Podcasts about sulphur mountain

www.atravelpath.com https://delicioats.com/discount/PATH Use Code PATH   Banff National Park Travel Guide Welcome back to Travel Tips! We joined Dedra and Garron to talk about one of the gems of their home country: Banff National Park in Canada. Nestled in the heart of Alberta, Canada, lies a natural wonderland waiting to be explored – Banff. Having grown up not far from this pristine here, they had the privilege of visiting Banff numerous times, each visit revealing new adventures and hidden treasures. With insider knowledge and tips garnered over the years, they are here to guide you through an unforgettable Banff experience. Outdoor Adventures Galore Banff isn't just a destination; it's an outdoor enthusiast's paradise. Whether you're into hiking, camping, snowboarding, skiing, backpacking, or simply exploring with your furry friends (yes, Banff is dog-friendly!), there's something here for everyone. Duration of Stay While a weekend getaway is feasible for locals, they recommend dedicating at least two weeks to truly immerse yourself in all that Banff has to offer. If time permits, extend your stay to three weeks to explore the surrounding area. The Enchantment of Blue Waters Banff boasts stunning azure waters that captivate visitors from around the globe. While Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are iconic spots, they can get crowded. For a more serene experience, head to lesser-known gems like Saskatchewan Crossing in the northern part of the park, where you'll find equally mesmerizing blue waters minus the crowds. Best Time to Visit Timing is key when planning your Banff adventure. Summer, particularly July through August, offers ideal weather for outdoor activities. However, be prepared for potential snow in June and forest fires in August. For winter sports enthusiasts, the period between December and February promises snowy escapades. Getting There and Around Calgary serves as the gateway to Banff, with a scenic drive of about 1 hour and 40 minutes. While Banff town is easily navigable on foot, renting a car is advisable for exploring attractions further afield. Shuttle services are also available for those who prefer not to drive. Currency Exchange and Budgeting Ensure you exchange your currency for Canadian dollars (Loonies and Toonies) before arriving, as foreign denominations are not accepted. Budget around $100-150 per day for a comfortable experience, but savvy travelers can save by cooking meals at campsites and stocking up on supplies in Calgary to avoid inflated prices in Banff. Accommodation Options Finding free lodging in Banff can be challenging, but the national parks offer a plethora of campgrounds for outdoor enthusiasts. Tunnel Mountain Campground is a prime choice for its proximity to town, while the Canmore area boasts more budget-friendly options. Embracing Banff's Nightlife Banff has a small nightlife with bars, great dining, and clubs. That said, many visitors opt for quiet evenings by the campfire, soaking in the starlit sky and relishing the tranquility of nature Chasing Sunrises and Sunsets For unparalleled views, ascend Sulphur Mountain via the Banff Gondola or embark on a mountain hike to witness breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. Each vantage point offers a unique perspective of Banff's majestic landscape, so don't miss the opportunity to capture these magical moments. Money-Saving Strategies Maximize your Banff experience without breaking the bank by prioritizing free activities like hiking and stargazing. Limit dining out to a few special occasions, opting instead for budget-friendly meals around the campfire. Stock up on groceries and fuel in Calgary to avoid inflated prices in Banff. Banff isn't just a destination – it's an invitation to connect with nature, embark on thrilling adventures, and create unforgettable memories. So pack your bags, lace up your hiking boots, and get ready to unlock the wonders of Banff. Your next great adventure awaits! 3, 2, 1 Countdown 3 Things to Pack: ·        Marshmallow Sticks ·        Tent ·        Hiking Boots ·        Water ·        Swim Shorts ·        Sunscreen ·        Bear Spray ·        Passport 2 Complaints: ·        Crowds ·        Limited Parking ·        Costs 1 Thing You Can't Leave Banff Without Doing: ·        Beaver Tails ·        Mount Yamnuska   Chapters ·        00:00 Introduction ·        03:30 How Long Should Someone Visit Banf? ·        04:45 Where to find Blue Water? ·        05:30 Best Time to Visit Banff ·        06:45 Transportation ·        08:30 Currency and budgeting ·        10:30 Sleeping Arrangements ·        14:15 Nightlife in Banff ·        15:30 Sunrise/sunset ·        16:45 Money Saving Tips ·        19:30 Restaurants ·        20:45 Nearby Activities ·        23:15 Delicioats ·        24:00 3, 2, 1 Countdown ·        22:45 3,2,1 Countdown   Connect With The Route to Happiness ·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/route_tohappiness/ ·        YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theroutetohappiness ·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671668523352712 ·        Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theroutetohappiness   Near Banff ·        Canmore: https://www.canmore.ca/ ·        Yoho National Park: https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/bc/yoho ·        Lake Louise: https://www.banfflakelouise.com/ ·        Icefields Parkway: https://icefieldsparkway.com/ ·        Kananaskis Mountains ·        Mount Yamnuska Hike: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/canada/alberta/mount-yamnuska-traverse-and-west-col-descent   Blue Water ·        Lake Louis and Moraine Lake: https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/les10-top10/louise ·        Saskatchewan River Crossing   Transportation ·        Calgary Airport: https://www.yyc.com/en-us/ ·        Shuttles: https://www.banfflakelouise.com/explore-the-park/transit-shuttles   Camping ·        Tunnel Mountain: https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/activ/camping ·        Canmore: https://www.hipcamp.com/en-CA/d/canada/alberta/canmore/camping/all ·        Very inexpensive camping at Abraham Lake   Sunrise ·        Sulphur Mountain: https://www.banfflakelouise.com/experiences/sulphur-mountain-trail ·        Any mountains or hikes ·        Banff Gondola: https://www.banffjaspercollection.com/attractions/banff-gondola/ ·        Lake Louis   Restaurants ·        Park Distillery: https://parkdistillery.com/ ·        Grizzly House ·        Fairmont Hotel: https://www.banff-springs-hotel.com/dine/ ·        Beaver Tails: https://beavertails.com/   Music Music • Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/sky-toes/ready-as-ever License code: WYQ2IKRBMVFP3EJS   Disclaimer *All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision.

