Anyone been to Vancouver/Jasper/Banff?

ICBM

horse said:

If you go walking in the woods, get some bear bells and have a read up on safety. We thought the bells were a tourist gimmick (my wife bought some) until we came across a couple of bears when out walking in the hills near Jasper - glad we didn't surprise them

We went for a walk along the river near Jasper, and found a very fresh bear paw print in the mud - so fresh it was still very slowly filling with water. It couldn't have been far away, although we didn't see it. Luckily we'd been making a fair amount of noise beforehand so it had probably just gone into the woods… we swiftly decided to go back the way we'd come though!

The bells are definitely not a gimmick for the tourists.

We did also see a very rare white bear and cub from the train on the way up to Prince Rupert - not close, it was on the far side of a river, but we could see it quite clearly. The train guard said he'd never even seen one before, and he'd been up and down the route for many years.