HOOFED MAMMALS: Mountain Goat Stories-V

Finding Mountains Goats with their young kids is a delight. Baby animals are just like baby humans, they are cute, playful, and cuddly. About 70 miles south of Jasper you come to the Columbia Icefields. The Icefields is a flat "straightaway"  that varies between 100 to 300 yards wide and runs for several miles. It gets an average of 275 inches of snowfall per year. There are eight major glaciers feeding the Icefields. There are eleven mountains all of about 12,000 feet lining both sides of the Icefields. The Icefield sits atop a "triple" Continental Divide. The Athabasca River and the North Saskatchewan River and the tributaries of the Columbia River all originate in the Columbia Icefield. So, the Columbia River  eventually flows into the Pacific Ocean dividing Washington State from Oregon. The Athabasca River ultimately arrives in the Arctic Ocean and the Saskatchewan ultimately in the Hudson Bay and thus North Atlantic Ocean. This is the Canadian Rockies at its finest. You have a clear view of the Athabasca Glacier from the road that parallels the Icefields. I once saw a big Bull Moose casually strolling down the middle of the Icefields, but I'll leave that to another day. And, if you recall, I told you of the story of the Coyote strolling down the middle of the Icefields just a couple weeks ago. On another occasion, though,  I stopped along side the road and got out to admire the scenery. At the very top of one mountain cliff I saw what looked like a Mountain Goat. I got out my binoculars and confirmed the sighting. So, I decided this would be a great place for lunch. I made myself a sandwich, cottage cheese, chips, poured a drink and waited. After an hour, and a delicious sandwich, I took another look through the binoculars. Not only had the Mountain Goat come halfway down the cliff, I now could clearly see a baby carefully descending the cliff behind its mom. After another hour wait, the Mountain Goat and Kid arrived at the bottom, providing me wonderful photos and memories:

HOOFED MAMMALS: Mountain Goat Stories-IV

Occasionally, Mountain Goats will find a "mineral lick" which then becomes an annual trek and gives photographers (and tourists) an opportunity to see these magnificent animals. I am sure there is a physiological explanation -- maybe like our taking vitamins -- but the soil in these areas is rich in minerals.  One such "mineral lick" is just past Athabasca Falls about 20 miles south of Jasper, Alberta. Like all animals you want to respect them -- and their deadly ability to defend themselves and their offspring. And, again the answer is make sure the animal knows you are present and are not interested in harming them in any way. Maintain a safe distance and viola:

I love how the young kid's face is more round, while the adult is more elongated. This is also true of Moose. If this young kid wasn't white, you could easily think it was a Bison calf.

HOOFED MAMMALS: Mountain Goat Stories-III

Sometimes you get lucky. I had made the trip up Mount Evans, Colorado several times looking for Mountain Goats. But this time I was lucky. I came across about 50 Mountain Goats in a meadow at about 13,000 feet. I not only could see them, but could hike down into the meadow to get close. This requires some forethought. Not just which is the easiest route, but which is the least likely to disturb the Goats as I transcend the mountain. A very slow serpentine pattern seemed to be the best course of action. After about 20 minutes I got close enough to get a dozen or so:

I continued my serpentine pattern until I got within about 25 - 30 feet away. Then sat down on a rock (similar to the ones you see in the first photo). Once I was sitting, they seemed quite comfortable and actually decided to sit as well:

After another 30 minutes some of the little "kids" got up and started walking around. Not any closer toward me -- but, wandering as kids do. This was my favorite photo of the day:

You can't really tell from the photo but the kids are on the edge, and between them and the large rocks behind them is a drop of a thousand feet or more. I loved all the wildflowers, even though it was 2500 feet above the treeline.

HOOFED MAMMALS: Mountain Goat Stories-II

The search for Mountain Goats requires some research and prior planning. First, they are only found in North America and were historically only in the Cascade and Rocky Mountain Ranges in the lower 48. Populations have been introduced into the Olympic Mountains in Washington, and in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado with moderate success. But those populations are fairly small. As a general rule Mountain Goats stay above the tree line but will migrate to lower elevations at times during the year. When above the tree line it becomes problematic to get close enough for a good photo. I thought I would show you some of those challenges today. All of these photos were taken with a 400 mm super telephoto lens. First, is at Grays Peak in Colorado. You can barely see an adult Mountain Goat with a kid right on the skyline. In the lower part of the photo you can see three other Mountain Goats:

In the next photo, taken at Torrey Mountain, Colorado you can see six Mountain Goats foraging on vegetation in the middle of the photo. 

