Trip Update June 2010 Part 4 Grizzly Encounter

Lake Moraine
Columbia Ground Squirrel
Pat at Peyto Lake
Grizzly on our trail


Close Encounter with a Grizzly
When we entered the RV campground at Lake Louise, Banff National Park, we were warned that there was a sow grizzly with two cubs around the campground. The tent campground, on the other side of the river, was protected with a 10,000 volt electrical fence, designed to give grizzlies and anyone else who ran into it, a shock they won’t forget. The RV campground offered no such protection. My only comfort was the words of the ranger at Grand Canyon NP, who told me that while a bear might tear a tent to get to a Twinkie, for some reason bears do not try to break into RVs. I guess they prefer soft shell tacos to hard shell tacos.
There was no sign of any bears around the campground. Since the bears were not coming to me, I went out at 10 PM for a walk through the woods near the campground. I returned to the RV as darkness blanketed the woods without seeing any bears. In retrospect- what was I thinking?
Since Pat had sprained her knee, we were looking for things to do that didn’t involve much hiking. Pat suggested a gondola ride up the mountain over prime grizzly territory. This sounded like a safe way to see grizzlies, although I figured this was just advertising hype. The gondola ride took us up and over the high voltage fence above the grizzly area. There was a good nature center at the end of the gondola ride. The ranger told us that in order to keep bears “wild” they need to avoid contact with people. Therefore, if you are driving along and see a bear, they ask that you not stop the car and create a “bear jam”. Take a picture while driving slowly past the bear (drive by shooting), or only stop at a pullover and don’t get out of the car. If you think texting while driving is bad, try photography while driving. We also learned that a grizzly bear eats the calorie equivalent of 40 Big Macs and 40 chocolate shakes a day. Since his diet is 90% vegetarian, that is a lot of dandelions to eat while waiting for the berries to ripen. They can eat 250,000 berries per day. We returned down the mountain on the chair lift. Of course we didn’t see anything bigger than a Columbian ground squirrel.
After a few days at the campground, and no sign of grizzlies, we were feeling pretty safe. We took a walk along the Bow River. We crossed the river and found that the trail ran between the river and the electric fence that protected those soft shell campers. We followed the trail about a mile, and then got to a small foot bridge crossing the river. As we crossed, a family on bikes was crossing the bridge from the other direction. They stopped and stared at something near the shore. They asked us if we had seen the bear. We looked back only to see a grizzly crossing the bridge right behind us. Had he been stalking us? Was he looking for a high caloric meal to supplement his dandelion diet? This was no time to stand your ground. He was heading straight for us. We tried not to run, but we walked briskly off the bridge and away from the grizzly. We warned those approaching the area on foot of the danger. We walked back to our campground and the safety of our hard shell RV.