“Yukon Ho!” Roadtrip, Total Animal Sightings

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Back to the "Yukon Ho!" Adventure...

 

Here's the thing: Before we actually made it home, we also went into Banff, had lunch, went to the Candy Store, ate fudge...etc.. and I planned to write about Banff and Canmore now... but I don't feel like it. Right now, when I think of Banff and Canmore, I can only think "flood" and "mudslide" and so I'm going to save that segment for another time. We go there all the time, anyway, so it's not like this is my only time to talk about that VERY BEAUTIFUL area.

 

And, so ends the great Yukon Adventure.

 

As I’ve mentioned throughout this particular trip off and on – we saw TONS of animals! TONS!!

 

I didn’t show any pictures because I decided to wait till the conclusion. There’s not a lot to say about them, but here there are, “without further ado” :

 

Black Bear, the Ursus Americanus, native to North America (we saw 10).

Moose, the Alces alces (apparently, the Alces alces in Europe is an Elk, but in North America, a Moose)…we saw 4, including the baby moose.

Elk, the Cervus canadensis… THIS is an Elk. (We only saw 1. This one doesn’t have antlers, but if you want to see a picture with antlers, either Google, or check out my Jasper blog…it’s a dark picture but may be the biggest elk I’ve ever seen…)

Found another elk picture from another Jasper trip:

Deer, the Mule (Odocoileus hemionus) and the White tail (Odocoileus virginianus). We saw 8, but I can’t remember how many of each…

Coyote (pronounced “Kai-o-tee”), the Canis latrans, is also called an American Jackal (I didn’t know this!). We saw 3.

Caribou, the Rangifer tarandus… is also called a Reindeer… I didn’t know this either… We saw 7.

Buffalo, the Bison bison…we saw 14 adults and 1 baby.

Mountain Goat, the Oreamnos americanus. We saw 4.

 

Dall Sheep, the Ovis dalli (or maybe they are Bighorn Sheep, the Ovis canadensis?).. Technically, the Dall Sheep are northern, and the Bighorn Sheep are southern, but “southern” includes parts of middle British Columbia… Anyway, we saw 4.

Golden Eagle, the Aquila chrysaetos. We saw a bunch of birds – ravens, hawks and tons of the little ones, too, but I’m just including the Eagle. We only saw one. In fact, in my whole life, I’ve never seen a Golden Eagle. This is my first one. And, actually … until a few minutes ago, I thought I had taken a picture of a Bald Eagle, the Haliaeetus leucocephalus. Huh.

Golden Eagle, the Aquila chrysaetos. We saw a bunch of birds – ravens, hawks and tons of the little ones, too, but I’m just including the Eagle. We only saw one. In fact, in my whole life, I’ve never seen a Golden Eagle. This is my first one. And, actually … until a few minutes ago, I thought I had taken a picture of a Bald Eagle, the Haliaeetus leucocephalus. Huh.

We also saw 2 Grizzly Bears, the Ursus arctos horribilis.. It seems a bit harsh, don’t you think, to call them “horribilis”?… My pictures of them are terrible (horrible ), since I didn’t want to roll down the window to take the pictures, and I just got blur and smudge. But, if you haven’t seen an actual Grizzly or a picture of one before, I have a blog about them ~ Montana Grizzly Encounters.

Well! That’s it! so concludes this particular road trip. We were safely home in Calgary, and Richard & Shannan and crew continued on to Michigan.

 

You may recall that before I started writing about the Yukon to Calgary Roadtrip, I was writing about a tour around the Big Island of Hawaii, but had a complication with my Hawaii photos. Complication resolved. Back to Hawaii next time.

 

 

Calgary Comes Together

I just want to announce: We survived!

 

There’s a lot to deal with after The Flood, and Calgarians are responding in overwhelming ways!

 

For example: early Monday morning, the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) announced that they needed volunteers to meet at McMahon Stadium to hand out information packets to displaced people who would (eventually) be returning home. They expected around 600.

 

Thanks to social media sites, around 3,000 people had arrived by 10am, all ready with boots and gloves, to start the Clean-up.

 

There’s so many examples of that. So many reception centers have had to put notices on line that they can no longer take donations, because the generosity of the people has outweighed storage space. (Not including, of course, monetary donations, which are always needed…and easily stored…)

 

There are specific websites, too, that are very specific with their “needs” lists, so you don’t have to use your imagination.