In the next photo taken in Yellowstone, you almost have to trust me. There is a single Mountain Goat in the very center of the photo. The larger "white" spots are snow. 

Okay, maybe you can't see it. I'll zoom in closer. I left the patch of snow in so you could get the Mountain Goat's position better:

The next photo is a herd of maybe 10-15 foraging on a grassy shelf. The photo is from Mount Coleman in Alberta.

My intent in showing these photos is not just to tell the story of how difficult it can be finding certain animals, but also getting close enough once you do find them to get a good photo. 

HOOFED MAMMALS: Mountain Goat Stories

I love Mountain Goats! Let's start with what amazing climbers they are. Their feet are well suited for climbing steep rocky slopes with pitches of more than 60 degrees. In fact, in the photo below it almost looks like a 90 degree pitch. Their feet have inner pads that provide traction and cloven hooves that can be spread apart as needed; and dewclaws that are sharp to keep them from slipping. Several years ago I was traveling in Glacier National Park, Montana and came across a single Mountain Goat drinking water from the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. I watched in amazement when he turned and started up the cliff (from which he probably had come down):

I found a way to descend my side of the canyon wall to get a closer photo. It wasn't quite as easy for me, probably because I don't have cloven hoofs and dewclaws. Here's the best I could do:

CARNIVORES: Grizzly Stores Part III

I should probably tell you my first Grizzly Story, although there is no photo. I was fly fishing with my youngest daughter Ashley. I had taken her on a fishing trip into some of the back country lakes in British Columbia. In this case it happened to be Plateau Lake. To get there required using a very difficult and challenging road -- 4x4 high clearance and winch required. We were the only ones at the lake. We got out in our float tubes just at dawn the first morning. The water was still and the mist coming off the lake provided an idyllic setting. We were in the shallow end fishing up against the shoreline. Ashley was about 75 yards away from me when I heard a thump, thump through the woods. To my astonishment it was a fully grown male Grizzly Bear. Since Ashley had the camera I couldn't take a photo. I waved my arms to get Ashley's attention so she could come closer and take the photo. A minute passed and she was no closer to me (and the bear). In fact she may have been further away. So, I wave my arms again signaling her to come with the camera. This time I got the Grizzly's attention. I was in water about three feet deep, and the Grizzly Bear was no more than 10 feet away from me. As he stood up my mouth and eyes opened. This was the most amazing and beautiful animal I had ever seen in my life. He was 8 feet tall and probably weighed well over 1000 pounds! I was awestruck. The Grizzly could have easily waded out in the water a couple of feet and done what ever he wanted with me. I could had hit him with my fly rod I was that close. But, no, he wasn't interested in me. He went back down on all fours and "waddled" up the shoreline about 50 yards and then disappeared into the words. It was only then that my heart started pounding. It was truly a one-in-a-lifetime experience. 

So, I don't leave you today without a photo, here are a couple of Grizzlies I caught in Yellowstone late one Spring:

CARNIVORES: Grizzly Stores Part II

Back in 2003 I was in Yellowstone when I came across fifty or so cars lined along the road. I immediately pulled over at the nearest spot not even knowing what people were looking at. When I got to the scene it was two medium sized Grizzly Bears eating an Elk that probably died during the winter. There were a dozen or more professional photographers, amateurs, families with children, etc. I stayed  for about an hour. While I knew that sooner or later the Grizzlies would get up and walk away, I decided not to stay longer. By this time there were over a hundred people and two or three rangers so getting around wasn't easy. This is often the Yellowstone story. And, here are some of my photos:

I am off now to Flagstaff, picking up daughter Ashley at the Phoenix airport (who just landed a job on Wall Street -- not, financial, but with an architectural firm). We are all going to celebrate grand-daughter Ruby's birthday in Flag. So, a couple days off for me. See you Tuesday.