Today is forever

Up in a meadow in Jasper, Alberta  
Two men and four ponies on a long, lonesome ride  
To see the high country and learn of her people  
The ways that they live there, 
the ways that they die  
One is a teacher, and one a beginner  
Just wanting to be there, wanting to know

And together they're trying to tell us a story  
That should have been listened to long, long ago  
How the life in the mountains is living in danger  
From too many people, too many machines  
And the time is upon us, today is forever  
Tomorrow is just one of yesterday's dreams

Cold nights in Canada and icy blue winds  
The man and the mountains are brothers again  
Clear waters are laughing, they sing to the skies  
The Rockies are living, they never will die

Up in a meadow in Jasper, Alberta
Two men and four ponies on a long, lonesome ride

~John Denver, Rocky Mountain Suite*

The old snow-cover still blanketed the meadows and the mountains. Weather reports have been in constant flux. The clear sky promised for a night or two was not to be (so no chance of the northern lights). At least we would be able to sleep. We breakfasted and headed out for the Red Squirrel hiking trail that would take us up to the old fort area. After viewing the frozen trail we walked along the road and then through the snow to wooden stairs leading up towards our goal.

"Dangerous Intersection" two ways.

I fretted a little that we weren't out in the snow. That would come.

All the sun we saw.

The Red Squirrel trail rather iced over.

<Sigh>

The Athabasca River

This bridge over the Athabasca River was narrow, but had a great pedestrian walk.

We are here "in between" times. It snows, it rains, it freezes, and it thaws. This chunk of ice had broken off the edge of the river and showed a a beautiful blue that doesn't show in the photo.

Many steps.

Many, many steps.

I fell in the snow at the same time I saw a real red squirrel scramble up one of the fir trees. I did not want to miss getting a photo of something besides crows and house sparrows. I stood below and watched the movement of the squirrel, but couldn't get good view from 20+ feet below him. Darn - so disappointing. As we headed up the steps it dawned on us - if the squirrel stayed on the same limb, we would be able to get a view of it from the steps - and so we did.**

Really. That is a squirrel - right in the middle of the photo. It's a Red Squirrel.

We turned back when the next set of steps appeared too icy to chance as did the only other trail. We have days to go on this adventure and must get the young one home for school in four days. There is no time for recklessness.***

It is hard to see from here, but even if we could get beyond the icy path to the steps, they were covered in ice.

This path was all ice and the ground above and below on too great a slant to risk a slip and fall.

After looking for another path we decided to turn back. And then we saw them - coming down the road - two grey wolves. DH and I exclaimed together, "WOLVES!" I fumbled for the cell in time to catch one heading away from us.

The other wolf had already disappeared into the woods.

"You might get some prints over there," suggested DH. The one wolf had walked beyond a barricade and there was some snow there. We headed over to examine the ground. Much of it was too mushy for a track. But then there it was, one perfect new track in the snow.

It's a wolf track.

We had moved around far enough to connect with part of the trail and decided to attempt to walk the trail back through the woods. We each had a different technique. I mostly sank in the snow and my feet began to feel the wet, but not the cold.  A couple from Australia hiking in the opposite direction shared that they had spotted elk on the other side of town. We talked about the wolves.

The snow wasn't too deep, but every now and then we'd sink four to 10 inches down.

The trail through the woods.

Plenty for the squirrels to eat.

Climbing up out of the woods it was time to take to the road again.

Someone made a smiling friend along the trail.

It was a good walk, made great by the views - mountains and rivers and some special creatures - crows, squirrel, dogs, and wolves.

Coffee and hot chocolate awaited us at the cafe. And the rain began to fall.



NOTES:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRUDX2zXXXw
** It's a bad photo, but the database knew it was a squirrel.
***That being said, there is an ice hike tomorrow (but the tour brings ice cleats).

FINAL NOTE:

We check the post office for postcard postage to the states before we headed back to rest. There we found wolf postcards! Grey Wolf research on iNaturalist disclosed that some have been reported near our sighting. Other research disclosed that wolf experts are divided about many things including how many species of wolves there are and which might actually be subspecies of Grey Wolf. We are not experts, but we are pretty sure about what we saw - wolves in the woods.