When a Canadian says it's cold

Hello Everyone, 

Some more random thoughts and observations. 

Indigenous knowledge, pre contact and pre genocide must have been quite a thing. I thought of that recently as I've been noticing the phases of the moon in a way I never have before. I know a bit about astronomy, but since I'm spending a lot of time outside, I get to see the changes first hand.

It reminds me of when I was in my late teens, I worked a job I hated, driving a mower on a sod farm. It was a lot of hours out in the sun, going up and down the fields. My days off came when it rained and you couldn't cut the grass. Since I was outside all day, I became pretty good at reading cloud patterns and predicting the weather. Now imagine that, only instead of your days off depending on the weather, it's your ability to find food and not starve. Also, you have thousands of years of this kind of first hand knowledge passed down to you. You'd be pretty sharp, I would think. 

Arthur and I rode what I think is my favourite trail in the area today. It was a hell of a slog uphill for me and downhill for him, but I loved it because we were in a forest and not in the open. My sensitive eyes (and soul) just can't handle being out in the beating sun for hours and hours day after day. I am at home in the cooler, shadier forest. Arthur seemed to have more jump as well, despite this being our fifth day of riding in six days. 

I spoke to a hunter who was parked next to me at the campsite yesterday. He wasn't staying, was just there for a day. I overheard him saying to someone else that he had been successful and had bagged a deer or an elk I believe. Anyway, I found out later that he had the animal, or at least its meaty parts, in a steel bin in the back of his pickup. I realized this when Arthur took a keen interest in this bin, walking around it with his nose in the air.

When I got a chance to speak to him, I asked whether I should get an orange vest for my companion, lest he should be mistaken for something else. The hunter didn't think so. He said hunters will often use the bike trails to get to hunting spots, but both the hunters and the elk know that the trails are there and so stay a piece away from them. 

Then he added, as an afterthought, that it was currently now and muzzle loading season, so it's unlikely anyone would mistake Arthur. This is presumably because you have to get closer to your prey with these weapons. He said that rifle season starts in mid October and "things get crazy then."

Say no more. When a Canadian says it's cold, brother it is cold. When an American says things get crazy with guns, get out of Dodge.

Wes

Photos 

The first two are from our ride through the aspens today. The last is of Arthur checking out the hunter's bin.