Kootenay, All the Way

Location: Premier Lake Provincial Campground, Skookumchuck, British Columbia

Ned here again, filling in for Debi. We really appreciated our campsite at Wapiti campground for what an authentic camping experience it had to offer. We had the bear sighting last night across the creek, and then today several female elk (no horns) wandered through the campground. We headed south through the park, intent on seeing the Columbia Ice Fields that we had missed out on several days ago when the road was closed. On our way there we detoured for a bit to see the Athabasca Falls, which were really phenomenal. They are very dramatic in the way they suddenly plunge down into a tiny canyon of dramatic craggy rocks, creating a monstrous, roaring caldron of white water. I couldn't help but speculate if some poor fool might have first approached these falls from upstream in a small canoe, without any prior knowledge of what was before him, and decided that he would run the rapids that he could hear in the distance because they sounded like a good challenge. Poor fool indeed... Further down the road we encountered the Columbia Ice Fields and were very impressed with the number of huge glaciers hanging up on the sides of mountains here. Debi was particularly impressed with their size and bluish tint along their broken edges, saying that the small ones in Glacier National Park are even hard to identify by comparison. Next we made a return visit to Lake Louise, since the sun was shining this time. The lake was beautiful, but the sun was high enough is the sky to shadow some of the mountain across the lake, so we decided that maybe our first visit in light rain was even more dramatic. Our next destination was a drive through Kootenay National Park, which is on the west side of the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies. We didn't know what to expect, and we were delighted with the heavily forested park with many beautiful mountain peaks. Rather than the craggy, barren peaks of Jasper and Banff, Kootenay's mountains have densely wooded and grass-covered slopes which offer their own kind of beauty. Best of all, this park is like Rodney Dangerfield "I don't get no respect", compared to it's popular neighbors. As a result, we drove through the park with very few other cars on the road, and virtually no monster motor homes, which seem to be everywhere in Banff and Jasper. We were still intent on finding a natural hot springs in the area to soak in tonight. We had located a hot springs on the map that was associated with White Swan Lake Provincial Park. But alas, when we arrived at the entry gate, a sign explained that the campground was open, but the hot springs were closed because of recent heavy rainfall. :-( So we headed further south and after a suspenseful side trip of 14 kilometers (about 8 miles) down a gravel road we were delighted to find an absolutely beautiful little campground named Premier Lake. The lake we are camped above is a gorgeous turquoise color, and the vibe in the campground is very mellow. Thank you British Columbia for providing such a sweet place for people to camp.

Peaks and Valleys of Jasper

Wapiti Campground, Jasper National Park

Since this was a no travel day we had all kinds of time to explore Jasper. After a very leisurely morning at the campsite, we finally packed up the bikes and headed into town. Much to our delight it was National Aboriginal Day in Jasper and the town park was filled with First Nation People in costume, tipis set up, drumming and other exhibitions going on. We rode our bike through town and then spent some time checking out all the happenings. It's the hottest day we've seen in a week so we thought a long bike ride through the backcountry would be fun. We rode a technical mountain bike trail (don't be impressed, it was an easy one about like Pioneer Trail in Nevada City) and spent a couple of hours going through meadows with wildflowers and butterflies, heavily wooded areas, around a couple of lakes, next to the fancy Jasper Lodge and finally past the Old Fort Point and back into town. Quite a nice little work-out! My favorite part was riding past all the turquoise lakes and seeing the kids scream with delight in trying to get into this very cold water. About half way through our bike ride we struck up a conversation with a Canadian couple from Jasper. Much to my surprise they said that Jasper received very little snow in the winter. In fact, they just swept their driveway and didn't really shovel at all. I'm considering moving here, but I think Ned is putting a kabosh on it. He thinks one day of the subzero and I'm back home.
After that workout we thought a nice reward would be to ride the tramway up to the peak of Whistlers. It lifted us up 3500 vertical feet for a breathtaking panorama of Jasper, the Columbia Icefield and we could just barely make out Mt. Robson, the highest point of the Canadian Rockies at 13,006 feet. From this perspective you could see a lot of yellow "dust" blowing about. Turns out it's the pollen from all the trees. I'm sure all the folks back home can relate to that!
Back at the campsite we were pouring over maps trying to figure a way out of here. The road south to Lake Louise was still closed and our options didn't look good for going east (flooding thru Calgary) or going west (a really long and out of the way option). I decided to bike up to the ranger station and get one last report. As luck would have it, while I was talking with him the road opened!! Sure hope that's true, but we'll find out soon enough tomorrow.
Later in the evening we were reading at the campsite, faced toward the creek. Something caught my eye and I saw a bear directly across from us on other side of the creek!! Wowza. He approached the swift water, took a long drink, but didn't look too interested in getting wet. Instead he very nonchalantly lumbered upstream moseying along. Guess who's making sure that ALL of our food and equipment is tucked nicely away tonight.

