August 14, 2025
Here is the rest of what I saw as I drove north on Hwy 40 and back to Canmore.
These were the two bighorn sheep I posted out of sequence earlier in my trip. I had seen so many signs over the years warning me to watch out for them that I was excited when I finally saw some!
My next excursion will be back to the town of Banff to spend some more time there before I move on to Calgary and points east.
August 14, 2025
I didn’t mention in the first post that Kananaskis Country is big. It covers over 1,500 square miles, larger than four of the six National Parks I visited while based in Golden. Lots provincial parks, rivers, hiking trails, lakes (large and small) and other publicly accessible areas.
Here are more things I saw as I started driving back from the southern end.
At one point I was pretty sure I saw a marmot run across the road. There was a small park nearby so I pulled off the road, parked and waited. Sure enough two them came out of their burrows and looked around.
The small marmot above is acting as a sentry. I had quickly pulled off parallel to the road near the entrance to a parking area and when I stopped I realized it was right in front of my car (like only a few feet away) looking right at me. He never flinched. The only time he moved was when I got out of the car with my camera, at which point he ran back to shelter to alert his friends (which he would have already done audibly). I waited, trying to hide behind the stop sign post, and in a short while he came right back out and resumed him position (I had pulled my car back into the parking area by then).
It was the same thing the first set of marmots I saw were doing. Looking for danger so they can alert others.
This what I had stopped to take a picture of:
This is a sign I have started to see more and more often. I don’t really understand the significance of it, as the intersection I ultimately encounter doesn’t seem to be any different than other intersection.
Just another Canadian thing, I guess…
August 14, 2025
After reviewing literature I picked up while visiting Banff and Canmore I decided to drive down to an area called Kananaskis Country. To get there I would drive 19 miles south and east on Canmore on the Trans Canada Highway and then turn south on Hwy 40. Kananaskis (pronounced cannon-ASK-iss) Country is accessed via a nice, two lane scenic drive through some beautiful countryside.
One of the first things I noticed as I started driving south was the presence of cattleguards in the road (in Canada they call them Texas Gates).
I see them lots of places but hadn’t really noticed them in Canada until now. They keep cattle from leaving areas where farmers or ranchers would like them to stay by creating slots which their hooves would drop into, thereby preventing them from getting by. They are generally accompanied by signs warning drivers of “Free Range” animals ahead. In this case, cattle are allowed to cross the main road to get to fields or pastures on the other side but are prevented from getting too far on the road itself.
While I was now in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies there were still sizeable mountains along my route. There were some low clouds as I drove south but they would lift later in the day. Once again, many of the mountains were different in appearance than others I have seen Canada.
Can you say moo? This is a prime example of what I was talking about earlier. There were no cattleguards preventing these cows from getting up to the main road but there were some going north and south from here to prevent them from walking off.
This was taken from a rise in the road looking back the way I came. You can see it was still overcast up by the TCH but it was getting sunnier where I was headed. I would drive about 40 miles south before turning around to go back.
These were taken at the point where I decided to start back. It was near a small town which I can’t even find on the map. There were lots of stuffed animals, painted white or faded by the sun, attached to the fenceposts near the road.
There was a sign nearby for Bearspaw Nation, which is made up of several indigenous tribes in the area. These animals are generally a memorial to children of indigenous tribes who died in residential schools, apparently a big problem years ago in Canada and perhaps elsewhere. In some cases they are memorials to children killed in accidents or by illness.
I turned around and started heading north. Guess what I found in the road, right around the same place as I saw them before?
I’ve been telling people who ask about how many and what types of animals I have seen during my trip that I have undoubtedly seen more cows in the road (not only here but elsewhere) than anything else. Eagles and moose are probably next, and after that the numbers are very small.
The first photo of the cows was taken at 1117am. The photo above was taken two hours later. I don’t know for a fact but I am pretty sure they are the same cows. I also saw groups of cows resting in the grassy areas next to the road.
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