This is the next to last post in a series of posts using photos from a recent 6+ week trip I took around the Western US & Canada, with a college buddy Chuck & my Australian Shepherd Gem, aka "the Mutt." I'd like to thank all who have looked at the prior posts & commented.

The prior post ended in Yellowstone Nat'l Park, which of all the parks, is my favorite. We then headed for Bozeman, MT where the tour as it had been for the last 36 days was to change. Chuck works for FEMA doing emergency response work. He returned to New England after several months of relief work & we took off less than 2 weeks later to go on this tour. At this point in our journey, he began getting requests to redeploy to one of several places hit with horrible floods. So he decided he had to go home to spend some time with his kids & grandkids before heading off for another multi-month deployment. For the record, the Mutt is crazy about Chuck ... so she was a bit lost when I dropped him off at the airport.

Then we headed North. After a quick stop at Three Forks MT, the Headwater of the Missouri where Louis & Clarke spent time, the Mutt & I continued on to Glacier Nat'l Park. If you haven't been there, you owe it to yourself to go. As it turns out, my preference to schedule the trip early in the year & avoid the summer crowds (we were traveling prior to the tourist season beginning in earnest), which had served us well the entire trip, now came back to bite me!!!!

Many years ago, I drove a road called the Highway to the Sun in Glacier NP. After a lifetime of traveling to all 50 states & several countries in both Europe & Asia, that road, IMHO, is the most scenic highway I've ever been on & I looked forward to driving it again with a good camera. However, it wasn't meant to be. I had swapped messages with a fellow Hogger ... CindyHouk who informed me her husband was involved with clearing the Highway to the Sun of snow & it was not expected to open until the middle of June. I was very disappointed, however CindyHouk graciously suggested some alternatives, which the Mutt & I enjoyed seeing. We traveled around Glacier NP as well taking a long ride just outside the park up to the Canadian Border. Beautiful ... so a big thank you to CindyHouk. You saved the day.

After Glacier, the Mutt & I drove to British Columbia through some beautiful areas including East Kootenay, BC Canada. We drove through Kootenay Nat'l Park (beautiful, except where there were some horrible fires last year) & over the mountains to Banff, our next destination. I had elected to spend the next day driving from Banff, AB through Banff Nat'l Park, up the Icefields Parkway up past the Columbia Icefields & on up through Jasper Nat'l Park to Jasper, AB Canada. Like so many other places, if you haven't seen either of these two parks, do yourself a favor & make them a destination ... they are a real treat.

For those who wish to know what I shot with, the Good-bye shot was taken with my iPhone. The Grouse, the 2 Black Bear shots & the Big Horn Sheep were all taken with an EOS 6d & an EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. The remaining shots were taken with an EOS 5d IV & an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens.

I hope that you enjoy these & my thanks to those who have looked at prior posts & submitted comments.

Best,
Frank

And thank you for the encouragement Keith ... I've been thinking about you ... I pulled up a photo that I had told you about which I took this past winter, of a Bobcat ... think I'll post it after I finish with this series. I still enjoy the incredible Bobcat shots you took ... particularly of the one "flipping you off" ... what a great shot. And while I'm sure you anticipate it even more than I, I do look forward to you being back on the road & sharing images of your travels. Best to you & keep healing.