Here Comes the Sun just in time to Explore Jasper

Wapiti Campground, Jasper National Park

After listening to the rain most of the night, imagine our surprise when we woke to blue skies! Yeah. We decided to just stay put for awhile and enjoy our beautiful peaceful campground. I finally made Ned the Father's Day breakfast I promised, ham and avocado omelet with a coffee mocha. He also got a haircut too! My man is looking snazzy.
We hoped to take the cure and soak in the hot springs, but due to the heavy rains there was some water quality issues so it's closed for the day. We'll give it a go again tomorrow. We decided to stay two days in Jasper, partly because it's such a great chill place and partly because the road outta here is still closed. (Okay, maybe more the latter). Our campsite for the weekend is awesome! All the RV's are jammed together in a parking lot, but we opted for a tent site on a loop where we are the only ones. We have the added bonus of being right next to the confluence of the creek and river. Great spot.
We had a great time exploring downtown Jasper and taking in some of the recommended sights. The weather was so great that when we were checking out the rather impressive Jasper Park Lodge we decided to hang out on the deck overlooking Beauvert Lake and luncheon. (You can't just have lunch there, you have to luncheon. That's the same as saying we are summering in the Canadian Rockies). For the record one lunch cost the same as a 2 night stay at the campground. And I didn't even have anything fancy, just the caprese appetizer and Ned had a bison burger. (Which reminds me of a funny Canadian story. When we were at Heritage Park I asked the Royal Mountie if something was a buffalo skin. He answered, "Here in Canada we call it by the correct name, a bison, but you're American so you can call it a buffalo."...but I digress).
We drove up to Maligne Lake supposedly one of the prettiest lakes in the Canadian Rockies. Yep, it's sure gorgeous, but it's darn hard to decide just which lake is the prettiest. They are ALL stunningly beautiful. On our drive we passed Medicine Lake which has an interesting story. It fills up every year in the spring, but in the fall it dries out or becomes a swamp. The Indians were mystified and afraid of this phenomena believing the lake had some kind of magical powers, thus they named it Medicine Lake. Turns out there are many underground aquifers that the lake drains into. Early in the last century entrepreneurial White Men were having trouble running a ferry business across this lake that refused to stay full. Their engineering solution? Stuff the lake draining holes with mattresses and bundles of old magazines. Yeah, didn't work out too well.
We spotted another bear, but actually enjoyed watching all the people who were watching the bear even more. They were in a frenzy to get a photo of the little fella and parked helter skelter on the road and were getting awfully close to him. Cleverly the bear refused to pose.
Knowing we had a really sweet spot for the night, we opted to head back to camp and spend the evening listening to the creek and enjoying the park. Today is the longest day of the year so we are expecting it to stay light until 11ish.

Washout on the Icefield Parkway

Location: Pocahontas Campground, Jasper National Park, Canada

It rained hard all night and didn't let up this morning. We decided to push on and head north to Jasper National Park regardless. We knew that the rain and clouds would mar a lot of the spectacular views on the Icefield Parkway, but were hoping for another viewing on our return trip to Lake Louise. This part of Banff is famous for their wildlife, particularly bears. We didn't know if the wet weather would keep the bears under cover. Much to our surprise we spotted a bear not too far into the drive. He was hanging out, in the rain, munching on vegetation. Fortunately, I was able to catch a picture without having to leave the car. (I was scared). This area is a natural wildlife migration path. Unfortunately the parkway goes right through it. The solution was to build a really cool migration overpass, complete with natural landscaping, so that the bears wouldn't get killed crossing the road. See picture below.
When we were in Calgary on the paddle boat at Heritage Park we learned that the reservoir was extremely low because they were anticipating huge runoff from the upcoming storm. The reservoir is fed by the Bow River which originates in this part of the park. About an hour into the drive we noticed the river rising as runoff from creeks and streams was gushing down the mountains in muddy torrents. At one point our road was submerged and covered with debris. Yep, I got a picture of that too. We made it to about the half way point at Saskatchewan Crossing and decided it was a good time to stop and have a cup of hot soup. No sooner had we started again, when a quarter mile up the road the rangers were turning everyone back because the Icefield Parkway was flooded and covered in debris. Mmmm. We really didn't have a lot of options at this point. We could either head back for Lake Louise and hang out there for another day or head East and try a round about way to get to Jasper. The round about route would take about 7 hours. Yeah, we did that one. We learned later that the road back to Lake Louise was also closed. Don't really know what our options would have been at that point.
So, after a really long day driving in torrential rain seeing a lot of hard scrapple mining and oil towns, (Rocky Mountain House, Drayton Valley, Hinton) we finally made it to the very Eastern edge of Jasper Park. The campground we stayed at last night was completely surrounded by an electrical fence to keep the bears out. Tonight we are on our own. (Lisa, I'm definitely not leaving the BBQ grill out tonight!) And guess who is accompanying me to the bathroom whenever nature calls?! The good news is that even though it's currently rainy and heavy cloud cover at 10 pm, it's still very bright out. So weird to go to bed before sunset.
Miette Hot Springs is just up the road a couple of kilometers so guess what our plan is tomorrow. Heck, let it rain. The Icefield Parkway is still closed and we have no idea when it will open. We figure we're not going to drive around again so we'll wait it out in Jasper. Hopefully, the storm will abate soon and we will be able to enjoy the drive back to Lake Louise. Depending on how long we are holed up we'll plan our route back to the USA accordingly.

