Day 18: Bucking Horse River

 

Of course, we sleep in late until 9am, the make a run to Walmart, and the liquor store to replenish our stock and it is after 12 noon before we hit the road. And it was clear and nice up until 10 or 11am when the winds shifted and the smoke from the fires rolled in just like it did in Calgary. We drove for 3 hours or so in smoke like someone had a campfire in our rig. We hit a bit of rain and a shift in wind we popped out of the smoke and had a nice ride in sunshine to Buckinghorse River Provincial Park, just south of Fort Nelson, BC. Right on the river we setup camp with only a handful of other campers for nice quite night.

Miles Driven: 170 / 2644

Day 17: Jasper to Dawson Creek

 

We leave Jasper National Park toward Dawson Creek which is the infamous Mile "0" of the Alaskan Highwy A.K.A. the ALCAN. We have a bit of sun, a bit of rain, but nothing terrible. Not too far out of Jasper and we get our first rock to the windshield. Major Bummer, did not even get out of Alberta let alone Alaska before this happened. I knew it might happen but was certainly hoping not. Well, I don't have to worry about it anymore, damage done. We stop just south of Grand Prairie at Kay's Kitchen, a roadside cafe out of trailer. We get a good burger and continue on to Dawson Creek. We decide to not stay in the Walmart parking lot and snag a dry camp spot in the field at Mile "0" Campground. We take pics at the famous sign, make a trip to Walmart, and sitting out side our camper, a local gal stops by on her E-Bike and we chat for an hour. So happens, she was visiting Grapevine Texas on business, just a few months ago at the Gaylord. We meet the most wonderful people on the road, either locals, or other fellow travelers. Like Steve and Laurie that have a Winnebago View like we used to have, I helped him get his slide out in with all the snow. And Doug and Ruth from Petosky Michigan towing their trailer to Alaska that camped next to us in Jasper. We always say howdy! and you never know who we will meet next.

Miles Driven: 324 / 2474

Day 13-16: Jasper National Park

When we arrived at Jasper National Park it was magical. We only drove about 180 miles from Lake Louise but at the Athabasca glacier, it was 44 degrees, wet, windy, and cold. When we arrived in Jasper NP, it was 64, sunny, and absolutely beautiful. This is when we made the living the dream video on my phone by the fire, drinking "Happy Camper" merlot. then two days later, we wake up to snowmageddon, 4" of snow and a sagging awning. We quickly jump to the occasion to get the snow off the awning before it breaks. We bust our broom handle and finish with the window squeegee. We finally get the awning in, soaking wet, cold and ready for some hot coffee. We spend the rest of the day in a winter wonderland, basically in the RV looking out our fish bowl of the world into this magical transformed wonderful wilderness. The next day, it begins to thaw, and by our last day, it was gone. We did visit the Jasper Sky Tram for some photos, but we only got a few walks and hikes in and a bike ride due to snowy conditions. We did get to tour the town of Jasper on the last day with temps in the 60's. We will certainly have to come back for a better attempt at exploring the park under better condtions.

Miles Driven: 145 / 2150

 

Day 12: Mistaya & Athabasca

 

Today was another short drive day of only 145 miles, but we planned to make a stop at the Columbia Ice Fields and hike to the toe of the Athabasca Glacier. On the way, we spot a pull out with several cars that looks interesting so we pull in. To our surprise a .5km trail to a bridge over a water canyon called Mistaya was there so we laced up the boots and headed down the trail. This short hike was a bonus stop for the day and really loved the carved water canyon under the bridge.

Afterwards, we head on to Athabasca and parked right up by the trail head and we gear up for cold and rain for this one mile jaunt to the toe. Its cold, its windy, its wet, but the view of the Glacier from the toe was pretty awesome. We got some great shots then head back to the RV. We make a quick trip to the Gift shop for another RV Sticker and decide to skip the Skywalk for $42CAN as it looked like a real touristy thing. We then drive the last 50 miles or so to Whistlers Campground in Jasper National Park. This park is huge, it has 782 campsites and another 362 across the road at Waipiti Campground. We score a sweet spot on the edge of the loop with plenty of room between sites. We make camp as we will be here five nights and the forecast looks pretty wet all weekend. With unlimited firewood provided, we create a Bob Schnee size fire to light up camp.

Miles: 145 / 2150

Day 10 & 11: Lake Louise & Moraine Lake

This morning day 10, we headed to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. It is only a 34 mile drive to the Lake Louis overflow parking lot just a few miles south of the Lake exit where we setup camp. Light rain, some sun, but a short drive. After we setup, a young couple from New Zealand drove into the parking lot and their left rear wheel fell off! I went over to see what happened and helped them put the wheel back on. With some clever work with a 4x6 fence post and my cedar blocks we get the car off the ground and the tire back on. One stud is broke off, we found all but one lug nut down the road, and one lug nut was stripped out. I steal a lug nut from the front wheel and get them going with four lug nuts on two wheels. This couple was driving across Canada in car they just purchased 3 weeks earlier. They said they heard a noise.... never thought to check lug nuts. Wish I would have taken some photos, it was comical. Glad they were safe and back on the road. After the wheel off event, we drove to Lake Louise at 6pm and make a short walk to the lake. We snap a few pictures but it is overcast and we hope for some sun tomorrow. We have dinner, call it a night, and watch some Netflix.

The next morning day 11, we sleep in knowing parking will be an issue anytime after 8am. We head for Lake Louise at 12 noon, we get to the parking lot and all full, so we head back down and halfway at the turn off to Lake Moraine we spot a hiking trail parking lot and we snag a sweet park. Since we are over a mile a way uphill to Lake Louise, we decide to pull out the E-Bikes and go to Moraine lake first. The road to Moraine lake starting this year is closed to personal vehicles and you are required to book a shuttle bus due to traffic and parking issues. It was about 8 miles to Lake Moraine and turned out to be a great ride, hike, and photo opportunity. We did the Rockpile trail for some great selfies. On the way back, we take the trail route on the bikes over to Lake Louise and spend a couple hours at the lake and Fairmont hotel. A quick ride back down to the hiking trailhead where we parked and we called it a day with 20 miles of bike and hike.

Miles Driven: 34 / 2005

Day 5: No Borders

 

This morning somehow we slept in until almost 9am! What happen to 6:30am? I guess we acclimated to the new time zone. by 9:45 we were at the counter of the Big Sky Deli & Bakery ordering up some breakfast and baked goods. Got a bunch of yummy stuff for sure. Got some Deli too for the road. It started to rain so I went to get my new rain jacket and WHAT? no jacket? I left my new Cotopaxi rain jacket at home! So another trip in to Great Falls, MT to Scheels to pick up a rain coat as we have been hitting rain daily and expect more. So now we are off to a late start again at 12:30pm. Its 90 miles to the Canada border and we make it with no issues and fly through border customs in less than eight minutes. We then make the 180 mile trek to High River Alberta where we stop for the night at another Harvest Host "High River Brewing Co.". We find a spot in the back, check out the menu, go for a walk, have some dinner, then time to call it a day. 272 miles, 5 hrs behind the wheel, and a bit of rain here and there. Was a good day :)

Miles Driven: 272 / 1822