Caribou!

There are times when I feel privileged to live in the North. On Friday night, we went to our local drive-in theatre. In addition to the vulgar (yet laughable) hijinks of Horrible Bosses, we were also treated to the Northern Lights. Bonus!

On Sunday, I went on a hike with some friends to Mount Murray, in the Pine Pass. It was a long-ish drive, but worth it. The hike consists of a relatively short grunt (~ 1 hour) to reach the alpine, after which there are several options to ramble to some small alpine lakes and peaks.



The were some great alpine flowers in bloom. Especially pretty were the paintbrush, in many shades of cream, peach, yellow, orange, and red.



The monkshood were also out. I love these blossoms; the shade of purple and the shape of the petals are incomparable to anything else. Plus they are deadly poisonous, which gives them a bit of an edge.



The highlight of the day was when we spotted this guy (click on the photo for a larger image):



I assumed it was a guy (both male and female caribou have antlers) because it was solitary. I unfortunately wasn't quite close enough to look under its proverbial skirt. We were able to spot him a second time. We kept our distance. Woodland caribou are a threatened species, so minimizing any stress to the animal is important when you encounter these creatures.


I apologize, this last photo is kind of crappy, but it was exciting to see, so I decided to included it.
So, where else can you take in an old-skool drive in movie, see the Aurora Borealis, and encounter a threatened woodland caribou all in a single weekend? Super-fantastic-awesome Northern BC, that's where!