A spontaneous trip to Elk Island National Park turned into quite the amazing outing.  We got to the park at the peak time for animal sightings before the sun went down.  The first close up encounter happened at a beaver pond.  As we slowed to see if the beavers were swimming, one came out of the water and put on a show for us alongside the highway.  I would have been happy with that but there was more to come.

We continued the drive to Astotin Lake.  Again, we slowed and scanned the water for ripples giving us a sign that the beavers were swimming.  At the edge of the pond, we spied one out of the water.  It was chewing on a tree.  We watched until the tree fell.  That poor beaver worked so hard to chew the tree down but it fell upright off the stump rather than falling to the ground.  The beaver grabbed at it and looked as if it might try pushing it over or chewing it some more.  It soon gave up, wandered to within 4 feet of me and dived into the water.  Fantastic close encounter!

After leaving the lake, we tried one more beaver pond on the way to the Amisk Wuche trail.  Here we saw 2 more beavers working feverishly on the banks.  They were gathering paws full of mud for some construction that they were doing on the shore.  It looked like a new lodge was being constructed.  What great fun to watch.

If that wasn't enough, 2 moose crossed the highway.  They ended up in a slough.  We drove up slowly so as not scare them.  They allowed us to watch as they took a long drink.  They did not mind us observing but a car coming from the opposite direction made them run into the trees when the driver slammed on the brakes after he realized what we were looking at.

This day was just as exciting as the 6 bear day that we had in Nordegg last June.  I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight.  I went from practically falling asleep in my coffee cup after work to wide awake from excitement.  Taking all those photos tonight made me as excited as a little kid at Christmas.