The Beauty of Banff

Lake Louise Campground, Banff, Canada

Sleeping in a parking lot must not have been too bad since we slept in until 9:30! It was close to 11 by the time we were exploring Banff. One of our first stops was the very illustrious Banff Springs Hotel. Dang! I had no idea this 125 year old "lodge" was such an iconic landmark. We took a self-guided tour and learned that it was styled in the spirit of a Scottish baronial castle. The thick limestone blocks were quarried from nearby Mount Rundle and hundreds of Italian stone cutters and Scottish masons were employed to complete the project. We also enjoyed seeing the early pictures of the lodge in various time periods and the upper crust "summering" here. In the 1920's it cost them a $50,000 letter of credit to stay here for 3 or 4 months.
We had hoped to explore Banff on bike, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate so we were relegated to hoofing it. We walked to Bow Falls in a light drizzle and had the path to ourselves. Very romantic.
We took a peak at the nearby hot springs but decided to keep heading north and check out some other campgrounds on our way to Lake Louise. While we didn't get clear blue skies and forever views we did get some mystical cloud formations on mountain tops. We took the lesser traveled parkway rather than the main highway to Lake Louise and stopped periodically to read about historical points along the way. We haven't seen any wildlife yet (bears, moose, elk or wolves) but we did learn some interesting things. Did you know that Canada had interment camps during WWI? Over 8,500 mainly poor immigrants (mostly from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire) were interned in 24 camps throughout Canada. In this area they were forced to do hard labor and this highway is a tribute to their endeavors. Kinda made me a little sad.
We eventually arrived at Lake Louise and even though it was still drizzling, it didn't put a damper on our enjoyment of it. The turquoise blue waters still shone through and there were some hardy souls canoeing the lake. Their red canoes against the azure water in the mist looked amazing. We walked through the massive and very French Lake Louise Chateau. The architect certainly took advantage of the great views when he built this hotel. I particularly liked the "high tea" area where the bistro overlooked the lake.
Once we left the village of Banff the campground situation improved immensely. We have the added advantage that this is still considered off season so we have an abundance of campgrounds to pick from. Tonight we decided on a tent camp ground close to the village of Lake Louise. There are only a handful of people here and we've got a nice roaring fire going. (Thanks Ned.) Time to pop a nice bottle of Ravenswood Old Vine Zinfandel and snuggle in with my honey.

