The Far Side and Loony Tunes

I was off work today and the weather was much too nice and it was much too hot to stay home so I once again found my way out to Waterton.  (I think my park pass has officially paid for itself already.)  Just after arriving in the village I met TJ walking down main street.  It is strange how we so often seem to run into each other in the strangest places.

In the afternoon I made my usual drive up to Cameron lake and was thinking that today I might take a walk around to the far side.  Gazing from the north end it always looks so exotic, cool, grizzly bearish yet tranquil all the way down there at the Montana end of the lake with the snow, waterfalls and impossibly vertical mountain face. 

Once I actually got to Cameron I found it so nice and inviting that instead of walking I convinced myself that I absolutely had to splurge and rent a kayak.  Although I have done canoeing many times I had never ever been in a kayak so what better place to try it for the first time ever than somewhere where the water is so cold that tipping over could very well mean I'd end up like Jack Dawson. 

I had my tiny camera in my pocket so when I got to the far side of the lake after about 25 minutes of paddling I took it out to get some evidence of my grand achievment.

The sound and motion of the waterfalls soon convinced me to switch to video mode even though I knew it wouldn't be great quality.  If you watch it I would recommend clicking on the YouTube logo in the bottom right corner of the screen to view it in the best size and quality possible.

In this video clip you will first see a bit of footage of snow and waterfalls at the end of the lake. Then I started to head back but stopped to shoot a bit of the remaining avalanche snow which is doing its best impression of an iceberg.  After that the camera was tucked securely back into my pocket and the button flap well fastened and I was heading back full steam ahead to the touristy end of the lake when the totally unexpected highlight of my day occurred.

Off in the distance I saw a couple of tiny black and white heads on the surface of the water. I hadn't seen them on the way down but did definitely see them now. I wasn't yet close enough to tell for sure but I hoped that they were loons instead of just a couple of lame ducks.

Tangent - As you will see in the video I can kind of do a weak impression of a Loon call using my hands.  A few years ago I happened to be doing a bit of it beside Emerald lake in Yoho NP for a couple of clients.  Another tour guide who was with clients of his own on the other side of the lake heard my "loon call" and told his clients that they were hearing the rare call of the bird which is on Canada's dollar coin.  A few minutes later we happend to meet up and he asked if I had heard the loon too. Um... yeah... I did. Actually that was me... What? No way... Awww man! etc.  Now back to our story.

 I put down my Darth Maul paddle (kayaks apparently have these nifty little grooves for just such an occasion) and gave my best loon call hoping they might just answer.  I didn't really think it would work but boy did it ever. They hadn't made a peep the entire time I was on the lake but as soon as they heard my fake loon call the male started yapping and I could hardly get him to shut up.  I figured I might even get some genuine loonage recorded so out came the little camera that could again and I started filming.  I know they are hard to see but it's the best I could get with what I had.  I had to put the camera down while letting it continue to roll a couple of times to show that they were responding to me.  Since I didn't get the camera out until I had already got them started I know it looks like they are playing with me rather than the other way around but I promise that I made the first call and one or both of them then joined in.

Sorry about the "I'm awesome" comment near the end. I wasn't truly talking to myself at that point because by then I already knew that this would be going onto my blog.  I do know that I'm not actually awesome but I was just so happy that this little interaction had worked out that I just couldn't help myself.