The Canadian Rockies

We worked on the Alberta Grizzly DNA Inventory, collecting DNA samples with hair snag traps in Willmore, Jasper and Kakwa parks in the Canadian Rockies.

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We took the long way around Lake Superior on the way to Alberta	We stopped back in at Voyageurs National Park to accompany the two masters students with their springtime work	It was really satisfying to finally see a beaver up close	The view to the west side of Sandy Point Lodge
The best seat in the house at Sandy Point.	Near Elk Island Park, Alberta.	Elk Island sunset	We camped at a small provincial park just east of Hinton, Alberta
The lake that night had an unearthly feel.	Young skunk cabbage plants	A waterfall in Wells Gray Park, BC.	This camping spot was near an old clear cut which ironically offered us a clearer view of the surrounding mountains
Even near a clear cut, the BC license plates have got it right: it's a beautiful province.	We went backpacking for a couple days in Juan de Fuca provincial park	Our campsite in Juan de Fuca was right near the ocean, where sat that evening enduring a chilling breeze	The Columbia River valley
Another view of the Columbia River	The high alpine in Glacier National Park	The Columbia, near Golden, BC	An old beaver meadow in Yoho National Park
Coming back into Alberta, we took the Icefields Parkway north to Jasper	I finally had the chance to take one of those quintessential Rocky Mountain photographs	Still near its birthplace, the North Saskatchewan river is quite impressive in size.	Another mountain view
The North Saskatchewan River	Hiking the Sulfur Rim trail on the east end of Jasper	After hiking for a few kilometers, we broke out above the treeline and had a view of this interesting ridge.	Once at the top, we had an incredible view of the surrounding mountains.
Camping just outside Hinton, with the distinctive "face" of Roche Miette in the distance	Sunset over Wild Horse Lake	The next morning, a fog had settled over the lake, framing Roche Miette and two Red-necked Grebes	Mike, our first pilot, is looking over the helicopter while Stefan reviews the maps
An aerial view of part of our study site in Kakwa Provincial Park.	Poor options for landing sites forced us to place a site on the treed lee side of this high ridge	This site was one of the farthest west we had, right on the BC border.	There were about five of these glacier-fed alpine lakes that we regularly flew over.
A recent avalanche created a rock dam at the mouth of this high glacial valley, allowing a small lake to form.	The southern end of our study area, bordering with Jasper, had the more jagged peaks.	This flight took us up to about 10,000 ft and over the highest peaks in our study area.	A hair snare site along the Chown Creek in northern Jasper.
A small creek flowing out of the Resthaven Icefield	One of our landing spots for a site in the northeast end of Jasper Park.	The Smoky River just a few kilometers from the town of Grande Cache	The Sulfur Gates, an impressive sheer canyon wall at the confluence of the Sulfur and Smoky Rivers
This was one of the fixed sites that Stefan and I set up during the first session	Setting up one of our ridge-top sites.	The sites are left for two weeks, then we return to remove the wire, as Danielle is doing here	We set this site up in a nice moist cirque surrounded by a high ridge
Throughout the course of the summer, we set up about 400 of these sites. Needless to say we got very used to working with barbed wire!	Another alpine lake	In a couple weeks, the short willows in this broad valley would be bursting with green.	Globe-flowers and other anenomes were among the first flowers to bloom in the high alpine
Detlef, our second of three pilots, and Danielle returning to the helicopter after setting up a site near Grande Cache.	These high elevation sites, were among our favourites	A picture perfect pose by our summer taxi.	A view to the mountains across the Jackpine River valley from a high valley on the other side.
