On our last day in Smithers we drove past the Ski Hill Road to Aldrich Lake. There's a short trail into the lake, well trodden by walkers and snowmobiles. Then we followed wolf tracks around the lake.
There's a great view of the back side of Hudson's Bay Mountain.
We came upon some mystery poop in the middle of the lake:
We do love our mystery poop on this blog!
Which we determined to be grouse or maybe ptarmigan.
Eventually we followed the wolf around the lake to a pair of muskrat airholes.
A fun and educational excursion!
Fun fact: Aldrich Lake is tributary to the upper reaches of the Zymoetz River (also known as the Copper River) which crosses Highway 16 east of Terrace, 218 km away, a 2 hour drive from Smithers. It's much closer as the crow flies, 77 km.
"We were telling our friend about our Aldrich Lake excursion. He asked if we saw any ptarmigan in the middle of the lake. He said they like to hang out in the middle of the lake because they feel safe from the wolves out there. He said the wolves tend to restrict themsleves to the perimeter of the lake. I indicated that the wolves seem to have crossed the middle of the lake because we were following the wolf tracks when we found the ptarmigan poop, but there was no blood associated with it. I actually can't remember if the wolf and ptarmigan sign coincided, but whatever. Willow ptarmigan according to Brian, and online agreed, saying that Willow ptarmigan are most likely to move well into the forested zone in winter."
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if Ptarmigan would be at so low an elevation myself since I've only seen them on mountaintops so now I know. I told, educational!