Heli-Hiking

I am sorry to say that the West Coast posts will come out later than expected. My excuse is that I have been Heli-Hiking for the past week. For those of you who don’t know what Heli-Hiking is, it is a form of mountain hiking where you are transported by a helicopter to hard to reach places, where you procced to hike. This came out of the blue last Monday, and we spent a frantic night packing before a 6:00 start on Tuesday. My dad works for Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) and we got a special place amongst the guests.

The Helicopter
The Helicopter

We stayed at the Bugaboo Lodge, which was super nice. This is the best shot I could get of it from the helicopter.

The Bugaboos
The Bugaboos

The birding wasn’t great, but I managed a lifer in Rock Ptarmigan, though I only heard them. Ptarmigan are very difficult to see. There were a family of Willow Ptarmigan that a few people saw but no matter how many times I went out to find them, I missed them.

Photos courtesy of Fiona Laird
Photos courtesy of Fiona Laird
Photos courtesy of Fiona Laird
Photos courtesy of Fiona Laird

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did, however see a Wolverine. Flitting glance though it was, I saw enough to confirm the identification before it cleared a hill and disappeared. Wolverines are very secretive creatures, and I did not get a photo.

That same day, I saw a family of Harlequin Ducks, some Spotted Sandpipers and a group of American Pipits.

Harlequin Duck
Harlequin Duck

I also got a good shot of the famous Bugaboo Spire.

The Bugaboos Spire
The Bugaboo Spire

So that is my excuse, please forgive me for getting out the West Coast posts late. 🙂

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