No, I haven’t seen a caribou yet (though I have eaten one : tenderloin, quite tasty), but I have seen the following – elk (several), mountain goat (single male sitting on a ledge), big horn sheep (a group of females with their young) and one black bear heading into the forest. No photographs, alas. For the most part the wildlife was too fleeting or far away or my camera was buried in my pack or something. Well, I did get a few shots of the mountain goat on my not-long-enough lens, so perhaps with some Photoshopping… But so what? If anyone wants to see what these animals look like (and almost everybody knows anyway) they can do a five-second Google search. I assume they can find photographs better than mine of the Columbia Icefield – where we went glacier walking yesterday – easily as well.
So why do we take these pictures? There are many reasons that many (Sontag notably) have written about and I’m not going to bore you with them here or with the photos (yet). But part of it is the instinct to document that we have been far away – or at least pretended to be. Because nothing is very far nowadays – and not just because of the internet. Just last night, here in the lobby of Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge where I am staying was a huge party of what seemed to be several hundred members of the local Oilmen’s Association, playing pari-mutual games and dining on a lavish spread. Alberta, besides being spectacularly beautiful and bountiful, is rich, rich in oil or, rather, oil-rich sand . A battle is going on here between enviros trying to preserve the glaciers and the scenery and business-folk trying to fill up our gas pumps and their pocket books. Last night, they, not the enviros, were running the show at the Lodge here, itself a naturaly gorgeous lakeside spot and, sad to say, now owned by the Saudis who have bought the luxe Fairmont chain. We live in a strange world indeed and it is a great challenge for us to balance competing needs. For now, however, I am increasingly happy to be here – a “little bit” far away. Maybe I’ll even see a caribou before I return home Friday night. And if not, I’ll still have some in my stomach.
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12 Comments
1. Charlie (Colorado):Just don’t slip and call it a reindeer; you’ll never hear the end of it.
Aug 23, 2006 - 12:38 pm 2. exsubmariner:Glad to see you relaxing and enjoying yourself. As for the pictures you might want to read the last couple of days of Cathy.
Aug 23, 2006 - 2:20 pm 3. David Thomson:ìA battle is going on here between enviros trying to preserve the glaciers and the scenery and business-folk trying to fill up our gas pumps and their pocket books.î
A realistic compromise can be worked out. Why can’t we essentially have the best of both worlds? Todayís technology allows the oil industry to do its drilling while leaving the surrounding land mostly untouched. In some respects, it behooves me to slightly rephrase Rogerís comments:
A battle is going on here between enviros trying to preserve the glaciers and the scenery at a rate of 100% and business-folk trying to fill up our gas pumps and their pocket books and preserving the land at 99.95%.
Aug 23, 2006 - 4:23 pm 4. mythusmage:A caribou is a reindeer without an owner.
Why take photos of an location you’re visiting? Because it will be your record. And a record of the location while you were there. Besides, you might get a shot of something not known to be there or occur there.
TV Reporter: There you have conclusive proof alligators are not nesting here in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
Naturalist (rushing past): Could you move please? We need to rescue these gator eggs before the river floods the nest.
Aug 23, 2006 - 6:28 pm 5. WichitaBoy:…itself a naturaly gorgeous lakeside spot and, sad to say, now owned by the Saudis who have bought the luxe Fairmont chain.
Good luck trying to buy anything that isn’t tied to or owned by some nefarious interest somewhere.
Aug 23, 2006 - 8:01 pm 6. Luther McLeod:Roger
You’re sounding like A.Gore. Take your pictures, eat your caribou, you worked for it. And if ‘you’ isn’t enough, certainly your wife and daughter deserve it.
WichitaBoy, good to read you.
Aug 23, 2006 - 8:30 pm 7. Stephen_M:What if the oil-rich sand guys whip the enviros, get at the oil while preserving 99.95% of the scenery, increase the global percentage of non-despot controlled oil, cause the pump prices to drop, put some cash in their own pockets and use it to buy the Fairmont chain from the Saudis?
What a nightmare!
Aug 23, 2006 - 10:30 pm 8. David Thomson:ìget at the oil while preserving 99.95% of the sceneryî
The environmental extremist propaganda conveys the impression that the land will be destroyed and the caribou homeless. Nothing could be further from the truth. You will have to deliberately seek out the oil fields. They will comprise so little of the surrounding geography that most people will barely know they exist!
Aug 24, 2006 - 6:41 am 9. Dale Gribble:Glad you’ve had a great vacation. You deserve it.
Aug 24, 2006 - 10:50 am 10. heather:when you return from your Vacation, Roger, and are all rested up and raring to go…
a good idea came up at Tim Blair: a “pulitzer” type prize for a web story. Instapundit would be the logical host. How about it??
Aug 24, 2006 - 7:47 pm 11. heather:As a northerner who as actually seen both a Mountain Sheep and a Caribou up close (on the highway, as it happens, they like the salt put down to melt the ice)…
notice that the horns take up MOST of the skull space in these animals. I have truly never seen duller, flatter eyes on anything. I am sure their mommies loved them, however…
Aug 24, 2006 - 7:51 pm 12. Ragnell:The policies of HBO and Showtime are evident in airing of several shows and movies that promote the politics of the radical left without providing any balancing viewpoints. (examples: Showtime played both Moore’s movie and Syriana)
As a result, HBO and Showtime have woven the radical left’s agenda into our daily entertainment at far more serious level than movies. Since both companies are private, the demand for equal time cannot apply to their one-sided message. Yet, consumers are addicted to their product and are unlikely to boycott them. What can be done to balance their domination of TV entertainment?
Aug 27, 2006 - 8:48 pm