Kitimat wildlife

It was so great to see Casey & Kim and be able to visit a few days. Kim was working all week, but Casey had some time off so was able to show us around the town.We did some really nice hikes: one along the river through forest and on to some beautiful gravel banks and sandy beaches, and the other to the "Giant Spruce" then along the river. Casey was telling us all his Grizz stories as we were bushwhacking along the river bank, and pointed out some nice deep tracks in the mud. We're used to our relatively harmless & typically chill Coastal Black Bears, who can be chased off easily- I once had to squeeze by one on a porch using a recycling bin as a shield. He stopped chewing the garbage to stare at this insane human screeching at him for a few seconds and went back to his meal. Mike & I saw a Mama Black Bear with cub near Telegraph cove on our way up Vancouver Island , quite close to a sign reading " No Black Bear Hunting"so we assume she was on her way over there. Also saw a large Male running up one of the gravel backroads we were travelling on, racing for the bush and safety. Grizzlies are a tad different, as our son was explaining as we wandered casually through their territory. We did have 5 dogs racing through the bushes with us however- 2 Jack Russell terriers as possible Bear timbits, and 3 huskies to hopefully provide enough distraction . Fortunately we didn't have to test this theory,and enjoyed our hike. Had some real food which was especially exciting as we've had to re purpose our Van oven as a dog food cupboard ,and I only cook stove top meals. Fantastic prime rib dinner at the "Chalet" ! its still cold at night here, and has been windy which is great -no bugs! On our trip East to ON a few years ago we encountered mosquitos with air traffic control and squadron formations that hovered excitedly outside the Suburban just waiting for one of us to get out. We finally got a Motel one night and it looked like the aftermath of a horror movie the next morning with splattered blood all over the room. mostly mine. No idea how they got in, perhaps they flew ahead to wait. Here, the 5 dogs have been having a great time with each other . Burton, Caseys' Malamute likes to be the pack leader, and he's big with the beautiful looks and singing voice to do it well, so all the others have complied with orders. The JRTs can easily get out of the back yard so have visited a few of the Browns neighbours... oops. They use our cat door at home to get in and out, and Marlowe presented himself early Easter morning in our neighbours house, alarming their grandchildren who were expecting the Easter Bunny and chocolates, not a leaping 20 lb terrier/terrorist. now we set off for the long drive to the next place, with all dogs accounted for and crated & will post again when we get to Vernon .