 

There’s also sites for WHERE to go to volunteer:
http://www.yychelps.ca/
http://volunteercalgary.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/calgary-flood-donation-drop-off-points-and-wish-lists/
Calgary Flood Cleanup 2013

 

(There was a pamphlet that outlined important information for volunteers…it included what to expect, what to wear, and how to protect against grime and contaminants…I can’t find it now, but if you are going to volunteer – you should find it!! Or if someone reading this finds it, please add it in the comments! Thanks!)

 

AND, there’s also websites set up for the reuniting of pets with their families.
Calgary Flood Lost/Found Pets & Fostering
Horizon Veterinary Group and Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (These sites aren’t specific about the flood, but include separated pets)

 

Using these sites, I had the very exciting privilege, yesterday, to help a puppy reunite with his family. I was browsing Calgary Flood Lost/Found Pets & Fostering on Facebook and, in passing, I saw a message from Horizon Veterinary Group about a Found pet that was the same breed and seemed to have the same expressions, etc., so I called the owner and next thing I know, he’s on his other line with the Veterinary Clinic that had the puppy, and was going to go pick him up!

 

It’s not all Clean-up. There are still power outages (as of noon on July 25th, there were still 18,500 people without power), and there are many who can’t go home yet.

 

We are kept informed by news media sites that are kept up-to-date, so we aren’t overwhelmed by not knowing.
The City of Calgary
http://www.calgarycitynews.com/ and CTV News
660News
http://www.emergencyalert.alberta.ca/
http://alberta.ca/Recoveryinformation.cfm

 

 

And, the Zoo still has no power, many areas of the Zoo are still considered dangerous, AND they are having the added pressure of trying to move the animals back to their homes, without additional stress to the animals. Their current news release says they have enough manual help (for now), but financinal donations can be made at http://www.calgaryzoo.com/. (Apparently, the giraffes are highly sensitive and stressed out, and are having a hard time adjusting The Zoo people say that they seem to be recovering now, though, thankfully.)

 

In the meantime, volunteers are showing up all over the city – people are bringing food and coffee and water to the sites. If they can’t stay to do the work, they are dropping off supplies.

 

Awwww – and I just found a new bunch of websites that are people offering free services – like pumping out basements (Action Auger and Boreal Vac & Pressure Services, and maybe others, in case I miss someone) and repairing computers (Clever Concierge), to name a few - to Flood Victims.

 

There are tons of fundraisers going on – I can’t even list everything. Lots of concerts, restaurants, etc.

 

Sigh. These things are all making me teary…

The Calgary Stampede is coming up, and many wondered if the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth would go on (since just recently the Stampede Grounds were completely under water) and Mayor Nenshi has confirmed that “Yes, the Show must go on.” And, I’m not sure who added the “Come Hell or High Water” comment after that, but you can get that on a t-shirt now, with proceeds going to Flood Victims and Clean-up.

 

And did you notice the picture of the poster at the beginning of my blog? THAT is TODAY!!!!

 

Calgary's State of Emergency

I THOUGHT I was going to write about Banff today - discussing our "Yukon Ho" trip. We were coming down the Icefields Parkway, till it met the Trans-Canada Highway, where we would go East, towards Lake Louise, Banff and Canmore, and finally, Calgary.

 

However, instead, I want to talk about the Trans-Canada today. Actually, starting the day before yesterday, when it closed down, due to flooding and mudslides.

 

Southern Alberta is under a State of Emergency.

 

My city, Calgary, is under water, and it is TERRIBLE! TERRIBLE.

The Police are strongly suggesting people stay home, the downtown core has been evacuated, as well as homes along the Bow River, which runs through Calgary. Around 100,000 people have been evacuated.

 

Businesses downtown are unreachable, so people can't go in to work.

The army has been brought in. And (I'm proud to say) not because of violence and looting, but to rescue stranded people, and to help with clean-up (when that time comes.) Of course, they are, I'm sure, here to help maintain peace, but people are getting along pretty well. (Except the fights I've read about on Facebook - about the purchase of drinking water.)

 

So far, we are allowed to continue drinking our water, but the Water Treatment Plant has been submerged, and we are supposed to use our water cautiously (because of silt, I've read). When there was a hint of massive flooding, we went out and bought 20 gallons of drinking water, so we don't really have a panic. We also are supplementing our water with wine and beer...

