Wandering while stuck

Until the painters are done and the fireplace installed and the water well fixed, we're not moving in to our new home. And since we're ready for all those jobs to happen (even if they're not ready for us), we are stuck with little work to do. The weather this week hasn't been too conducive to hiking, but this afternoon it turned nice and warmed up to 18° or so in the sunshine, so we did a lap of the woods near the West Wing.


The first thing we found? Evidence of bears.

Bear poop full of berries 

A stump ripped apart for the ant colony

The signs of fall are clear.

Ripe red rose hips 

Willows turning red

The river is down from torrential levels and has assumed it's proper turquoise colour.

Fast flowing but still 

How many times have I posted this view of Grotto? 

Looking back to the Sisters and the Ehagay Nakoda Range

We saw lots of deer and elk tracks in the mud of the river bank, and a bunch of canids, too, but it's hard to tell if they're domestic dogs, coyotes or wolves. It's also pine cone collecting season for the dozens of squirrels we ran into, each of which had to yell at us for a minute or two.

A staring contest. I won.

It was a really nice afternoon. Right up to the point where it started raining.

That towering cu wasn't the only one around

And of course it started raining when we were farthest away from home. Fortunately, it was a sun shower, and "farthest away" was only about 2 km, and the shower was light. But it lasted all the way home.