In this episode, the FAQ is: If I am a Step 2 traveler, how do I reach Step 3? Today's Destination is: Banff, Canada Today's Mistake- I rented a hotel room in Alaska without A/C Travel Advice:  Stoke your wanderlust   FAQ: If I am a Step 2 traveler, how do I reach Step 3?   Step 2 is for traveling in your same country and in a comfort zone that is familiar. Getting over that level takes some adventure. Ask yourself if you're ready to see more diverse experiences now. Are you ready to make a move to a distant land, such as Hawaii, Alaska, or the Bahamas?  Get a travel guidebook and start researching the area for clues on how to get there, what to do and how to prepare. Then talk to people you know who have been there. Ask them questions about what they liked. Be curious. Eventually,  you will have the courage and the savings to make the trip and enjoy the higher step to a more difficult and rewarding adventure. Today's destination: Banff, Canada   Banff was on my bucket list for a long time. It may be on yours, too. You can get here by train, plane or automobile.  You'll see the pure beauty of Canada's outdoors, even if it's rainy for part of the day. It's scenic and green because it rains a lot here. The drive from Calgary to Banff is beautiful and it's about 90 miles.   https://www.banfflakelouise.com/ https://www.banffjaspercollection.com/attractions/banff-gondola/   https://destinationlesstravel.com/calgary-to-banff/ Dr. Travelbest: I drove to Banff, Canada from Waterton, Canada after eating at the Prince of Wales Restaurant near the US/Canada border. I had been in Glacier National Park and on the Canadian side to explore further into Canada. I liked the feel of the town of Banff immediately. It's a European-like city. I took a strenuous hike to the top of the Sulfur Mountain Trail. 5.5 km, 655 m elevation gain (2.5-3 hours), and saw stunning views of the Bow (rhymes with throw) Valley. Follow a short trail up to the historic Cosmic Ray Station. There is also a 4-person gondola which in 8 minutes soars to the top of Sulphur Mountain for a bird's-eye view of six incredible mountain ranges.    Whether you walk or take the gondola, stroll along the ridgetop boardwalk where the views get better with every step. Outside is a 360-degree rooftop observation deck and inside a multi-sensory theatre with interactive exhibits,  plus restaurants.   That Jacuzzi at the bottom of the mountain felt great after my hike. Banff is known for its hot springs. Take one or more.   Banff Springs Hotel (Fairmont) had a convention center and the best tea/coffee ever. Then I drove to Lake Louise Chateau (Fairmount) and had one of the best buffet breakfasts ever. Five-star quality and a high price to match, but I ate for the day here.    The weather was pouring rain, then sunny skies all within an hour, and the beauty was seen in the reflective turquoise water. Nearby is the grand Ice Fields Highway. 3-5 hours to a full-day drive, depending on how often you stop. There are tours you can hire, in the event you don't have a car. You'll see Bow (throw) Falls and Morraine Lake. I kept driving up to Jasper, so that may be on your list as well.    Do see the Ice Fields Highway. Don't get close to a moose. Lesson learned- I rented a hotel room in Alaska without A/C   Most days in Alaska are cold. I've visited twice, and both times were in July. If you are going to Alaska in the summer, check to see if they have air conditioning. I timed it to the hot days and there was no A/C to cool off. You may find a fan as I eventually did. You should expect extreme temperatures when in Alaska. Learn that lesson here.    Today's Travel Advice-Stoke your wanderlust   If you are thinking of a trip you want to take, start a list of things you know about that country. Do you know anyone who's been there? Do you know anyone else who may know about the region? Visit your local library, bookstore, and online search engine to find out more and satisfy your curiosity. Keep that list growing. It will soon become your bucket list for travel. I want to bring meaning to your travels. Send a question or travel tip to info@drmarytravelbest.com. We can connect on my website, Facebook page, group, or Instagram. Subscribe to YouTube, Twitter, or other social channels. Find 5 Steps to Solo Travel series on Amazon. The show notes have more details for you to connect.   Connect with Dr. Travelbest Drmarytravelbest.com Dr. Mary Travelbest Twitter Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Page Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Group Dr. Mary Travelbest Instagram email: info@drmarytravelbest.com Dr. Mary Travelbest Podcast Dr. Travelbest on TikTok Dr.Travelbest onYouTube

We took a short road trip to Golden BC to spend an afternoon checking out the Golden Skybridge. Plus stayed a couple of nights at the Mount Royal Hotel in the town of Banff and while we were in Banff we took a ride up the famous Banff Gondola to take in some of the breathtaking views atop Sulphur Mountain so in this episode we'll play the conversations we had with the folks from the Banff Jasper Collection who hosted us. First we'll play our chat with David Barbour, the GM of the Banff Gondola who tells about behind how the Banff Gondola began and what you need to know when visiting the Banff Gondola. One of the historic buildings located  right on Banff Avenue is the Mount Royal Hotel so while staying there we met up with the VP of Operations for the Banff Jasper Collection, Alex Grant who shared some of the colorful past of the hotel. Then later we'll share our adventure in Golden BC checking out the Golden Skybridge, which is way more than a suspension bridge with spectacular views stretched over the Columbia Valley.  

We took a short road trip to Golden BC to spend an afternoon checking out the Golden Skybridge. Plus stayed a couple of nights at the Mount Royal Hotel in the town of Banff and while we were in Banff we took a ride up the famous Banff Gondola to take in some of the breathtaking views atop Sulphur Mountain so in this episode we'll play the conversations we had with the folks from the Banff Jasper Collection who hosted us. First we'll play our chat with David Barbour, the GM of the Banff Gondola who tells about behind how the Banff Gondola began and what you need to know when visiting the Banff Gondola. One of the historic buildings located  right on Banff Avenue is the Mount Royal Hotel so while staying there we met up with the VP of Operations for the Banff Jasper Collection, Alex Grant who shared some of the colorful past of the hotel. Then later we'll share our adventure in Golden BC checking out the Golden Skybridge, which is way more than a suspension bridge with spectacular views stretched over the Columbia Valley.  

