Icefield Parkway & Jasper

We left Banff on Friday August 15th, returning to the train station to park and return the rental car. It was very convenient having a car and we are considering towing one in the future; although it is an additional complexity to manage. We stopped at Wild Flour bakery again for lunch since it was so good and then headed north up the Icefield Parkway. We had two days to explore before our next reservation in Jasper national park. Our first stop was Peyto lake. It's a steep hike up to the viewing area but a beautiful lake. It was a foggy, rainy day so the light was muted but always worth seeing. We were in the area about 25 years ago and don’t remember the long hike at all. Luckily last time it was a sunny day so we had seen Peyto lake in all its glorious color.

We turned off the icefield parkway and drove east a bit alongside the North Saskatchewan river and stopped at the Wild Horse Creek Rustic Camping area. It had been recommended by a local we spoke to in a Lake Louise coffee shop and turned out to be a great spot. We found a lovely location in the trees overlooking the river and the cats loved the remoteness of the area and exploring the woods. 

The following morning the rain had stopped, and John fixed a crack in the windshield we had picked up on the way to Canmore. All the glass repair companies were busy so he had found a do it yourself kit. On the spur of the moment, we booked the last tour of the day at the Columbia icefield, perfect since we were only an hour away. We had planned to just stop there to see the glaciers and spend the night, but we were fascinated with the idea of riding the Ice Explorer buggy up on to Athabasca glacier. The Ice Explorer is a specially built machine with huge low-pressure tires that holds about 50 people, there are only 25 in the world and 23 are on the Columbia icefield. It has a massive amount of torque and can ascend and descend a slope of 35 percent. It was very cool to get up on the actual glacier but walking around on the glacier was pretty tricky. Walking on ice without ice cleats on your shoes has a great potential of a nasty slip and fall, which fortunately we managed to avoid - although it was close a few times! We enjoyed the tour commentary about the area and the impact of climate change, with a much hotter planet causing the glaciers to shrink. It was very clear where the glacier used to extend to, and how much it has retreated.

We spent the night in the RV parking lot which also works as an overnight campground. Not bad for $16 a night. The temperatures were almost freezing with the cold air coming off the glaciers, but the views in the morning were incredible. Well worth getting up at sunrise to view!

Sunday August 16th we had a leisurely 100 mile mile drive to Jasper, stopping numerous times to take photos of the beautiful scenery. There were several great glacier viewpoints, Tangle Creek Water Falls and Honey Moon Lake which is a hidden gem. Zeke particularly enjoyed a long walk through the woods at the lake.

We spent four relaxing days in Jasper at Whistler campground which has 700 sites, but still managed to avoid feeling crowded. After the bustle of the Banff area we enjoyed a slower pace and spent an morning wandering around town getting lunch, a great coffee with a bear image and a quick trip to the barber for John. We also visited Miette hot springs, about an hour east of town and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in the warm and refreshing cold waters. 

Jasper had a devastating wildfire last summer which burned part of the campground, 358 structures in town and around 90,000 acres.  It caused an evacuation of all residents, workers, and tourists. There was no loss of life except for the unfortunate death of one firefighter. The cause of the fire was lighting, and it will take many years to recover. 

The area is still beautiful and we enjoyed seeing Maligne Lake and Pyramid Lake which were both lovely. We enjoyed a hike through the woods at Maligne lake and were rewarded with a great viewpoint of the lake and mountains. 

The cats had a rare moment of sitting together quietly on the picnic table at dusk one evening followed by a wild active time. They both took off in separate directions - Flash trotting along the street with John telling him to slow down, and Zeke hurtling across the street to a clump of trees with Sara in hot pursuit of the end of the 25ft leash. They seem to go from quiet to active in the blink of an eye and we’ve learned they cannot be left unsupervised for more than a few minutes!

The views from the Jasper campground were stunning in every direction and we really enjoyed our time just relaxing after our busy days exploring.

