At the end of each day, we normally relax around the campfire to unwind, review the day’s adventures and plan tomorrow’s events. So, what happens when the Alberta winds drive you inside? Simple . . . we gather five people into a trailer meant for two and have a happy hour. A candle is the token campfire.
jw
After a day of driving through Canada’s Jasper National Park, we’ve made camp at the edge of Alberta’s windy prairie. We’re in the little town of Hinton where we will spend an extra day so we can restock, do laundry and a little maintenance. Tomorrow we will continue our trek north to Dawson Creek (no, I don’t think it’s the TV show one).
Yesterday’s journey was a cold one. A weather front moving through was supposed to clear but didn’t. So we were blessed with low clouds, rain and even a bit of snow. We left Lake Louise in near freezing temperatures which never rose much until we came down from the mountains.
Highway 93 traverses the park and is called The Icefield Parkway, and for good reason. On a clear day the drive must be breath-taking judging from the limited visibility of the low clouds we experienced. The road along glacial valleys connected by a couple of 6,500 ft passes. Each side of the road is lined with 9-12 thousand foot mountains which we only saw their massive feet lined up one after another.
At the first pass, Bow Summit, we stopped for the roadside exhibition and walked up the trail to the overlook. I’ve already used the term ‘breathtaking’ in this post, but there isn’t another word for this hike. Starting from the 6500 ft elevation at the parking lot, the trail went straight up another 500 feet. Halfway through we were both panting and considered blowing off the hike, but we were encouraged on by returning hikers. Finally at the summit platform, several dozen people jockeyed for space at the rail to snap a shot of Peyto Lake below, followed by a selfie and then a video. Giving up all attempts at being polite, I had to fight for my turn at the rail. You would have thought it was Macy’s the day after Christmas. Even that spot wasn’t good enough for some, because there were people over the rail stacked at the cliff face taking pictures.
After recovering from the madhouse, we continued the drive until we reached the second pass and the Columbia Icefield Center where we stopped for lunch. Again, I think half the world had left home to congregate in that building. There were three lunch choices. The empty buffet room that was reserved for incoming tour buses, the cafeteria with a line out the door and down the stairs, or the snack bar, which we chose for a bowl of chicken noodle soup (industrial Progreso) and a cold sandwich.
The Icefield Center has the usual shops, food, displays, and information booths, but here, for $80 (CDN), you can buy a bus ticket for a trip onto the Athabasca Glacier. The buses are special all wheel drive with six axles and people were lining up by the hundreds to give away their money. It was like people wanted a chance to touch a glacier before they all disappeared.
By the time we finished lunch, we were tired of the crowds and decided to just make a bee line for our destination. But we first had to stop to fill the tank on Baby; Sally’s motor-home, so we made a stop in the town of Jasper. As it turns out, Jasper is on a major railroad route and we had to wait for a train at the crossing. Canadian trains are very long and before the first on passed, a second came along going the other way. It was twenty minutes before the crossing guards let us through.
Finally, we were coming down off the mountain when we saw our first heard of bighorn sheep crossing the road. There were two small females accompanied by as many lambs. That was followed shortly by Fred spotting our first roadside moose, but not telling everyone because his Walkie-Talkie died. Then Fred (who is the wagon master of the trip) suddenly pulled to the road side and we all spotted two black bears at the edge of the trees. After being warned by my friend Jeff, I didn’t want to run over to get close-ups, but I was so excited that I forgot to get out my long zoom lens.
In all, it was a long day for a relative short distance. Our normal travel days don’t have as many stops, but we didn’t want to miss the chance of enjoying Jasper National Park. At the end of the day, we gathered in our trailer and enjoyed a meal of brats and grilled onions with some grilled cantaloupe tossed in. But, that’s another post.
jw
Arriving at Lake Louise in Canada’s Banff National Park, we’ve now traveled north of the 51st parallel. In our first few camps, the first chore we did was to get the air conditioner going. At this camp, we’ve fired up the heater because of the night’s sub-freezing temperatures. To be fair, our camp elevation is above 5100 feet, so not all the drop in temperature is due to our northward migration.
Lake Louise in Banff is spectacular. Although there are many larger lakes in the park, Louise’s size emphasizes how a glacier creates and then feeds the lake’s water system. With ten-thousand foot mountains towering above each side, the u-shaped valley is anchored by the aqua colored lake. Opposite the glacier sits the world-famous Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel. It has expensive rooms, expensive restaurants and expensive shops. Surrounding the hotel, thousands of tourist have come from around the world to snap selfies along the lakeside. A casino or two would make the scene perfect.
This is the second Canadian National Park that we’ve visited so far and it seems that Canada manages them as luxury resorts and not a chance to commune with nature. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of trails into the back country and you’re free to climb the mountains, but you have to offer the initiative to do so. I’m glad that we got to experience the Canadian Rockies. They’re an awesome subject for a photographer.
We’ll be spending another day here. Fred and I are going to throw fly lines at the Bow river this morning. Then since it’s Fred and Deb’s nineteenth anniversary, they’re going to try for a romantic window side table at the Fairmont’s swankiest restaurant. I’m sure that you’ll join us in wishing them congratulations. Meanwhile, the rest of us will be dining at Mickey D’s.
