Alberta

I've posted this and the last photo as reminder of what we are going through here in Washington and as a tribute to those who are busy fighting the fires, some of them from as far away as Australia and New Zealand, and three of them (National Forest Service firefighters) who died in these efforts. It has been the worst season ever for fires not only in Washington but across the Pacific Northwest. As I noted with the previous photo, this fire was not in Washington but near Saskatchewan Crossing in Alberta in 2014. We had stopped to photograph the helicopters involved in fighting the fire which was not even visible away from the road when two motorcyclists roared by us. As they disappeared into the distance the wind kicked up the fire and suddenly it was near enough the road that we could feel its heat. With the fire so close and firefighters suddenly rushing around we knew our curiosity had no place there and prepared to drive away. As we did the motorcyclists came tearing back out of the smoke and this one stopped and looked back as if to say "that was a very close call." My wife snapped this photo just before they and we left the fire behind us the firefighters barricaded and closed the road.

This summer has been the hottest and driest on record for our state and now we are going through the worst-ever wildfire season with twenty-nine fires currently burning across the state including the largest fire in state history. Over a million acres have burned, mostly east of the mountains, three firefighters have lost their lives and many homes and businesses have burned. We are getting some cooler weather and rain now but very high winds yesterday knocked out power across western Washington and hampered the efforts to fight some of the fires. This photo was taken last summer near Saskatchewan Crossing in Alberta, and is the closest I've ever been to a wildfire. We had seen and smelled the smoke before we turned down Highway 11 towards Rocky Mountain House and Red Deer. At first we saw only burnt-over areas with occasional burst of flame at quite a distance from the road and on the other side of the river, but as we went further the smoke became heavier and we saw helicopters dipping huge buckets in the river to dump on the fire. We stopped to photograph the helicopters when suddenly the wind kicked up and the fire was in the trees near the road. We could feel the heat and hear the roar of the flames and decided we had better get out of there. As we drove away the they were setting up barricades to close the road. At that point a couple of motorcyclists who had passed us and disappeared into the smoke came hurrying back. Well beyond the danger zone we stopped again and took pictures of the smoke which was rising high into the atmosphere and blotting out the view to the east. We learned later that the fire, started by lightning, was called the Spreading Creek Fire and burned about 17,000 acres, quite small fire compared to the largest burning now in Washington which has destroyed over 300,000 acres. The photo was taken by my wife and shows the fires burning in the trees along the road just before we drove away and before the fire service people closed the road.

This is another of my wife's photos and another in which she outdid me. On our recent trip to Edmonton we spent several days in the Canadian Rockies and hiked one afternoon near Canmore to Grassi Lakes. This photo was taken at the first of the lakes and was the best photo of the day in my opinion.

We were traveling up Highway 93 through Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies and had crossed the Saskatchewan River when we noticed smoke from a forest fire over the river and country to the east. Just beyond the river Highway 93 intersected Highway 11 and we decided to travel down Highway 11 to see whatever was visible of the fire. We were warned that there was a lot of smoke and that we should drive carefully. After traveling through an area where we could see the remains of the fire in the distance we saw helicopters with buckets scooping water from a nearby lake and dumping it on the fire not far south of the road. We stopped to take pictures of the copters when suddenly the wind kicked up and all of a sudden the fire was roaring in the trees right next to the road and we could feel the heat. It was obvious that the fire was coming toward us and we got away as quickly as possible. As we left we found that they were closing the road just to the west. We later learned that the fire had been started by lightning on July 3rd and actually did burn into Banff before being contained. The fire is now known as the Spreading Creek Wildfire and continues to burn though it classified as "contained." This is one of the last pictures we took before driving away.

We've been traveling the past week through the Canadian Rockies, camping, hiking and sightseeing. We've been through Kootenay, Banff and Jasper National Parks and Mount Robson Provincial Park and are now for a while in Edmonton visiting children and grandchildren. We saw a group of these Mountain Goats in Jasper two days ago and stopped for pictures.

One more photo from Canada and then on to other things. This is another view of the Maligne Canyon in Jasper National Park in Alberta. It shows how narrow this canyon can be.

The Maligne River and its canyon are in Jasper National Park in Alberta. At one point the canyon is so narrow that the river cannot even be seen. This is one of the areas where the river is somewhat more accessible.

Maligne Lake is in the northeast part of Jasper National Park, Alberta. It is a popular tourist destination and if you look closely you can see a boat in the distance and a small red buoy towards the foreground. I haven't looked up the peaks in the distance but if I find time will do so and add a note.

The American Moose, Alces alces, is the largest living animal in the deer family. This young male was photographed in Jasper National Park, Alberta.