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Spectacular Banff

We left Canmore on August 12th and headed into the center of Banff to pick up a rental car. It was a beautiful sunny day and Banff was packed with people. We ended up parking at the train station which luckily still had space for RV’s and walked into town to get the car. We had to do a massive amount of laundry and conveniently there was a coin laundry in the same complex as the car rental. Even better was a quick trip to the Wild Flour bakery to reward ourselves for the effort! It was late afternoon and we drove both vehicles to the Lake Louise RV overflow lot, about 50km north of Banff, just a gravel parking lot for $9 a night. 

One of our main goals in Banff was to go to Lake Louise, which is no easy task. Lake Louise is so popular it is impossible to get a parking space during the day, even harder for RV’s, which is why we rented the car. The only options are a shuttle bus or try after 7pm or before 6am. We hadn’t been able to get into the Banff campground for the night, which is why we were in the overflow parking lot and this turned out to be perfect! We headed up the winding road around 7pm and were excited to get a parking space and walked to the lake. It was cloudy and started to rain, and Sara after walking back with her paddleboard bag decided not to get on the lake. We walked back up the hill to the car in the rain and pondered our next move. We were getting ready to leave when the rain cleared and a rainbow came out – so back down to the lake we went for some great sunset photos!

Encouraged by our evening success we forced ourselves to get up at 4:30am the next day (neither one of us are morning people), and we drove up the mountain road in the dark. We were so excited to get a parking spot again as the area was quickly filling up. We had a spectacular morning with incredible sunrise lighting for John’s photography. Sara spent an hour and a half paddleboarding round the lake, enjoying the peace of nature and some unforgettable views as the sun came up over the mountains. It was well worth the early rise and effort!

We stopped in the small village for breakfast and got some tips from a local on where to stay on the Icefield parkway. This would be our next location and we didn’t have any official campsites booked. 

On the way back to the RV we drove the Bow River Parkway and stopped to see beautiful views of the river and mountains. There was one particular place John wanted to check out called Morant's Curve, which has the river and train tracks together. A lot of photographers try to get a photo when the train comes by, but not knowing the train timetable we didn’t want to wait hours. We were treated to a sighting of a large elk by the river munching on foliage.

We were worn out and it had started to rain by the time we retuned to the RV, so we took a nap to warm up before heading to the Tunnel Mountain campground in Banff.  We had a quick dinner and then drove to Vermillion lakes which John had been looking forward to photographing. It was starting to rain again, so the lights weren’t the best, but he was still able to find a shot with some great reflections. It was an amazing day!

On Thursday August 14th we spent the morning driving around exploring Two Jack, Johnson, Minnewanka and Cascade lakes. In the afternoon we drove back to Lake Louise village and took the last shuttle to Moraine Lake. The lake is very popular and access was changed to shuttles only a few years ago to address the 5,000 vehicles a day that were being turned away due to no parking. It’s another beautiful location although conditions weren’t as great as our time at Lake Louise. Sara managed half an hour of paddle boarding before the windy conditions made it too challenging. It was a lot of effort for limited reward, including needing to bang the rudder repeatedly with a rock to remove it so the return shuttle wasn’t missed. We were lucky though, to see a black bear on the return shuttle road!

For a change we enjoyed a restaurant meal before heading back to Banff. We had originally planned on more days in Banff but couldn’t get camp site reservations so we really packed a lot into a few days to make the most of the time!

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Two Medicine Valley and the Banff Legacy Bike Trail

We arrived at Two Medicine valley, Glacier National park, on Monday, August 4th, ready to enjoy our first camping inside a National Park – We were not disappointed!  We had a great site for four days, on the inner loop so quiet and a short walk to both Pray and Two Medicine lakes. On our first evening we chatted to a family who had been north to Jasper and Banff, and they gave us some great recommendations. We checked Canada Parks reservations again and managed to put together a plan for 12 days, with two Canadian national parks, one Provincial Park and a few days of “hopefully we will find something off the road”.  We had been discussing changing our plans and skipping Banff since everywhere was booked, so we were delighted with the outcome!