Cheryl Croucher talks with Kirsten Ryder about Nightrise and how this unique lightshow and gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain tells the story of Alberta's Stoney Nakoda people.

On this episode I discuss the following: My interaction with a wonderful lady at Canadian Tire Spending my morning planning my BC route Why I headed to Sulphur Mountain last minute Details about the hike that make it pretty hard The beautiful views from the mountain My IG rant about work, life and vacation Coming back to Canmore to shower and swim My plans to hike Devil's Thumb and Mount Piran in one day Follow my on Instagram @lukeblessed for more content!

This conversation with Isabelle Zelazny is about Montney outcrops, based on Isabelle Zelazny, Aimee Gegolick, John-Paul Zonneveld, Tiffany Player, and Thomas Moslow's  scientific article titled “Sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geochemistry of Sulphur Mountain (Montney equivalent) Formation outcrop in south central Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada”.  What is the big picture of the Montney geology in equivalent outcrops?  What tests are most important to understand the rock?  How does the geochemistry change within the formation?  What different lithofacies are present?  May this exchange serve to expand your geological knowledge on the go.For more information go to www.stoneconsulting.infoCitation: GIsabelle V. Zelazny, Aimee Gegolick, John-Paul Zonneveld, Tiffany Playter, Thomas F. Moslow; Sedimentology, stratigraphy and geochemistry of Sulphur Mountain (Montney equivalent) Formation outcrop in south central Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology ; 66 (1): 288–317. 

This week we conclude our travelogue series from the first of this year's two Japan winter wildlife tours, as we visit the Whooper Swans again, and encounter a Northern Red Fox, Sea Eagles, and Orca! Details on the blog: https://mbp.ac/610 Music by Martin Bailey

This week we conclude our travelogue series from the first of this year's two Japan winter wildlife tours, as we visit the Whooper Swans again, and encounter a Northern Red Fox, Sea Eagles, and Orca! Details on the blog: https://mbp.ac/610 Music by Martin Bailey

