The next Adventure

If Norway was an adventure then Canada was the super adventure. And it shows that we can enjoy adventures regardless of how old we are. If our mind is set to seek out adventures and then enjoy them we will always be able to lead an adventurous life. For us newcomers and greenhorns it had just begun. I will recommend to go back to an earlier posting to catch up on our story. It covers our arrival in Canada. After a 6-week sea-voyage our crate with our possessions had arrived in BC. The warehouse was right behind the border and we got there on a Friday afternoon. The guys were ready to close up shop when we arrived. Yet, they stayed on to help us get our stuff into a U-haul trailer. It was nice to see that our box had survived the long journey without taking any damage. We opened her up and stowed the contents partly into our Suburban, partly into the trailer. Next day we started on our trip back to Alberta. We had brought a tent (it was June!) and intended to stay in a campground in Banff National Park. When we approached the ranger booth the lady asked us where and how we intended to sleep. We told her about our tent, but noticed that did not sit well with her, and sure enough she said we wouldn’t be allowed in as they currently had a bear problem. When the campground was built way back, nobody had known that the place was commonly used as a mating place by the grizzlies. And now, so she said, was the time for mating again. And unless we had a hard-walled trailer we could not stay. Since our trailer was full there just didn’t seem to be any solution. But then the ranger told us about another campground along old highway 1 which would be available to us. It was only 4 miles down the road. When we got to the place we were driving through a heavily forested area. Bea was insinuating that the area looked suspiciously like bear country. I tried to calm her with what the ranger had told us, but we weren’t quite on the same page. When I saw a ranger at a cabin I jumped out and asked him regarding the bear problem. The man could confirm that there would be no bears in this area as they had all congregated for mating to the other main campground in the valley. I relayed that information to Bea and we found a nice square opening with a bench to sit on and room to put our little tent. While I pitched the tent, Bea was examining the close surroundings, and it didn’t take her long to discover claw marks on a tree. In fact, as she went on she found several trees, all situated nicely around our tent site, showing distinct claw marks. After we had supper we retired to the inside of the tent and I fell asleep pretty soon. That, however, was not to be for Bea. Next morning she asked me whether I hadn’t heard the nightly commotion outside. Nope, I had slept, hadn’t even had a nightmare! Well as her story went on it appeared to have been some pot banging from other campers and there could only be one reason: A grizzly had been snooping around. Needless to say, Bea had not been sleeping but been listening into the night. This was just the first of our adventures after we arrived in Canada. Many more did follow over the years. Thanks for following us to the west! 2 new followers have joined in the tracks of the American-Traveler. We welcome Ken Pratt who has two blogs of his own, and “Annkay7348”. Welcome onboard folks. Sit back, unbuckle the spurs and enjoy the show! blogger Tags: Canada, Adventure