The following morning there was a herd of mountain sheep wandering around the campground which we enjoyed. The cats were less enthralled and Zeke ran up a tree when they came too close. It was funny to see both the cats and the sheep staring at each other; both seemed to be thinking “what is that! I’ve never seen that animal before and I wonder if it is a threat!”.  It was a beautiful sunny day and Sara enjoyed a 3 mile hike along the north shore of Two Medicine Lake. We did sunset photos on both lakes, where it was quite windy. 

Wednesday August 6th started chilly, and after an early morning paddleboard we lit a fire and John modified his traveling backboard so he could stretch. In the afternoon we cycled to the main hiking area and enjoyed a boat tour of the lake on the Sinopah - a wooden boat built in 1926. Sara went to the evening ranger talk which was about the amazing mountain goats in the park. The ranger was hilarious – he dressed as a goat and made the talk very informative.  

The next day was still chilly and after a quick paddle board we lit another morning fire. It had been cloudy for a few days and we hadn’t been connected to electric power for six days and the problem of the day was how to handle a complete battery drain in the RV! With no power the generator won’t start, and the levelers won’t retract so you can’t drive. We waited for the sun to come out so the solar would recharge the batteries, and Sara went for a lovely 4-mile hike to Aster falls and a viewpoint where she could see the whole valley.  We later determined starting the RV provides enough power to retract the levelers and start the generator, so we wouldn’t have been stranded. There has been a lot of learning on this trip!

Friday August 8th we finally crossed the border into Canada at the Chief Mountain crossing! It was a beautiful drive and an easy crossing and no issues allowing us or the cats into the country 😊  

We spent two nights taking it easy at a campground surrounded by lovely green countryside with rolling hills and a river. The weather was gloriously sunny, and the campground hosts very friendly giving us a tip that the Saskatoon berries were ripe and ready to be picked. We enjoyed fresh berries with ice cream that evening.

Our next stop was Canmore in the Bow River Valley, just an hour southeast of Banff.  We had a long drive to get there, about 300 miles. The scenery was spectacular – something that would continue for many days. We stopped in town for a large quantity of groceries and then headed down to the road 25 minutes to what we thought was the campground. Opps – no we were actually in the campground closer to town! At least we had the spectacular mountains to enjoy since we drove that section of road three times!

One of our goals was to ride the Banff Legacy Trail which is a paved bike path from Canmore up to Banff. It ended up being about a 25-mile ride up and back and yes the views were spectacular! The only downside was being next to a noisy major highway and there were a few sections without a barrier, so we hoped no tourist got distracted by the views and drove off the road. The weather was perfect for cycling and we ended the day with a swim at the Canmore rec center and a lovely hot shower. 

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The Coeur d’Alene Bike Trail and West Glacier National Park

We arrived at Heyburn State Park, northern Idaho on Sunday July 27th, ready for several days of cycling the Coeur d’Alene Rails to Trails path.  We selected the campground because it was just a mile from a beautiful section of the trail, which is on the Hall of Fame Rails to Trails list. The campground was lovely, surrounded by tall pine trees and our site had a large forested area for the cats to explore.  

The next morning we rode 30 miles, along the side of the Chatcolet lake to Harrison and back, crossing a long bridge over part of the lake. The trail was paved and had numerous bathrooms and even a bike repair station with numerous tools. We could see why the trail is in the hall of fame! It was a pretty hot day and we were back in the campground by 1pm and took advantage of the camp showers.

The following day we rode 20 miles in the opposite direction up a 3% grade hill, through canyons and woods. Another lovely ride which was even better coming back since it was all downhill. Thankfully our eBikes helped us on the climb up! Idaho seemed to be having a hot spell and it was in the middle 90s that day. We were glad we had started our ride early. 