Canada 150 Visitation Unless you've been living under a rock this past year, you know that 2017 represents the 150th birthday of Canada. As a nation, we were born just 150 years ago on July 1, 1867. Now this wasn't the Canada we know today, but a teeny tiny Canada with a lot of well, wilderness. Canada, such as it was, was made up of Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and that's it. Upper Canada then became Ontario and Lower Canada, Quebec. Looking at the rest of what would become the rest of Canada, in the far west, there was the Crown Colony of British Columbia, but it would be 4 more years before it became a province on July 20, 1871. The vast majority of what is now Canada though, remained as either Rupert's Land or the Northwest Territories. If the water's flowed into Hudson Bay, it was part of Rupert's Land, and if it flowed north into the Mackenzie River system, it was part of the Northwest Territories. Alberta and Saskatchewan did not join Canada as full provinces until 1905. Canada's National Park system began with the 10 sq km Banff Hot Springs Preserve in 1885, with just a tiny section protected around the Cave and Basin Hot Springs. It sowed the seeds of Canada's National Park system though and was the third National Park in the world behind only Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. and Royal National Park in Australia. Today Canada's National Park system includes 47 National Parks and 970 National Historic Sites. These include the Cave and Basin, Abbots Pass Refuge Cabin, Banff Park Museum, Banff Springs Hotel, Howse Pass, Skoki Ski Lodge, and the Sulphur Mountain Cosmic Ray Station. Other sites across the Mountain National Parks include Athabasca Pass, Yellowhead Pass, the Jasper Park Information Centre, and the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton. Across Alberta, you can add Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Calgary City Hall, Nordegg, Atlas No. 3 Coal Mine, Coleman, Fort Edmonton, Fort Macleod, Fort Whoop-Up, and the Turner Valley Gas Plant. 2017 was a year steeped in history but also steeped in tourism. The Trudeau Government decided to make all visitation to National Parks and National Historic Sites free for 2017 and this led to huge fears that the parks would be inundated. I have been a strong critic of Parks Canada's focus on bringing more and more cars through the park gates for the past decade while allowing the backcountry to wither. All the marketing has focused on 4-5 million visitors pointing their cars and buses towards the same 2% of the park. Over the past few years, I have watched the park get swarmed by more and more and more visitors. In iconic locations like Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and Peyto Lake, I've witnessed the crowds growing to levels unimaginable just a decade ago. Many of the park roads, like Sulphur Mountain, Lake Louise, and Moraine Lake, are one lane in and one lane out. This creates finite limits on the amount of traffic the roads can accommodate. In past years, I experienced wait times as long as 2-1/2 hours driving the 3 km or so between the Village of Lake Louise and the actual Lake. With traffic jams like these, nobody is having a good experience. Over the past year, after the announcement that park passes would be free this year, there was well-justified fear that these delays would just get longer and longer. Parks was regularly criticized by Banff and Jasper town counselors for their lack of transparency and discussion on how to deal with the influx of traffic. As the season approached, though, the pieces began to fall into place. Parks Canada made some very bold moves that dramatically reduced the congestion within Banff National Park. Some of these moves included: Permanent parking boundaries along narrow roads such as the approach to Moraine Lake, Johnston Canyon and Lake Minnewanka. These reflective pylons made sure that narrow sections of road weren't choked by cars parking in the driving lanes and making it very difficult for cars and buses to negotiate the road. Free shuttle buses between Banff and Lake Louise, Banff and the Lake Minnewanka Loop as well as from the Lake Louise Overflow Campground and both Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. These buses proved to be incredibly effective with some 280,000 people using these new shuttles. An additional half a million people took advantage of the local Roam bus routes during July and August. The Calgary to Banff bus averaged 260 people per day when it was running. This brought it into Banff where visitors could connect with other regional options. The free Lake Minnewanka shuttles average 470 people/day The free shuttle between Banff and Lake Louise has been averaging 200 people/day while The shuttles between the Lake Louise Overflow Campground and Lake Louise has moved over 150,000 people this summer. In an interview with Gord Gillies of Global News, Park Superintendent Dave McDonough indicated that Parks Canada was planning: "to continue and improve that shuttle service as we go forward because as we continue to see we anticipate we'll continue to see increases in visitation over time, and this is a great way to get people out of their cars and eliminate some of that congestion issues that are associated with those increases." This was just one prong of the traffic management in the park this summer. Parks also had an army of traffic control personnel at all the intersections in the Lake Louise area this summer. They were part of ATS Traffic from Calgary and they did a superhuman job of keeping the vehicles flowing. Not once this years did I experience the huge delays that I have had in past years trying to get from the Village of Lake Louise to the actual Lake. Moraine Lake Road was much easier to negotiate without miles of cars parked half-way into the traffic lanes. On most days, by 9 am, the Moraine Lake Road was simply closed to most vehicles. Buses were given a priority but most private cars where SOL by 9 or 9:30 am. With all of the shuttles, traffic cones, flag people, and free park passes, what are the actual numbers this year? In the end, the increases were lower than many of us anticipated. In July and August, Banff had 1.7 million cars enter and exit the park. This was up 7% over 2016 and overall the vehicle numbers are up 3.5%. The town of Banff counted 4.6 million cars so far this year which is an astounding increase of 21% over 2014. A full 1.7 million of those were during the summer. While the maximum vehicle count was 34,275 on July 2, the average count was 27,512. This means that almost every day was above the congestion point of 24,000 cars. The town helped to alleviate this by manipulating the traffic lights to bias busier sections of road. The main bottleneck within the town of Banff is Sulphur Mountain Road. Cars come into Banff, drive Banff Avenue, cross the Bow River Bridge and then head up Sulphur Mountain. On the way down, they descend the road and hit a traffic light on Spray Ave where the traffic begins to stack. They then turn left for a short distance to wait to turn right onto Banff Avenue. The traffic continues to back up here. The challenge of biasing the lights to move this traffic up and down the mountain means that the Mount Norquay exit into Banff can backup. I June this year, I had to call the Park Wardens