Searching for beavers in Canada

After having visited Wells Gray Provincial Park to hike to the Moul Falls, we had a 3 hour drive to Valemount, where we arrived to our Super 8 Valemount hotel in the late afternoon. When looking where to park the car, we saw a sign indicating George Hicks Regional Park, which is located right next to the hotel. We immediately saw the information board pointing out that this park is home to beaver families. As the beaver is one of Canada’s main features, we were really hoping to catch at least a glimpse of one of them during our vacation… So we both felt – this was the time…

We put our hiking shoes back on and went for it. The Park has a small trail along Swift Creek. We took our time and were very patient. Looking at whatever happened in the water. Most of the times it was a bird. Ok, let’s look a little further.

A lookout platform a little down the trail provides excellent salmon viewing opportunities, but that’s not what we were there for. No beavers, though. Let’s keep trying a little further down the trail. Excellent beaver spots, so it seemed – but no beavers to be found.

After about an hour and a half, we decided to turn back – our eyes still focussed on the creek. Suddenly, we saw something moving in the water. No, this was no bird. Our hearts skipped a beat – is this really it? Did we see a beaver? Hmmm, that tail doesn’t look like a beaver’s… More like one of a rat. And indeed, some more boards in the park informing us that next to the beavers also muskrats were inhabitants of the park. And we just spotted one!

Ok, we still have the beaver on our checklist, but the muskrat is original and a lot cuter than you would think – so after all, we were still happy with how this day turned out. And, the beaver’s for next time, that’s for sure!