in the Rockies, while he was cycling by. Yes, he was on his trip.....across Canada.

For European tourists from U.K., Germany, France, Spain....western Canada does have enough wildlife that visitors do need to be warned that there is some large wildlife, animals should never be fed, etc.

And wildlife is not too far, even here in highly urban -ooking VAncouver where the mountains are visible all around us. In North Vancouver and Coquitlam, a suburb, in last 2 weeks, there have been 3 separate bear incidents involving residents. 1 woman got mauled. Another incident a baby bear got into someone's home and made a mess. It had to be shot by the conservation officer since it already detected food... The baby bear incident is not far from a route that a cycle occasionally to a favourite beautiful inlet area.


Not to get you paranoid, but particularily if you are alone in wilderness just look out for no.1- yourself.

For now, become a strong cyclist...if you ever need to start cycling faster or mount that hill suddenly.