as the offramp coming from the east had backed up into the traffic lanes of the Trans Canada, setting up a dangerous situation. For 2017, as much as I didn't think I'd be able to do this, I need to give Parks a gold star for pulling some rabbits out of their hats at the eleventh hour. They were pilloried in the media for the simple fact that they didn't communicate with local communities, nor offer any additional support to help them deal with the realities of massive potential increases in tourism. Overall, it looks like Banff will see no larger increase in numbers then it has over the past few years. Visitation has been growing at a rate of around 5%/year and this year will fit right into that trend. Visitors seem to have gotten the message that things would be busy and so they are taking advantage of early and late season to try to avoid the biggest crowds. Did everything go smoothly, nope! However, I was impressed with most of the traffic control. With tightly controlled traffic at sites like Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, the parking at Lake Louise and the road to Moraine were simply closed when they reached capacity. This meant that all the cars that wanted to visit were simply turned away. They had the option to head back to the highway and use the shuttles, and thousands took advantage of that option. To a certain extent, it actually reduced the number of bodies swarming the shoreline of these two iconic sites. Here is my call to action! There is a fear that much of the critical work that ATS Traffic did this year may have been a one-off, with funding coming from the Canada 150 funds. We simply can't go back to the chaos of past years. If you support the work this amazing group did this year, be sure to contact Parks Canada and make your voices heard. I for one, want to make sure that, at the very least, this is the new norm. Why were the increases in visitors not even higher? It has to do with the simple fact that there are only so many hotel rooms in the region. As the season got busier, so did the hotels get more expensive. There is a point at which there is simply no way for more people to access the mountains. When the rooms and campsites are gone, then people are limited to day trips from larger centres like Calgary. That being said, the current 4% increase in visitation still represents an additional 200,000 people visiting Banff this year. These are unsustainable growth numbers. At some point, park managers will need to begin to say yes to saying no! We are nearing the moment when we need to begin to say "NO, you can't visit Lake Louise". We are too close to beginning to love this place to death! Farewell to Bear 148 If you're a regular listener to this podcast, you've heard me talk time and again about grizzly 148. This 6-1/2-year-old daughter of Bears 66 and 122, better known as the Boss, ran out of luck this summer when she wandered outside of Banff National Park just one too many times. This summer, the buffaloberry crop in Banff was not very strong, but in Canmore, we had fabulous berry patches. This attracted 148 out of the park and into the area around Canmore. In episode 38, I talk about the translocation of Bear 148 to northern Alberta and Kakwa Provincial Park. You can listen to the episode at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep038. Essentially, after returning back to Canmore she had another run-in with people illegally violating a closure and bluff-charged them. This was the final straw for Alberta Environment and Parks, and she was trapped, trucked and translocated far from her home range. With a distant translocation like this, the odds of her surviving were very slim in the first place. Bears become intimately connected to their home ranges. They need to know where all their seasonal foods can be found and at what time of year. Moving them to a new territory is like being forced to shop in a new grocery. Not only is it difficult to find things that you usually eat, but it may not even have the same foods. There may also be other shoppers pushing you away from the best selections. Near the end of September, 148 wandered across the border with British Columbia, likely in search of late season foods, when she was legally shot by trophy hunters. Ironically, B.C. is set to ban grizzly hunting permanently as of Nov. 30. She had the misfortune of crossing the border just over a month too early and it cost 148 her life. Over the past few years, 148 became a symbol of what's wrong in Canmore. What good are wildlife corridors if animals are punished for using them? What good are corridors if people ignore the closures and put themselves and the wildlife in jeopardy? On Oct 7, well over 100 Canmore residents came out to say goodbye to 148 and to pledge to do better in the future. This has also become a major election issue and many of the presentations really focused on the need for political will if we are to keep grizzlies on the landscape. I was lucky enough to record the presentations during the event and I want to present them here. Please keep in mind that I was recording speakers using an old-fashioned bull-horn so the audio quality is not perfect - but their message is! First up was Harvey Locke, co-founder of the Yellowstone to Yukon and long-time conservationist. Following Harvey was Bree Todd, Bree is one of the co-creators of the Bear 148 Appreciation Page on Facebook and has been a strong voice advocating for viable wildlife corridors. Local NDP Member of the Legislature, Cam Westhead followed Bree. He vowed to help the province work harder to improve the situation for bears in the Bow Valley. Following Cam's presentation, the group marched through Canmore towards the Civic Centre for the final two speeches. First was Bill Snow of the Stoney Nakoda. He is the Stoney Consultation Manager and was instrumental in spearheading a Stoney grizzly study in 2016. The last speaker was Kay Anderson, another outspoken advocate of bears and corridors in Canmore, and one of the main organizers of the march. In addition to the presentations, I had the opportunity to speak to a few people outside of the presentations. First up is Mayoral candidate Ed Russell. Finally, I had the opportunity to ask Jeff Laidlaw a few questions. Jeff is looking to be elected to Canmore's town council in the upcoming election. Overall, this was a great event for Canmore. I showed that local people really care about our bears and keeping our corridors wild. This is our last chance to make the right decisions for wildlife. Let's hope that Bear 148 is the last bear to die because of local apathy. And with that, it's time to wrap this episode up. Don't forget that Ward Cameron Enterprises can offer you the expertise and local knowledge to make your visit to the Rockies a memorable one. Don't forget to check out the show notes for links to additional information and photos from this week's event. Drop me a line using the contact page on this site if you'd like to book a step-on or hiking guide, workshop facilitator or speaker. If you'd like to connect with me personally, you can hit me up on Twitter @wardcameron or at www.facebook.com/wardcameronenterprises. And with that said, the hills are snowy white so it's time to tune up the snowshoes - snowshoe animal tracking season is just around the corner. I'll talk to you next week.

