Free Range Cattle in Telkwa

After our trip I alluded to many more small stories. One of the ones I mentioned was free range cattle.

On one of our two days in and around Smithers, we decided to follow a pamphlet tour called the Circle Tour. This entailed driving along the high road to various scenic outposts and out of the way places of interest. It was a fabulous tour, where we saw fossils, stood on top of high river-side cliffs, admired glaciers and waterfalls, watched native fisherman work salmon for tagging at river rapids, and stopped in at a taxidermist’s ‘museum’ of natural history. A great tour.

While on the tour, we noticed that on the pamphlet it said “Watch out for farm animals.” We could see we were driving by ranches and so thought we might come to a cattle crossing. Sure enough, we came to a few cattle grates, and at a few of them the road itself was partially closed with wire. Curious. Then we came across a big sign that said “Watch for cattle on road.”

The first cow we saw was at the side of the road, and we figured it had gotten out of the field and that’s what the signs were there for.

Then we came around the corner and realized the true intent of the sign. “Watch out for cattle ON THE ROAD!”

There were cows in the trees, on the road, through the forest. It was very funny. Free range cattle at its finest!