Had my normal breakfast. There was decent light with the scattered clouds, but it was windy — not good for stone sheep. I started to edit images from yesterday. I went up on the RV roof to tilt the solar-electric panels after the sun crested the mountains straight out the driver's side. Our house batteries were getting low because of all the cloud cover lately, and tilting the solar-electric panels so they will point more directly towards the sun will significantly increase their output. I finished editing images from yesterday, then did some computer work. Went back up to the roof to de-tilt the solar panels because the sun was moving towards the front of the RV, and having the panels tilted won't do any good in an hour or so. We left at 11:18 in the Jeep and headed east into Muncho Lake Provincial Park.

We went by two woodland caribou by the side of the road that were really skittish. The western campground was closed.

We went to the Northern Rockies Lodge at 11:44 for lunch. We both had the Bushpilot's Burger: bacon, cheese, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and relish. The burger was huge and came with a large pile of French fries. We should have split one like J had suggested before we had ordered. The burger itself tasted a little odd, almost like a meatloaf, and reminded me of the ones I've had in South Africa. We left at 12:50 and continued heading east.

I spotted a male and female woodland caribou up a wash with some nice fall color behind them. By the time we pulled off the road onto a safe area, two hikers were heading over towards the wash, so we waited in the Jeep to see how the caribou would react. The caribou stayed more or less where they were, so we set up to photograph them. By the time we reached the berm at the edge of the wash, the caribou had moved quite a way upstream. :( I decided to follow them, and J went back to the Jeep. I stayed close to the steep right wall of the wash, and the caribou were out of site around a bend. When I reached the bend, the caribou were gone! I looked around, and they were up in the woods on the side of the wash. They spooked as I was setting up to photograph them, but fortunately they ran in an arc away from me and headed downstream which was also down-light — what a nice break! They settled down, and I was able to get some nice images of them among the fall color. They slowly made their way back upstream, and after they passed me so the light wasn't so good any more, I left them and headed back to the Jeep. We left and continued heading east.
The eastern campground was closed too. We turned around near the eastern end of the lake.

We returned to the RV around 2:25 and J took a nap. I downloaded the images I took today and started to edit them. Some people with a large horse trailer pulled into our boondocking area. J woke up and joined me in the office. Our "cowboy" neighbors were getting their five horses ready for a pack trip: two horses to ride and three horses to haul gear. They left on their horses around 5:30. We left at 5:49 in the Jeep to look for stone sheep in Muncho Lake Provincial Park.

Shortly after we entered the park, we came upon a black bear by the side of the road. We set up to photograph it from the car, then started to photograph it. The light was really low, and the bear wasn't a very good model — it was too interested in feeding. After a while, it was clear that the bear had two bad rear legs. So bad in fact that it couldn't move them at all — it was dragging them around as it hobbled around on its front two legs. That's why the bear had been laying down and eating when we first saw it. It was really odd to watch an injured animal going about its business almost like nothing was wrong. We continued to photograph the bear, but I didn't get anything worth keeping because the light was so low. We left and headed further into the park.

The light was getting even worse, so we turned around at 6:42. We still hadn't seen any stone sheep in Muncho! :(

We returned to the RV at 7:01. I downloaded the images I took this evening, then took a shower. I started to work up a blog entry while J made dinner.

We had dinner around 7:30 of Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken with rice. J showered, then I did the dishes.

I finished the blog entry, then worked up another.