Flying Dinosaurs as Tall as Giraffes If you're a regular listener of this podcast, then you know that I love dinosaurs. Living in Alberta is the perfect mix because we have one of the best landscapes for finding dino remains and there are new discoveries happening all the time. The Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller is one of the leading research centres in the world and for many visitors to Alberta, it is there first real opportunity to look at some of the most unique fossils that have been placed on display. One of their most recent exhibits shows the most well preserved dinosaur ever found, a Nodosaur, essentially an armoured dinosaur similar to the more well known Ankylosaurs. You can learn more about it in episode 30 at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep030. Now comes an even stranger story from the Royal Tyrell Museum that has to do with those strange flying dinosaurs known as pterosaurs. These were formidable creatures, in some cases being as tall as a modern giraffe but potentially soaring on wingspans similar to airplanes. No creature, before or since has ever been a more fearsome presence soaring overhead. Donald Henderson is the curator of dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrell, and he came across an artist's rendering of the largest of pterosaurs, Arambourgiania philadelphiae, placed next to, and as tall as, a giraffe. The giraffe weighs in at 1,500 kg but a similarly sized pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus northropi, was thought to weigh far far less, perhaps as little as 70 kg. For Henderson, he felt that a pterosaur that tall had to weigh far more than 70 kg, and he did his own math and came up with an estimate of some 550 kg. This immense weight also meant that it was highly unlikely that the Arambourgiania could fly at all. He concluded that, like penguins, it had likely evolved to be flightless. A bird of this mass would have needed incredible muscle strength in order to take to the air. Based on his research, he was clipping its wings and grounding it. Well his paper got little response from fellow researchers…oh wait, it was like he'd said something crazy like pterosaurs can't fly. Well the opposition to his research was not long in coming. Mark Witton is one of the most recognized authorities on pterosaurs, and it was his rendering that Henderson had encountered that started this whole process. As he was quoted in a recent interview in the publication Inverse: “There’s a handful of people who sort of dip in and out of pterosaurs, who have suggested that they can’t fly, but most people who work on pterosaurs have never really questioned this. And that’s not in the sense of, they’ve not ever wondered it, but they’ve never seen any reason to think it’s a good hypothesis.” When Witton looked at the fossil physiology, his estimate showed these pterosaurs to be less than half of Henderson's estimate, closer to 250 kg. Pterosaurs had many of the same adaptations that modern-day birds have to help them fly. They had small torsos, hollow bones, and interior air sacs. All of these things combined to dramatically reduce their weight specifically to enable the ability to fly. As Witton put it: “All the ducks line up in a row, and it’s actually far more complicated for us to think of a reason why they’re not flying,” Working with Witton to refute Henderson's estimate was paleontologist Michael Habib. He is a recognized expert on the biomechanics of pterosaur flight but has now partnered with Henderson to take a renewed look at the Quetzalcoatlus based on new skeletal reconstructions. Their work has led Habib to the conclusion that they may have weighed far more than he previously thought, although not as big as Henderson's original estimate. Despite this, he's still two thumbs up on flight. I love science. The proper scientific method forces researchers to constantly challenge established research in order to test, verify and update previous peer-reviewed papers. Good research should be repeatable if it is to be proven correct. Good scientists embrace dissent and Habib and Henderson's recent work proves this. The thought of these massive predatory birds flying around, seeing small tyrannosaurs as a light snack is a visual that even the producers of Jurassic Park couldn't have conceived. As these two scientists continue their research it seems that a middle ground may be appearing. Habib believes that these pterosaurs did still fly, but that some of the largest ones may have been mostly ground dwelling but that the young would have flown immediately since the eggs were not tended by their parents. Young pterosaurs that lingered were essentially dinner for larger dinosaurs. The model that's emerging has these giant pterosaurs flying when they were young, and spending more time on terra firma as their large size made it harder to fly but also made them large enough that they didn't have to worry about becoming a meal for tyrannosaurs. They may have still been capable of short flights, perhaps to move between prime hunting grounds. Conversely, they may have become completely terrestrial as they aged. Comparing the bones of these giants to smaller pterosaurs, the bones show all the same adaptations to flight that their smaller relatives display. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…well you get the idea. Really, what is needed is an complete fossil. Pterosaur fossils are rare simply because the bones are so delicate that they rarely are preserved in the fossil record. Thinking of such huge creatures soaring overhead would have been a truly magical thing to see - all from the safety of a pterosaur proof bunker of course. Next up…loving the mountains to death. Loving the Mountains to Death As the 2017 tourism season begins to wane, This is a good time to take stock of what we have learned from the growing influx of tourists and how we can better manage the parks that we all love so that our grandchildren's grandchildren will be able to experience the same wonders that we do. Ideally, we could create a world in which the landscape they visit is even better than it is today, with more ecological integrity and less personal self-interest. Seeing the huge crowds at many mountain viewpoints these days makes me sad. When you can't take a photo without people crawling over railings and swarming over the very scene that has brought you soooo far to photograph. If you've gotten to the point where you really believe, in the pit of your stomach, that something's gotta give, then you're in good company. Many, many local people, people like me that earn their entire income from tourism, have come to the same conclusion. And we're not alone. Parks across Canada and the US are collapsing under their popularity and run the risk of being loved to death. Parks like Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Yosemite, and Great Smokey Mountains in the US are feeling the same pressures that parks like Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay are. Visit Peyto Lake in Banff or the Natural Bridge in Yoho, and you can't even take a photo without clowns going out of the designated viewing areas to do selfies in areas that are either sensitive to disturbance or downright dangerous. If we look at Banff and Jasper National Parks, we can see time and time again where the Harper Government allowed developments that have no place in a national park to move forward. These include developments like the Glacier Skywalk at the Columbia Icefields, new 'roofed accommodation' at Maligne Lake in Jasper, glamping (glamorous camping) sites in Two Jack Lake in Banff, and even a paved bike path from Jasper to the Columbia Icefields through critical habitat for endangered caribou. Thankfully, this last development is currently on hold due to the strong negative public reaction. The Harper years were characterized by budget cuts for classic backcountry trail networks and over-emphasis on getting more cars through the park gates. $8/person, kaching, thank you very much…next! This creates a situation where 95% of the visitors see the same 2% of the park, the paved corridors. As locations like Moraine Lake and Lake Louise collapse under sheer numbers and parking lots and feeder roads clog up due to traffic, what kind of experience are visitors to the area getting? What kind of image is it giving the mountain national parks? What do we do when people flood to sites like TripAdvisor to say: "don't go to Banff, it's overrun, why not go to…?" In a Globe and Mail article, former Banff Park Superintendent Kevin Van Tighem stated that Canada's National Parks are being used merely as: "raw material to be commodified into a bundle of Disneyesque visitor attractions and marketing packages." It is as if "nature was no longer enough" Parks Canada's mandate, and I've harped on this time and again on this podcast, is that parks: "shall be maintained and made use of so as to leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." More importantly, the role of the federal minister of parks shall be the: "maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity, through the protection of natural resources and natural processes." I don't know anyone, either within parks or within the communities that serve to provide the services to park visitors that feels that this goal is even being attempted. Even the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau has made some huge blunders. Seriously…free park passes! I can guarantee that nobody working in the mountain national parks thought this was a good idea. While the numbers aren't in yet, I'm betting that we added another half a million visitors to an already overburdened landscape. They could have said: "here are 10 parks that are underutilized and so we're going to offer free access to them to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday", but alas no, the gates were tossed wide open. I'll give Justin