Gates of the Mountain above Helena MT

Columbia icefields

7-3

Heading west toward Jasper (about 4 hrs) we stopped for gas and after walking Mickey I was coming back into the motorhome when all of a sudden this huge black dog bolted in front of me and went right in after Mickey. The owner came running after him, but he had trouble getting him to leave. Guess he just wanted to say HI! Thank God Mickey didn’t get snippy; he could have done some real damage. Norm was sitting in the driver’s seat with a real shocked look on his face! We saw lots of elk, and went through a hard rain storm entering the park. We started looking for a campground but soon found out we should have made reservations. We finally found room at Wabasso with electric for 2 nights. On the road to Wabasso a momma bear with her little cub crossed the road in front of us. When we got to our campsite we had another surprise. Our rear window in the Focus was in little pieces! It must have happened after the storm because nothing was wet. We unhooked and headed into Jasper to find some plastic to cover it. Got there just in time before the hardware store closed, with NO WALLET AND NO PARK PASS, left them back at the motorhome. We scrounged around in the car for parking meter quarters and had just enough with 2 cents left. Talked our way back into the park. There was still time for a ride so we went to the top of Mt Edith Cavell where there are 2 glaciers to be seen, We decided to go back up when the weather improves. We also went back to Jasper and drove to Pyramid Lake. It stays light here until after 10pm.

7-4

Had a wonderful Independence Day! We took Mickey and headed south toward Banff, it was cloudy but no rain. We stopped for a walk at Athabasca Falls which isn’t far from our campsite, then continued south on the Icefields Parkway stopping to see bear 3 times! We walked up to the Icefields, quite a hike in thin air! Since we hiked all that way we decided not to take the bus that takes you out onto the ice. We could see them very well from our vantage point. ($105.00 for two) We continued south to Rocky Mountain House where we turned and headed back. When passing the Icefields we stopped to give two girls a ride. They were staying at hostels and had just met. One was from France and the other from Saskatchewan. The Canadian girl was looking for work in Jasper, and the French girl was here on an organic farm work program. She is visiting the park for 7 days then goes to a farm where she will work for her food and lodging. She stays about 6 weeks at each farm. She said she had worked in France for 5 years and wanted to take advantage of this program to travel. After picking them up we saw 3 Dahl sheep. The girls were going to the falls and we dropped them off on our way back to camp to rest after a wonderful day.

7-5 2012

We have to break camp today so we got up early and headed back to Mt Edith Cavell. There was ice on the car roof but it is sunny. There is a 45 minute walk to the glaciers (took me 90 min) but worth every step. When we got close we realized why it’s called Angel Glacier.  We took pictures for our funeral slide show!  We moved the MH into town where they have plenty of rv parking and hunted up wifi. We found 20 mins. at a wonderful bakery (The Other Paw), We had lunch there then went searching for the Nikon. No luck in Jasper, the second photo shop just sold the last one this morning. We decided to check out Miette Hot Springs about 30 mins. back toward Hinton. On the way we had to stop for Big horn sheep on the road. The truckers were honking but the rest of us were taking advantage of the great photo opp. The road up to the springs was also beautiful and when we got there their parking lot was full of mountain goats. They were licking the salt off the bottom of cars. Norm decided not to indulge as it was a swimming pool, not natural. On the way to Jasper we came across the largest elk I’ve ever seen with a rack to match. Just about into town we pulled into the transfer station road in hopes of seeing wildlife and we were rewarded immediately by about 25 elk, I think they were the big ones harem!  Spent the night in Hinton Walmart ready to start the trip up rt 40 just outside Hinton.

7-6

RT. 40 is a good road. We saw lots of deer and 1 moose and it’s only 9 am. There are beautiful fields of canola and lots of timber along the way. We saw one elk farm. Stopped for lunch at Grande Prairie pop 50500. Stocked up at WM and went looking for the Nikon.  BINGO I found it at London Drug and it was the same price as Amazon. Got a sexy red one. I also indulged in 2 folding walking sticks in hopes that they would help the knees! A good stop for me. We continued on to Dawson Creek mile one of the Alcan Highway.

7-7 Carissa’s birthday

A travel day for us. Our dollar and the Canadian dollar are at par. We haven’t even exchanged any money, everyone seems happy to take American dollars or plastic. Fuel is getting higher the further north we get. We came through our first construction, about 10 mi of stoned road, lots of stones on the car and another chip in the windshield. There have been several large staging areas for gas exploration, and quite a bit of truck traffic. Fort Nelson seems to be prospering.  Some of the hills have 10% grades but were handling it well. The scenery is vast and beautiful with massive mountains and roaring rivers. Not much wildlife viewing today. One bear, two deer, and some stone sheep, just before we stopped at this pull off overlooking the MacDonald River (mm379).

7-8

We’re heading toward Liard Hot Springs and Provincial Park, We have fond memories of this place with Its sandy bottom, boardwalks leading to it and water getting hotter as you walk upstream. Took a short break at Muncho Lake. It is 7 miles long and 1 mile across with deep green water and 7000” mountains surrounding it. We arrived at Liard by 10:30, they now charge a day use fee of $5.  We walked over to the kiosk to find out if there were vacancies, and there were. Last time we were here they were full! Our happiness didn’t last too long, we found out why the room. VICIOUS MOSQUITOS!  We had our soak, just as we remembered it but decided not to spend the night. The Ranger said the mosquitos seemed to be just here, several miles north or south were not bothered with them. Bear! After we left Liard we saw over a dozen! Got a real good shot of a brown bear.  We also got a real good look at a herd of Wood Bison, they are larger than the buffalo in the states. A great day for wildlife viewing!  Stopped for diesel at Contact Creek YT.( $5.18 per gal.) The man at the gas station said the summer has been cool and wet so far. Made a stop at the signpost forest in Watson Lake where they had a most helpful visitors center with a nice movie and museum. Wifi could be found at the community center next door where there was a curling rink and swimming pool. Made our camp at a pull off just up the road.