Tomorrow we head thru Jasper National Park on the Ice Field road before heading back down on the plains and a little town called Hinton. They have WiFi there and I won’t have to sit in the visitor’s center as I’m doing now. I’ll post more from there.
jw
I wanted to get off a short note this morning before we get on the road to Banff and show a couple of shots of yesterday’s park visit.
If you’ve never heard of the Alberta winds, here is your notice. The wind blows here most of the time. And I’m not talking puffy little breezes. The winds come down off of the mountains and on to the prairie and they really batter you. The last two nights in the Ritz felt like sleeping in a Lowe’s paint shaker. I’d compare them to our summer monsoons, but they last all day and night.
It’s time to start packing now, so I’ll close. As I said, we don’t expect WiFi for a couple of days, but I’ll post news if I’m wrong. On to Banff and Lake Louise.
jw
It’s the beginning of our second week of travel and today was the first time we didn’t have clear skies. In Columbia Falls yesterday, the temperature was in the high 90s before afternoon thunderstorms dropped some light rain. Today the storms have been building all day.
We made the drive around the south flank of Glacier Park and got to St Mary in the early afternoon, and that’s even stopping at the goat lick and lunch (it’s not the name of a restaurant, they’re different places). We had to move so we could see Glacier’s east side. As I wrote earlier, the Going to the Sun Road is still covered in snow.
The goat lick is kind of cool. There is a turn out near the south-west corner of the park where you can see mountain goats if you’re lucky. They come down from the high mountains to a spot above a fork of the Flathead River where there are salt deposits. The last time Anne and I stopped, there were about a dozen, but there were only three today. Since they’re on the other side of the river, they’re over a mile away in the shot I made with my telephoto lens.
After setting up camp, we piled in the car and drove up the east side of the Going to the Sun Road. That’s when the thunderstorms really developed. As moist air moves in from the west, the Rockies wring a lot of that water out before moving out to the dry prairie. With thunder echoing off of the mountains while rain and hail bounced off of Fritz, the park was showing off a different face.
We’re going to stay here for another day then move across the border to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. It’s part of the Glacier Eco system and is called the International Peace Park. Besides, Fred and I have to see if we can catch something that moves.
jw
We arrived in Columbia Falls yesterday. Fred needs to get his stitches out (see the earlier post about pending disasters), and after five days of driving we scheduled time for a break. In addition to the medical concerns, we’ll restock some supplies and explore Glacier National Park so we can shoot some pictures and get in some fishing.
Glacier is my favorite park (of the ones I’ve visited). It spans the border with Canada and their side is called Waterton Lakes National Park. Glacier is relatively small but has spectacular glacial mountains stacked one after another. I’ve joked before that it’s hard to photograph because to get one mountain completely framed, you back into another mountain.
Going to the Sun road is the only road that traverses the park, and it crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. At 6600 feet elevation, it is the best view of the park. Unfortunately, the road was closed every time we’ve visited and this year the snow won’t be cleared until mid July.
If you visit the park early in the season, you can cheat the snow plows by driving around the park on Highway US 2 to visit the other side, and that’s what we will do on Wednesday. We will spend a couple of days in Saint Mary before we finally cross the Canadian border.
jw
There’s a pattern developing with our campsites. After driving a couple hundred miles each day, we pull into an RV park to get an evening’s rest. We’ve planned these stops and reserved our spaces before we left. RV Parks have become the motels of our generation. Each of the parks that we’ve stayed at have amenities that make life on the road more pleasant. One of those things is a WiFi connection that makes it possible to communicate with you while on the road.
Of the four places we’ve stayed in, three were really accessible from the highway, while last night’s was . . . well, out-of-the-way. It was in Thornton, Idaho. I know! Where the heck is that? It’s a wide spot in the road north of Idaho Falls and it was a detour from Interstate 15.
The pattern I’m referring to is this. The more convenient a park is to the highway, the more the highway conveniently runs through your bedroom. So far we’ve had semi trucks, trains, freeway noise and industrial sites as our ambient background noise throughout the evening. We dismissed it as part of being on the road, until last night.
When we pulled up to the park in Thornton, we all thought we’d made a big mistake. This wasn’t a big city or quaint little town. It was a spot on a side road with a couple of abandoned grain elevators, a row of closed businesses on the east side of the road and a potato shipping plant across the street. We could easily see the railroad tracks running along the road. It was the train blaring that got us up early in Provo and we thought here we go again. With some apprehension, we turned into the driveway of the Thompson RV Park.
When we parked inside of the gate and went to the office to register, we were surprised to find a lovely park with gardens, fish pond, mature trees and lots of space to spread out. After setting up, we had a chance to wander the gardens where Linda Thompson joined us and pointed out all the flower variety growing. “You should have been here when the tulips were growing.” We could imagine what we missed because everything else was still in bloom.
She proudly pointed to a willow tree that she had planted nearly 50 years ago. “It was a twig in one of my mother’s funeral arrangements and when the flowers faded, I stuck it in the ground. I call it the Mom tree.” The house was over a hundred years old and they’ve run the park for about half that time. She explained that she and her husband want to retire and sell the place. They want to move to someplace warmer.
How was our stay? Dead quiet except for the occasional peacock call in the distance. We could hear that because it was remarkably quiet otherwise. We even talked in hushed tones around our gathering. It will be a shame when the Thompson’s leave. I can’t imagine Corporate America giving the love and care to keep the place the same.
jw