this one giant oops. He did send out an intergovernmental panel to the mountain parks last year to see how people living and working in the parks felt about the current park management. They got an earful. If you'd like to learn more about the panel, check out episode 26 at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep026. Parks Canada received failing marks for its lack of transparency in its decision making process. Projects like the Glacier Skywalk in Jasper were approved despite overwhelming negative feedback. The panel couldn't find any logic in the way decisions within the organization were being made at the highest levels. Again, I stand with the parks employees working locally, because they are merely the receiver of directives from on high and to a man (or woman), most would agree that developments like this should never have been approved. Has Justin done better than Harper? Somewhat. He allowed all government scientists across the nation to publish their research, whether or not it was supportive of current government goals. He also immediately removed the muzzle that the Harper government had put on park wardens from speaking to the media. As a guide, I can't do my job without the amazing work being done by park wardens and scientists. The wardens of the mountain national parks are responsible for incredible research into the wildlife and ecosystems that are critical to these mountain landscapes. If I'm critical of something that Parks Canada approves, it is often because of the good science their rank and file perform on a daily basis has helped to contradict the justification for those approvals. When discussing another national park development, Van Tighem stated: "Rules? We don't actually have those anymore, so what did you have in mind as a money-making idea for our park? We'll dress it up in heritage language and funky marketing-speak to persuade ourselves it's good for national parks, and then you can have at 'er." I'll leave a link to the Globe and Mail article in the show notes a mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep044. (https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-disneyfication-of-canadas-national-parks/article28359840/?ref=https://www.theglobeandmail.com&service=mobile) Tourism doesn't have to mean sacrificing the very thing that you're trying to showcase. There has to be another way. Thankfully, we don't have to muddle our way through the challenges of excess alone. We can look to other jurisdictions that are also doing some muddling of their own. One of those is Yellowstone. Like the mountain national parks, they are drowning in visitors and seeing their most iconic locations swamped with an ocean of tourists. One of the things that is hampering any discussion into limiting visitors has to do with the simple fact that nobody wants to be the guy (or girl) that says: "No, you can't visit Lake Louise" Most of the focus over the past decade has been to bring more and more and more and more visitors. I think anyone visiting these sites would agree that this hasn't worked. There is an inverse relationship between the number of visitors and the visitor's experience. The busier a site becomes, there will be a threshold where the visitor experience begins to suffer. Someone has to say the word! NO! I will say that things have been much better this year. Because of the Canada 150th, Parks put out an army of people working for an amazing company, ATS Traffic, that have done an impressive job reducing the amount of vehicles in places like Lake Louise and Moraine Lake this summer. In past years, I have had days where it's taken me two and a half hours to drive the 3 or 4 km between the village of Lake Louise and the actual lake. That has not happened this year at all, mainly because of the amazing work being done by ATS Traffic. The traffic control has been supplemented by the shuttle service that the park has sponsored this summer. There are free shuttles everywhere, and they have been working. I've spoken numerous times to the staff organizing the shuttles to Lake Louise from the Overflow Campground to the east of the village along the Trans Canada Highway. They have been doing impressive numbers, in the range of 2,000 plus people on busy days. That's some 1,000 cars or so that are NOT trying to drive to Lake Louise. Moraine Lake has been even more dramatic. In past years, there would be cars parked for kilometres along the all too narrow road. It made the road almost impossible for buses or wide vehicles to navigate. This year, the road has essentially been closed to cars by 9 am. The road and associated parking area can only accommodate so many cars. When the lots are full, the road is closed. Has that had any impacts on the shoreline of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake? It's been impressive. Closing the roads and parking areas when they reach a capacity, and preventing miles and miles of roadside parking means that there are fewer people at the actual sites. This means that the people that did arrive early enough presumably are having a much better experience. What about those that didn't? Those are the visitors that will leave the park with a negative experience. I've met them. I've walked past traffic jams and had people ask why they can't get to Lake Louise. The fact that it was simply too busy did not compute when they had traveled all the way from Toronto to see it. The traffic management is a key first step to creating a balance between expectation and experience. As a guide, I've been pushing my groups ever earlier in the morning to try to manage the experience they will have when they arrive. Unfortunately, hotels, will only make breakfasts available at certain times, so you can't always be 'early enough'. One thing that is an unknown at this point is whether ATS traffic will be hired to do the same job next year. So many things were tied to the funding for Canada 150, that the funds that are paying for their critical work may only be a one-time deal. If that is the case, then we go back to endless traffic jams again next year. If you applaud the work done by these mountain heroes this year, then be sure to let your elected officials know that we need this to be the new norm. There is no going back. In addition to traffic management, we also saw extensive parking restrictions implemented in 2017. Long sections of road approaching places like Johnston Canyon and Moraine Lake are now tow away zones with parking barriers. Managing traffic and parking are two of the critical pillars towards capacity management, but how do we manage the visitor experience? What we need to do for the long-term is to sit down, and create a comprehensive visitor experience plan. What do we, as tourism professionals, park managers, and stakeholders want people to say about our destinations when they leave? How do we create that experience? The only way that can happen is if we place a finite limit on the number of people that can visit certain locations. It's not too late to decide the kind of destination that we want to be when we grow up. I like to think that we're in the adolescence of our role as keepers of the ecological jewels of the mountain landscape. We started slowly some 130 years ago. We marketed our butts off to try to carve our little piece of the world tourism market. We coerced, cajoled and click baited until the dreams of many hoteliers, restaurants, gift shops and tour companies were given the taste of success. Like a drug addict, that first taste is always free. Twenty years ago, I believed it was time to stop building hotels. The number of hotel rooms provide a natural limit to the number of visitors to a destination. We are still building hotels like a drunken sailor. Destination Marketing organizations like Banff Lake Louise Tourism and Travel Alberta are still singing the siren song of more, more, more. However we're now at a tipping point. Can we learn anything from this summer that can help us to start to navigate towards a better, more sustainable future? I think we can. I know we can! This year we managed traffic. Now we need to envision a future where the experience is managed in such a way that the traffic is pre-managed for us. There is only one way - quotas. Fabulous destinations around the world have had to deal with these questions decades ago. We need to look at their examples. Did people stop going when they created quotas? Or did they plan their trips in such a way to make sure they had the experiences they saw in their Lonely Planet guide? In Banff National Park, we have four places that jump to the top of the list, in order of priority 1. Moraine Lake 2. Johnston Canyon 3. Lake Louise 4. Sulphur Mountain Gondola Three of the four are a challenge because they are at the end of one-way-in and one-way-out roads that back up very quickly. Johnston Canyon is simply a victim of its incredible popularity. The list contains four of the most popular destinations in Banff. We can add Emerald Lake In Yoho to this list, along with Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper Are limits bad? Hockey games have them. There are only so many seats at the stadium. We are surrounded by limits, but when it comes to a natural feature, the prevailing wisdom is to squeeze as many people and cars as possible. More, more, more! Well Lake Louise, is not a dairy cow. We can't keep squeezing the unique landscape. The environment around Lake Louise also contains the highest concentration of breeding female grizzlies in the central Rockies. There is something in that landscape that is just a good place to raise a family if you're a grizzly bear. OK. Here's my pitch. How do we create finite limits? For many sites, we create parking lots designed to collect visitors that are NOT at the destination. We make sure that shuttle buses can take them to the site with minimal inconvenience. Do you want to visit Lake Louise? Click this link to book your