On May 28th, I traveled to Canmore, Alberta to begin my training as a new Backroads Leader.
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Our first day of training was a blast. We started off by driving to Bamff, Alberta. In Bamff, we started the day with a 16 mile bike ride. It was beautiful! Since I hadn't ridden in awhile it was difficult aclimatizing. Then we arrived at our destination for a delicious gourmet lunch. I can't believe I get paid for this. We returned home for workshops all afternoon.
During our "MOCK TRIP" our group of trainees went out to Jasper via Bamff. On the mock trip, we learned how to cook, racked bikes, fix bikes, walk on glaciers and more. The most extraordinary part of the trip happened on Friday afternoon. The group was "FAMing" which means familiarizing themselves with an area and I went to go pick up medicine for my cankor sores with my mentor, Ken. When we came back to the campsite we saw a female elk who was acting particularly strange. We were standing just twenty feet away from this majestic animal. She was breching her head and walking like a drunken sailor. I was fascinated by her peculiar behavior and turned to Ken and told him that I thought she was pregnant. Sure enough, she was. She sat down and preceeded to give birth to a baby elk calf. She strained with each push. Between contractions she would often get up to continue eating to get nutrients for the birth. Finally, thirty minutes later, a little elk was born. It looked like a wet seal at first but the mother gently cleaned it. Immediately the baby elk attempted to walk. It was adorable. Getting up and falling. Getting up and falling. It failed and then failed again, until mama elk supported its bum and it took it first step.
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