Forntunately, Matt and I have managed to see most of the city of Edmonton via bikes, cars, and simply walking. Last Wednesday we biked from the home we were staying (Pastor Gibson and his wife) to the University of Alberta; a round trip of about 15-20 miles. Thursday we took in a concert with a couple from the church in downtown Edmonton at the Starlite Cafe. And Friday...well, Friday started out innocent enough.
Friday morning we woke up thinking "what to do...what to do...?" We knew we were having dinner with some folks from the church and then changing host homes after dinner. So, after we packed our bags Matt suggested we fix some sandwiches and take them out to eat at a park called Elk Island. We later learned that not many (if any) Edmontonians visit this park and it is really a huge buffalo reserve.
So we head out of the city for a 45 mintue drive to Elk Island. When we arrived the weather was overcast, windy and chilly. We ate our lunch among deserted picnic tables and Matt suggests we take a hike. He glanced at the map and choose a hike that he said was, "about 5 miles long" along a lake. I thought, great we need a good hike.
We set out in a dense forrest full of tall trees and creepy noises. [I now know what our in-door cat feels like if we ever let him outside to walk around our deck with those ears standing up and eyes wide.] The noises and even some sights were foreign to us. Not to mention we kept stepping over different animal droppings and tracks some we could identify and other we didn't want to. There was also this one very unsettling noise that literally sounded like something was charging you. At one point I contemplated running like mad. [Matt chiming in here. She didn't "contemplate" running like mad . . . she ran like mad.] I just kept thinking "I don't wanna die in Canada. Especially in a park that has only 3 visitors per year! It'll be forever until they find our bodies." (yea, I am a sucker for the melodramatic)
ANYWAY, we finally came into a clearing and saw our first buffalo. Now, for most of you reading this you've probably made a visit to Yellowstone or some national park where there are buffalo. And, what you probably saw was a herd of buffalo grazing lazily in the fields or even in close proximity to humans. Unless you did something stupid to provoke them, the buffalo probably left you alone and continued whatever they were doing without a care in the world. Well, this was not the case in Alberta. These large beasts are not used to seeing pale skin bi-peds. Whenever we came upon them (two sleeping in the middle of our trail no less!) they would dart left and right looking for the quickest exit. Talk about nerve racking. These skittish, mammoth creatures had not one docile bone in their bodies! I just kept thinking, "Please choose the path that leads away from us!"
About halfway through the hike we came upon a huge clearing where we could look across the lake. This is when I began to think, "this is just 5 miles?" Little did I know that Matt had just realized we had taken the 10 mile hike and were only about half the way through. In order to get back in time we had better pick it up. So, here we were, two stupid Americans briskly walking a trail with ginormous slumbering beasts who freaked out at the sight of us. When we finally finished the hike (3.5 hours round trip) there was no time to recover. We jumped into the car and high tailed it back to Edmonton to have dinner exhausted and smelling of Elk Island and buffalo dung. Good impression, right?
Tomorrow we leave for a little stint over to Banff and Jasper. Maybe the animals there will be more laid back?
The city of Edmonton
In the burbs of Strathcona
Hiking in Elk Island
There were no Elk to be seen, just buffalo.
This is when I realized that our "5 mile hike" was more like 10 miles.
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