shuttle bus. The shuttle system this year has been awesome in showing that this works. Here's how I would supercharge it. Take away all public parking at Lake Louise, or Sulphur Mountain, or Moraine Lake. Those lots are for tour and shuttle buses only, and the tour buses would also be limited. If shutting parking down is too hard a sell, than create a financial disincentive to park at the destination. The option of a free shuttle versus a $20 parking fee will likely help to shift the trend towards free, scheduled shuttles and away from driving directly to the destination. If a parking rate can be found that provides a sufficient disincentive to driving but still helps to fund the resource, I'm all for that. One scenario might be that there are 200 parking spots for Lake Louise and they cost $10 or $40. What will the market bear? Ideally though, most of the visitors should arrive on shuttle or tour buses. One of the final things I would like to see the mountain parks do is to try to implement more active restrictions to people moving beyond the designated visitor corridors and start climbing over barriers to get ever closer to the view. . We can't stop determined visitors from forcing their way beyond barriers to do their worst, but we can create better discouragement barriers. As Canadians, we have perhaps been too polite. In places like Peyto Lake, it would not be too hard to create a pretty convincible barrier to prevent tourists from swarming the cliff below the public viewpoint. The viewpoint is there because it's designed to reduce the impact on this lower cliff. Alternatively, the park could extend the viewpoint to include this lower outcrop. The most important thing is to manage the visitor experience while also managing the visitor. A recent article on Yellowstone National Park in the publication Mountain Journal, really has had me thinking more about this issue. So far in this story, I focused on simple human use management to address the issue of ecological integrity. If the mountain national parks have to look anywhere for an example, the first national park in the world might be a great place to start. This article, penned by long-time Yellowstone advocate Todd Wilkinson really ties into my philosophy of how we might combine a better visitor experience with better ecological integrity within the mountain park landscape. One of Wilkinson's key concepts requires "saying yes to saying no". We have a finite limit on the number of people that can visit Old Faithful on a given day. Get your permit here! His article contains some pretty inflammatory statements, but I agree with them all. One of the most challenging for a community like Banff is: "The irony, of course, is that some of the biggest financial beneficiaries of the dividends of conservation are people who, for their own ideological reasons and motivations of rational self-interest, are today opposed to limits.  It’s probably fair to say that most possess no malicious intent, but the needs of wildlife, the underpinnings of what enables biological diversity to thrive, do not register with them." Wilkinson also states: "There is no example on Earth where conservation of nature, over time, has not generated huge ecological, economic, social, cultural, and spiritual benefits." Did you say economic benefits? Yellowstone and its surrounding landscapes are a billion dollar a year industry. Like our mountain parks, Yellowstone has one word that it has yet to utter: NO. According to Wilkinson: "We live in times, which some commentators describe as America’s new regression back to adolescence, where it is not fashionable to ever say no.  It is an age when some claim that natural landscapes have no limits for the amount and intensity of human activity that can occur on them without serious ecological harm being done. We live in a time of climate change and population growth in which users of landscapes (for profit, recreation or lifestyle) conclude that unless they can actually see impacts being caused by their own actions or by the larger acumulating wave of human presence, such impacts, therefore, do not exist. He sees three big challenges that parks like Yellowstone, and by extension, Banff face: • The deepening impacts of climate change and what they predict, especially where water in the arid west is concerned. • The deepening inexorable impacts of human growth (both an unprecedented rise in people migrating to live in the Greater Yellowstone from other nature deprived areas, and accompanied by a somewhat related surge in unprecedented numbers of visitors and recreationists to public lands. • The inability or reluctance of land management agencies to see the writing on the wall. Yellowstone, unlike Banff, still hosts every major mammal and bird species that was there before the arrival of the Europeans. Banff gets points for the 2017 reintroduction of wild bison back to the park, but loses points because it was not able to keep its northern mountain caribou herd. Now Jasper's remaining caribou are also at serious risk of vanishing. Wilkonsin states: "The 22.5-million-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is actually pretty small. Functionally, it will be made ever smaller, squeezed by climate change altering its ecological carrying capacity because of less winter snowpack, hotter and drier conditions, and further fragmented by a doubling or tripling of the human population likely to occur in just two human generations." I know that for me, this could just as easily be said about the Bow River Valley. Combine growth without proper cumulative impact assessments, with vast increases in visitation, and we can see real challenges in our future. According to Wilkinson: "If we don’t get the “growth” component of Greater Yellowstone addressed, experts have told me, it won’t matter how fond we are of thinking about ecological processes playing out at the landscape level, like terrestrial migrations of ungulates, protecting wide-ranging species like grizzly bears, wolverines and elk that need escape cover free of intensive human intrusion." These are problems that are apparent throughout the entire Mountain National Park and surrounding areas. Canmore is in the middle of the battle to protect continentally significant wildlife corridors. If we don't get this right, nothing else matters. We, as a community, need to continue to fight to make sure that big development does not get to compromise critical connecting routes that are a key component of the much larger Rocky Mountain ecosystem. Even now, the town of Canmore is not only negotiating wildlife corridors, but developing within metres of them. The new bike trail being designed adjacent to Quarry Lake is a folly that the town cannot afford. Already, bears like 148 are being removed from the landscape for spending time on corridors dedicated to their movement. Having more and more and more development encroaching on these corridors will lead to a continued eroding of the ecological viability of the town of Canmore corridors - and maybe that's exactly what development focused mayors like John Borrowman want. Once the corridor is gone, he can promote the valley to his heart's content. Canmore has an election coming up. Make a better decision this time Canmore! You may not have many more chances. One advantage that Canada has over Yellowstone at the moment is that we are no longer afraid of science. We can look to great research being done within our parks that shows that the current trends are simply unsustainable. Wilkinson quotes Thomas Roffe, the former National Chief of wildlife health for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: “Science doesn’t define what the proper thing to do is. Science helps to define what the conditions will be if you choose one vision or another. Science will help you understand what the advantages or disadvantages are to your perspective. But it doesn’t tell you what’s right or what’s wrong.” We have the science. We can all see the changes. What are we going to do? Will we make the right choice? And with that, it's time to wrap this episode up. If you'd like to hit me up personally, you can email me at info@wardcameron.com or send me a message on Twitter @wardcameron. Ward Cameron Enterprises is your source for step-on and hiking guides as well as wildlife biology safaris, snowshoe animal tracking and corporate speaking programs. We've been sharing the stories behind the scenery for more than 30 years and we can help to make sure your visit to the Rockies is one that you'll be talking about for years. You can visit our website at www.WardCameron.com for more details. And with that said, the rain has thankfully come and now stopped so it's time to go hiking. I'll talk to you next week.

This week we continue our series of episodes to walk through 40 images from my second Japan Winter Wildlife tour for 2016, and today we visit the Whooper Swans, Sulphur Mountain and the majestic sea eagles. Details on blog: https://mbp.ac/517 Music by Martin Bailey

This week we continue our series of episodes to walk through 40 images from my second Japan Winter Wildlife tour for 2016, and today we visit the Whooper Swans, Sulphur Mountain and the majestic sea eagles. Details on blog: https://mbp.ac/517 Music by Martin Bailey

Today we pick up the trail on the first of my two Japan Winter Wonderland Tours for 2014, photographing the Whooper Swans at Kussharo Lake, before leaving town for an hour at Sulphur Mountain and then start to drive over to Rausu for the Sea Eagles. Text and images: https://mbp.ac/410 Music from Music Alley: http://www.musicalley.com/

Today we pick up the trail on the first of my two Japan Winter Wonderland Tours for 2014, photographing the Whooper Swans at Kussharo Lake, before leaving town for an hour at Sulphur Mountain and then start to drive over to Rausu for the Sea Eagles. Text and images: https://mbp.ac/410 Music from Music Alley: http://www.musicalley.com/