What time do they let the bears out?

No trip to the Canadian Rockies would be complete without a visit to the turquoise waters of Lake Louise - so that's where we headed at the weekend and hit the tourist trail. The overflowing car park suggested that the trails around the lake would be hectic, but it seems that most people just get out of their vehicle, walk twenty metres to the lake shore, take a picture with the Victoria Glacier in the background and then wander back to their car as the man in leather shorts serenades them with his Aplenhorn.
A hike up the Big Beehive made for super vistas down the Bow Valley and we managed to dodge

the clouds for most parts of the day (having left Cochrane in baking sunshine, the clear sky didn't stretch as far as Lake Louise).

To cap the weekend off, a stint up to the Rae Glacier was had on Sunday. The Highwood Pass only opened on June 15th, so we mosied on down into Kananaskis Country and up to Elk Lake and the Rae Glacier. At the summit of our hike, a kind man calmly informed us of the Grizzly Sow and two cubs that had just been spotted on the steep, well treed trail that we had climbed - and had to descend. Needless to say, we made the return trip to the car much noisier!!
So perhaps it doesn't matter if we don't get to spot a bear this year. We've problably wandered past many critters without noticing them, just like this little feller, who I didn't see on the way down from Lake Agnes until Brina yelped as I was nearly about to stand on him;

Obviously porcupines have nothing to fear - certainly not me - as their 30 000 quils will stop anything in their tracks. So they tend to sit around soaking up the sun, watching the world go by.