Wildlife of the Canadian Rockies

One of the perks of traveling to the Canadian Rockies – as if the mountains and beautiful scenery weren’t enough – is the abundance of wildlife that lives in this incredible region. It was also mating season for some animals, so we knew our chances of seeing wildlife was going to be pretty good. We saw our first Elk within a few hours of our arrival – on our first night in Jasper National Park – standing majestically on a hill overlooking the surroundings.

We were really excited to see as much wildlife as possible. We didn’t see Wolves, Moose or Grizzly Bears – all of which were animals on our wish list – but we did end up seeing an impressive list of wildlife; Elk, Big Horned Sheep, and Mountain Goats as well as spawning salmon just outside of Revelstoke. Sometimes we would find them walking along the side – or in some cases across – the highway, which made seeing wildlife quite easy.

Jasper National Park was absolutely the best to see wildlife roaming free, easily spotted on the side of the road. Sometimes we just had to look for cars pulled over on the side of the road to announce that we were close to something amazing. Like all the other tourists visiting the Rocky Mountains, we would pull over to the shoulder with our 4-way blinkers on, indicating we were going to stop and take pictures of wildlife.

We’re pretty certain that the number one cause of traffic around Jasper is a result of the wildlife. Maybe we just got lucky, but the list of creatures and critters we ran into on our trip was amazing.

We can’t wait to go back to the mountains in the near future – preferably in the summer – because we enjoy going for hikes into the wilderness, something we couldn’t do after the first snowfall (we weren’t prepared for winter). We were prepared for a camping trip (it was the first week of October) but we arrived for the first snowfall, and instead “camped” in the back of our rental car.

We did come close to seeing a bear. When we did our hike up to the 6-plains glacier at Lake Louise we found out we were about 500 meters from a Grizzly as we were walking down the trail, with excited hikers heading up the trail to look for the bear in the mountains. We didn’t bring our bear spray or any other protective measures, so we were happy to continue in the other direction. It was nice to know we were close, but not too close to “bumping” into a bear.

So, without further delay, these are our “best of” wildlife pictures from our time in the Rocky Mountains.

 

Big Horned Sheep:

 

Big Horned Sheep battle each other along the road in Jasper National Park. 2018.

Big Horned Sheep In the snow. 2018.

Big Horned Sheep on the road to Maligne Lake. 2018.

Crossing the Icefields Parkway. 2018.

Walking away. 2018.

Walking through Snow. 2018.

On the road. 2018.

Ready for his Close-up. 2018.

Wildlife and Mountains. 2018.

Crossing the Highway. 2018.

The herd moves on. 2018.

Traffic Jams on the Icefields Parkway are usually caused by animals. 2018.

 

Mountain Goats:

 

A family of mountain goats. 2018.

Far off in the distance, we managed to spot a family of Mountain Goats. 2018.

Climbing the cliffs. 2018.

Elk:

 

The first Elk we saw, standing on the side of the road. 2018.

Elk. 2018.

Elk grazing in the grass. 2018.

 

The Buck has arrived. 2018.

Elk. 2018.

Amazing wildlife everywhere. 2018.

Elk looking off into the distance. 2018.

Elk crossing the highway. 2018.

Elk Herd. 2018.

This Elk looks like a farmer, with a strand of grass hanging off the side of its mouth. 2018.

Excited Rob cautiously poses with an adult Elk. 2018.

Our first Elk spotting. 2018.

The boss has arrived to help the herd cross the road. 2018.

Birds:

 

Giant Ravens in the Canadian Rockies. 2018.

Sunwapta Falls. 2018.

Duck Pond. 2018.

 

Spawning Salmon:

 

Salmon Spawning just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Salmon Spawning just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Salmon Spawning just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Salmon Spawning just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Salmon dying in the River just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Dead Salmon just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Salmon Spawning just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Salmon Spawning just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Salmon Spawning just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Salmon Spawning just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

Salmon Spawning just outside of Revelstoke. 2018.

 

Chipmunk!!!

 

 

 

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