Les Animals of Banff

Living in Canada, I’ve seen my share of animals… like squirrels, chipmunks and a close encounter with raccoons that dug a hole through my basement wall. You see foxes and deers on odd occasions at the golf course, but that’s about it.

Then I got to Banff and Jasper…..

We got into Banff, and were about to take a “scenic driving route” into Johnson Creek instead of the highway. So off the highway 1 ramp, and we make a right turn onto the scenic route. Then on our left, stands a grazing moose acting like nothing’s going on and munching on leaves! Serious? That began a series of close encounters with: Black Bears, Caribou, Mountain Goat, Big Horn Sheep, Elk, Moose, more bears, and even a “possible” wolverine!

Without going into details, that’s pretty much how the highways were in Banff. You drive, you see people stop in front of you and out comes your camera ready to take pictures of the animals! It’s pretty cool! Here’s a summary of all the things we saw.

Fun Fact 1: One late evening, we were on Highway 1 and singing a random song about caribous, as they were the only type of animal we haven’t seen before….. then with about 200m away from our hotel, a HERD of caribou with young and old just grazing on the side of the road. Win!

Fun Fact 2: Sorry Tom, no monkey-faced animal pictures are available.

ENJOY!