Our first trip to Jasper was a whirlwind tour with a motel stay a couple of years ago. I think our wildlife sightings amounted to one elk on the roadside at dusk. This time we camped at the Whistlers campground, which is home to a herd of elk. In May and June the elk are calving, so you stand a good chance of seeing the new babies (and of being chased off by a protective parent).

We were excited when we saw our first elk of the trip and pulled off the road to watch them from the car. We weren’t all that close, but it was exciting anyway. Later, when we got back to our campsite, I noticed Sam the dog looking into the bushes next to our tent site with ears at attention. I followed his gaze to a graceful female elk resting in a mossy hollow. We looked around and realized they were all around us. Over the next couple of days, we got used to watching the elk sauntering amongst the campsites, remarkably calm most of the time.

Before the trip, I worried that camping with Sam the dog would turn out to be a debacle, especially in a place with serious wildlife. He surprised me with his reactions to the various wildlife we encountered. Large elk near our campsite: mild interest. Bighorn sheep: slight amusement. Ground squirrels, pikas, and domestic cats: total obsession. Grizzly bears: slept through the whole thing (in the car, fortunately).

One night, while the three of us slept in our tent, Sam woke me up with some tentative woofing. The elk were grazing right outside. I could hear them chomping on the grass what seemed like inches from our heads, and occasionally one would step in front of the campground lights and I’d see an enormous nibbling head silhouetted against the side of the tent. I had to shush Sam for a while and get him into a sort of snout-lock until eventually he went back to sleep. A watchdog he is not.