It has been one week since Lyle and I were air lifted out from William Watson Lodge. Our motor home is still there. Still, in light of the property loss and emotional trauma suffered by many others in the Calgary and High River area, we count ourselves lucky. By contrast, ours is only a temporary inconvenience.
While it is devastating to think about the property damage
and urban loss caused by the rising floodwaters, it is also sad to think about
the destruction of much of the natural landscape. In the days before the rain,
Lyle and I were on the road between Radium and Banff.
I enjoy being in the mountains. The drive between Radium and Banff
was quite lovely. We stopped at Simpson
River for a picnic lunch. We
noticed that the river was already running quite high and had a brown/yellow
colour with silt, sand and mud stirred up from the bottom.
When we pulled into the little parking lot, Lyle could see a
large moose standing on one of the banks in the shallows. Earlier in the day
and closer to Radium, we had also seen a small black bear. He was busy eating
the dandelions in the ditch. Later in the Kananaskis
Valley, Lyle saw a grizzly as it
crossed the road and ambled into the trees. It was bear season and there were
lots of warning signs about. I am always a little anxious about this, thinking
that I would never be able to see a bear approaching. I wonder about the fate
of all the forest creatures and hope that they were able to escape from the floodwaters
to safety.
There are three pictures with this. The first photo is of
the small black bear by the roadside. Unfortunately, the little bear didn’t
stop to pose and so the picture shows him ambling away from the camera.
 |
| Black bear on a stroll |
In the second picture, I am standing by the bank of the
Simpson River. The water level is high but the rain didn’t start here until the
following day. Along with the rain came melting snow from the mountain peaks
and subsequent washouts in this same area.
 |
| Sue in front of the Simpson River |
In the third picture, I am sitting on a rock beside the
river. Perhaps you can get the sense of
the rushing water by the white waves pushing against the sand and rocks.
 |
| Sitting on a rock |
No comments:
Post a Comment