Pyramid Lake

Ted woke me up at 6:30 this morning to see the fourteen elk that were in the field across the road from us.  There was one young male with short antlers who the females kept nipping at  to get him to leave.  Eventually he did go off by himself and laid down of the hill in front of us.  There were three young ones who were laying down by the time I got up but who Ted said were frolicking around when he first saw them.  Every once in awhile one would get up and nip at another to come play which they did for a short while before they laid down again.  The rest were adult females.  We watched them for a long while before they wandered away.  We kept seeing one in the campground off and on all day.

After a late breakfast of homemade waffles, we got ready and drove up to Pyramid Lake which is not far from the center of town.  We passed Patricia Lake and then turned in a side road where we found a really nice beach to launch.  Pyramid Lake is horseshoe shaped and quite a bit larger than Lac Beauvert where we paddled yesterday.  The water was calm and we tried to get good pictures of the reflections of Pyramid Mountain in the water.  The mountain, which we have seen from almost every angle and from every place we have been was too tall to get all of it and all of its reflection but it is really beautiful and worth a try.

We paddled counterclockwise again shortly passing the resort where they rent kayaks, boats and paddle boats.  Like Lac Beauvert, the bottom was covered in glacial silt.  The only difference was the cans on the bottom instead of golf balls.  Actually, the color of this lake was much darker, more green than turquoise.  There is an island in the lake with a bridge out to it.  There was a wedding party getting ready on the island.  We passed them by and started up the long cove toward the outlet.  Two other kayaks were all we saw of other humanity.

After the outlet, we came upon another beach where we stopped for a break.  There was a couple from Saskatchewan with their adult son in a canoe.  We chatted with them for awhile and then took a quick swim.  After they left, we sat in the sun for a bit and I went in again.  The water was quite warm near the shore but got progressively colder as I swam out.

Halfway down the other side, Ted said he saw a couple of ducks up ahead.  We then heard a big slash to our right and up came a loon with a small silver fish in its mouth.  She went under again and came up to what were her chicks and not ducks.  They were much larger than the one we saw yesterday with thick brown down all over them.  She fed one the fish and as we sat and watched, she dived, fed, and dived again many times.  What a special thing to witness.  We paddled out around them so we wouldn't disturb and continued our paddle around the lake. 

Loon With Fish in Mouth

Loon With Two Babies

Loon Teaching Two Chicks to Fish

Up ahead was the mountain with the Tramway we had ridden on Friday.  The smoke from the forest fire down by Saskatchewan Crossing was getting more noticeable all the time so we could barely make out the building at the top of Whistlers.  They have closed the road south off and on so we may need to go a different route over towards Edmonton in order to get back to Montana.  We will see what a couple of days bring.

Whistlers Mountain in the Smoke

Ted went to wash the kayaks and brought back a pesto, spinach, goat cheese and chorizo pizza.  Great combination.  Must try to make it sometime.  By this time, it was 98 degrees.  We sure didn't expect that in the Canadian Rockies.