Into the Mountains - Part 2

Romping through the alpine meadows is a lot of fun for a little bear! For one thing - he can see long distances without all of that annoying underbrush in the way!

 And... unbeknownst to Sandy, he is about to cross two types of borders!

 The first border is the Great Continental Divide! Water on one side of the Divide flows to the Pacific Ocean... and water on the other side flows to the Hudson's Bay area (at least from this part of Alberta).

 Sandy decided to straddle the Continental Divide - one foot on either side! Ooohhh.... ahhh...

 The Continental Divide here just happens to coincide with the Alberta/British Columbia border as well... So Sandy can now say he's hiked the Continental Divide and hiked from Alberta to BC (sounds more impressive!).

 There are many pretty lakes up here in Sunshine Meadows. They would look even prettier if the sunshine was actually shining - but it isn't - which makes Sandy wonder why it's called Sunshine Meadows! This little lake is called Rock Isle Lake (because it has a rocky island in the middle of it).

This one is called Larix Lake because up here in the alpine, there are many Larix trees.

 The Larix tree - also called Larch or Tamarack - is the only coniferous tree that loses its needles in the winter. In the fall - they turn bright yellow - which would be beary pretty! Sandy is holding a larch branch and they aren't prickly at all.

 Although there is a perfectly good trail through the Meadows - Sandy is determined to do a bit of mountain climbing... But it is a lot of hard work...

 If you look closely, you can see big patches of sweat on Sandy's back! Silly little bear... climbing rock faces when there is a trail right there.

After all of that... Sandy needs a bit of a break - and finds a bench near Rock Isle Lake - beary peaceful and relaxing!