Four districts in Calgary (as of Friday) had no power (I read 30,000 people)- their transformers are under water... and we don't know how that will affect us. We are fine now. Our internet is ebbing and flowing, but it could be coincidental.
 

We, personally, live about 500 feet above the flooding River (if you can call it a "river" now - it's more like a GIANT grayish-brown lake, flowing at 1500 feet per second, with white caps and debris), so we don't have to worry about the direct impact.

But, we've had friends who've had to evacuate their homes (middle of the night rescues Thursday night) after the police went door to door, strongly suggesting that they leave. ("Strongly suggesting" in that they weren't arresting people, but just stuck around until the resident left or someone came to pick them up....at least that's what happened to one of our friends...)
 

The Calgary Zoo is an island in the Bow River, and is now completely under water. The animals were all safely evacuated. Rumor has it that the Wild Cats are in jail...

By Friday night, the rain was stopping, and everyone was "hunkering down" for the night. The police were out on mountain bikes, patrolling downtown, people in shelters were finding their spots, and those who got to stay in our own houses (maybe with guests) were saying our prayers for the safety of others... (and also, updating Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with pictures from the day, or "borrowed" from friends and media.)
 

I woke up Saturday morning early, and the sky was blue and the sun was shining - it was glorious! The day before seemed too surreal - the sun was so happy, it seemed like the flood and darkness might have just been a nightmare. Technically, I knew that wasn't true, and I felt a little...selfish...that I could look into my backyard and not know that just "right over there" over the hill, in my own neighborhood, was terrible, terrible flooding.
 

The reports say that one of the rivers (The Elbow) had stabilized and was no long rising...not receding, but at least not rising. And, the other river, the larger one (The Bow) was also not rising or receding, but we should expect surges throughout the day, depending up what was happening up-stream.
 

Today (Saturday), the pictures on social media are hopeful (sunshine does that) - people being rescued, pets being rescued, boats with fireman going up and down the streets, hopes of some neighborhoods being able to return home ... Plans are being made for restoration, although it's way too soon to start....

And, then... it started to rain again... Such as sinking feeling... I couldn't even look...

Meanwhile, I've been talking about Calgary, because this is where I live... but upstream, Banff and Canmore have also suffered so much destruction, including water and mudslides wiping out the Trans-Canada Highway.
 

The www.emergencyalert.alberta.ca website has a listed of so many other towns and communities that are being affected, and who are on "critical" and "high" alert.
 

The site tells that "The Bow River Basin has received 250 millimeters of precipitation since Wednesday morning and the river levels are rising in response to heavy precipitation. There is a large amount of water travelling across land. This is leading to localized flooding. The areas around the Bow river and its tributaries have reached dangerous flooding levels. " (250 millimeters is just about 10 inches...This report was Friday, around noon, Mountain Standard Time.)

So, I've checked out the Bow River Basin - it starts around Lake Louise, and eventually meets the Old Man River, right before Medicine Hat (which is about to be flooded - they've already started evacuating), where it becomes the South Saskatchewan River (which we visited in a previous blog), which will eventually run into the Arctic Ocean...
 

What I've learned is that the terrible ("terrible" is my word for everything about this flood - I want to be more imaginative, but my brain is tired from all the terribleness) flooding in High River isn't caused from the same flooding that Calgary's flooding is. While ours is coming from the Bow River Basin, the High River flooding is caused by the OldMan River Basin flooding... and the flooding at Bragg Creek is caused by flooding of Elbow River (we visited Elbow Falls in a previous blog)... Elbow River joins Bow River IN Calgary... :( Two flooding rivers meeting right in the middle of the city.. And all three rivers will come together right before Medicine Hat ....
 

I guess it really doesn't matter, now, who/which "caused it."
 

All that matters is:
~ that people and animals are safe and/or being rescued
~ that we realize the rescue teams are heros ~ some have even lost their own homes, but instead of wallowing in self-pity, they are out there, rescuing
~ that people continue to kind and patient towards eachother
~ the people don't despair
~ that people don't take advantage of the suffering of others

And, even though my brain keeps wanting to sing: "And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard ~ It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall"... I keep insisting that, instead, it sings: "THE SUN WILL COME OUT TOMORROW"...

(PS...Some of my blog has to be updated - many are being returned to their homes, the water supply has been confirmed safe still (we are just on restrictions)...but I wanted to publish this early this morning, but had complications with the power...Will update more later.)