The second (and much smaller) bear of the day.	Of the five times that we worked in the upper Jackpine River, this was the only day that it wasn't raining and foggy!	One of our sites was at the edge of the Resthaven Icefield.	A view of the glacier from the hair snare site
A lake of meltwater at the base of the glacier.	In the distance, across the glacier, are the mountains on the east side of the Smoky River	A site along a small tributary to the Jackpine River.	A small creek above Ptarmigan Lake
Our helicopter and the shadow of Detlef mirrored in the lake	This was one of our fixed sites that we returned to every two weeks. Every time I had to take a picture from a different angle.	This is the view of Mount Robson from the visitor center at the provincial park in BC	Emperor Falls on the Berg Lake trail
Hiking across the valley leading into Berg Lake	Berg Lake itself sits directly below Mount Robson, fed by two glaciers and several small streams of meltwater	Looking across the flat plain of Berg Lake and across to the mountains on the other side	Berg Glacier, coming down off the flanks of Mount Robson and up to the edge of the lake
Danielle walking across the Berg Lake valley	Chunks of ice would frequently "calve" off from the main glacier and float over to the near side.	A picture of the smaller peak beside Mount Robson.	Mount Robson, Berg Glacier and Berg Lake seen from the trail leading up the opposite slope.
By the time we started our third session, the plants on these high alpine meadows had finally opened up	Danielle loads up the helicopter after we finished setting up a hair snare site.	A view from inside the helicopter of the high open meadows that characterize the Featherstonaugh region.	Our views of Grizzly Bears were often fleeting glimpses from the air. This was the only time we saw them while on the ground.
We soon realized that these sites in moist alpine meadows were almost guaranteed to have Grizzly hair at them, and lots of it!	The landing spot for a site near Grande Cache.	The alpine meadow sites were flooded with blooming wildflowers	Another alpine meadow
One of our favourite areas to work was in the western edge of Willmore park near the BC border.	Tall showy lupines were the most abundant and visible flower to be blooming at high elevation.	This site was on a ridge overlooking the Smoky River valley south to Grande Cache	There were strange hoodoo formations weathered into the ridge line where we landed
This was a typical "Jackpine day" - rainy and cloudy for the whole time we were in this scenic area.	Another site in the Jackpine drainage, looking up to one of the glacier tongues coming down off the Resthaven Icefield.	For one of our weekends we stayed near Grande Cache and hiked the Lightning Ridge Trail.	Getting ready to cook supper in the meadow below Mount Stearn.
We stopped for a snack on a hillside on our way up to Lightning Ridge	The "Big Hill" was actually about 1500 feet high and nearly the same pitch as a flight of stairs	Me standing on the top of the "Big Hill" with Lightning Ridge in the background.	A view of the vast meadow complex below Lightning Ridge and Mount Stearn
The clouds on a low ceiling day, covering just the tops of the mountains	It's pretty hard to find something to complain about with this job, unless you don't like flying!	A small cascading waterfall next to one of our sites	Looking west to the mountains of BC
Mountain-heather blooming on the ridges	This was the highest elevation site we set up, still with a snowpack in early August.	A closeup of the melting ice.	Looking north over the Smoky River
This is the one of the glaciers spilling out on the eastern side of the Resthaven Icefield	Yet another shot of that small lake where we had one of our fixed sites...	By the time we got back to these sites in the last session, they looked alot different from when they were first visited.	A ridgeline meadow in full bloom.
The early morning light made this grassy meadow like ripe wheat.	A gravel bar on the upper Smoky River, looking north.	Chown Creek, in the northern end of Jasper	We had three very scenic sites along this creek, from where it joins the Smoky River to just below the glacier in the background
Flying over the glacier at close range	The true size of the glacier can't be appreciated until you are relatively close. Those pinnacles and crevasses are the size of transport trucks.	One of the amazing things was the glowing blue colour of the glacial ice.	Taking down the glacier site. We got wolverine hair at the site, but no grizzly.
Indian Paintbrush flowers and the glacier.	Looking south along the Smoky River into Jasper	We couldn't have asked for a better day for our last visit to most of our high elevation sites.	We had a site just at the near end of this small lake, along the stream
Another alpine meadow, this one with asters as its primary constituents	The wall-like ridge around the DeVeber peaks, visible from Grande Cache, but a half an hour flight away.	Danielle gets back into the helicopter after taking down a site.	A blooming hillside on the BC border.