Discovering Western Canada's Heritage

Banff National Park, Banff

When I was much younger, I'd get up early to watch Sunday Mornings with Charles Kuralt. Specifically, I'd watch the last few minutes of the show when the tv screen came alive with just nature scenes. There'd be no talking, no roll of credits, just a beautiful lake or marsh with the sound of ducks quacking as they flapped their wings and took off. It was heaven. I wanted so badly to be there rather than watching it on tv. Well, this morning we were transported to this world.
The early morning sky woke me up about 4:30. Everything was calm, the sky blue with a great band of orange streaked as far across the horizon as you could see. As the sun began to rose every bird was singing out a unique call, the bullfrogs were croaking and in the distance the coyote were howling. Ned and I got a front row seat just sitting lying in bed, watching and listening to it all. We fell back asleep and when we woke to full sunlight, the prairie dogs were scampering about. This is why I love road trips, it's all about finding my Charles Kuralt moments.
Our big outing for the day was Heritage Park Historical Village. We had about a 2 hour or so drive there and gosh did the skies open up on us. We decided it was a good time to stop at a small coffee shop, get out of the rain and connect via wifi. By the time we arrived at Heritage Village it was early afternoon. Since this is mainly an outdoor recreated village we didn't know if the weather would cooperate. Turns out the sun came out and it even got quite warm.
If you're ever in Calgary I highly recommend making a full day of Heritage Park. It's touted as Canada's largest living history museum. Basically, it's Canada's version of Williamsburg, Va. There are recreated villages spanning Western Canada's History from 1860 to 1910. We walked through an aboriginal village, fur traders settlement, early pioneer settlers homes and a 1910 village. We rode a steam train, were pulled in a wagon by draft horses and even took a paddle boat on Glenmore Reservoir. Each settlement had knowledgable actors telling us about their craft or trade. My favorite was visiting the newspaper shop. We got to see a real linotype in action! Amazing how labor intensive typesetting used to be. 70% of the buildings in the park are actual historic structures that have been moved there. The other 30% are historically accurate reproductions so you really get an authentic experience. The Aboriginal Village had people from the Blackfoot Nation and they sang songs and drummed in their "tipi" as the fire roared inside and the smoke came out on top. (Chirs & Vic, campfire in your teepee next winter!). Ned really enjoyed the wagon driver. He grew up in rural Canada driving draft horse teams and was very knowledgeable about a working village and farm. The real steam engine was a hoot too. They actually fill it with 1800 gallons of water every morning out of the authentic water tower. (Dad, yes they even sold fudge. You would have like it here.) What a fun day!!
We left the village just as rush hour traffic was in full gear so we decided to sit outside, enjoy the great weather and share a dark beer over fish tacos and salmon.
We are just now arriving in Banff National Park. The drive from Calgary into the Canadian Rockies was jaw dropping spectacular! However, the campground leaves a LOT to be desired. It's basically a parking lot. Tomorrow are plan is to explore the park and at least find a decent camping spot. Since it'll be light until at least 11 tonight we're off to explore the town of Banff. First glance it seems like Newer South Lake Tahoe and Jackson Hole combined. At least they have wifi!! Stay tuned!

Alberta the land of riches and tornadoes

Kinbrook Island Provincial Park, Tilley, Canada

Knowing we had a long drive today across the rest of Saskatchewan and into Alberta we tried for an early start. The real story of the day was the dramatic sky. Unlike where we live in Nevada City, which is situated in an evergreen forest, the prairie is wide open. You get a fantastic 360 degree view and can see for miles and miles. Today we saw storms brewing and abating with dramatic colors. By the time we reached Medicine Hat, it was quite warm, perhaps in the 80's and we thought the best way to explore the city was on bike. Medicine Hat has 92 kilometers of paved bike trails. What is so amazing about this is that the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have very few paved roads so these paved bike paths seemed like such a luxury. All the roads in Alberta are in much better condition, with a conspicuous lack of potholes, and there is an abundance of asphalt such as in parking lots and side streets. We really enjoyed biking through the city, along the river and seeing several beautiful stately homes. Medicine Hat also has the distinction of having the world's tallest teepee, for whatever that is worth. While the other provinces seemed to be about making a living and not a lot of emphasis on aesthetics Medicine Hat at least seemed like a town that was working to present itself well. Heck, we even found a health food store and I could load up on Kombucha again!
We left Medicine Hat late in the day and headed for a provincial park, situated on an island lake about 90 minutes east of Calgary. When we pulled in a fellow camper told us of a tornado that had been spotted and was headed our way. Interestingly enough, a few hours earlier Ned had asked should we be concerned about the look of the clouds where we were headed. He said it looked like a tornado in the distance. They definitely had a funnel shape. While we were a bit concerned about the impending storm, we did hop on our bikes to take some great photos of the storm and wild cloud patterns in the distance. The park has a cinder block building that houses a laundry room and showers. Rather than set up camp we decided it was probably more prudent to hang close to that building (and I used the opportunity to get caught up on laundry). Another camper listening to the radio said that the likelihood of a tornado had lessened (from a warning to a watch) so we set up camp and enjoyed the beautiful, but dramatic evening. We saw a rainbow and at 10:00 at night, with still bright skies, the clouds parted and it felt like 7:00 pm. We lied in bed and watched the sky in the distance flash with lightening, but there was no thunder and no rain. Just incredible gusts of wind. It was about 11:00 before the night finally enveloped us. Amazing. I wish I could have put today on a time lapse video and showed what we experienced. Hopefully the pics below give some idea.