The cats spent the three days loving the forested area walking further and further each day without being scared by cars or people. It is very relaxing walking slowly behind them as they meander around, stopping to sniff the plants and look up at the trees. (The cats not us!)

We were still struggling to find camping reservations and were focusing on Glacier National Park our next very popular destination. We had found a Hip Camp outside the west side of the park and were trying to find something on the east side. Sara determined the Two Medicine campground had some sites that would be reservable at 10am eastern time 4 days before you would arrive. She woke up at 6:30 am for two days to see how the process worked and determined the limited availability was all booked in under 10 minutes. Finally on the third day she was able to reserve 4 nights which we were very excited about!

Wednesday, July 30th we moved 75 miles east for a short stay at a campground so we could bike another section of the trail. This section was alongside the river and just as beautiful as the previous rides.  We had picked the campground because it was right on the trail;  it was also right next to the interstate and a construction area that started work at 5:30am both days. We were happy to move on to Glacier National Park in Montana after riding 75 miles of the trail.

Our next stop was for three nights at Glacier Hip Camp, a small private campground 6 miles outside the park. HipCamp is similar to AirBnB, offering camping sites in private unique locations. The National Park campgrounds were all full on the west side of the park, so we were happy to get this camping site. After the noise of the last location this was a delightful place, with about 20 campsites spread over 40 acres in a forest of pine and aspen trees. The cats loved it since we were fairly secluded they got to roam around in the forest, a big treat for them.  

There is one main road that goes through the park called "Going to the Sun Road". If your vehicle is over 21 feet long you can't drive the whole road and the park is so popular you need a reservation for a specific time to enter.  Our RV is 25 feet long and all the timed entry passes were taken. You can however, enter after 3pm without a pass, and drive larger vehicles 16 miles along Lake McDonald to the Avalanche campground turnaround. We took full advantage of this approach for two days, enjoying the beautiful scenery as most people were leaving the park. The lake is huge with spectacular views, and Sara enjoyed a swim while John did photography.

Today is August 7th, and we are currently on the east side of the park in the Two Medicine valley which has magnificent views and is incredibly quiet and peaceful. We have one more night to enjoy here before heading north to Canada.

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Heading North for the Summer

 

After months of preparation and planning the RV was finally loaded and we were ready to start our three month trip to escape the Texas heat. We had a loose plan to visit friends, bike ride different “rails to trails” paths and ultimately explore the mountains of Alberta and British Columbia.  The unknown factor was how the two cats Flash (14) and Zeke (9) would adapt to life on the road in a tiny home on wheels.

We left July 1st and drove four hours to Childress, TX, the joke being the cats had never been further than 45 minutes north and the usual 14-hour push to Colorado might be too much at the start! The next day we stopped at Raton a state park in New Mexico, nestled in  the pine trees. We quickly determined the cats like the forested camp sites and they both enjoyed exploring the area on a leash

We spent the next three weeks in Colorado having a fabulous time visiting great friends, biking the mountain trails, paddle boarding and enjoying live music and fireworks. It was an easy introduction to RV traveling, parking in friend’s driveways and settling us and the cats into our new life. We were amazed how quickly Flash and Zeke adapted and embraced the adventure. 

July 18th, we set out for the two day 475 mile drive to Wyoming, spending the first night at a National Forest campground in Flaming Gorge, Utah. It was very peaceful in a pine forest which the cats loved exploring.  We had quickly learned campsites in the summer can be almost impossible to find and were lucky to get a spot for three days in the small town of Wilson, just outside Grand Teton National Park, one of our favorite parks. A bonus was we had a lovely evening with two of John's grandnieces. Reesey is the daughter of John’s sister's daughter Caroline and Julia is the daughter of his sister's son Thomas. Reesey lives in Jackson and Julia was there for a visit.

We made two bike rides with incredible views of the Tetons and drove the RV to the Snake River Overlook for sunset. Having a small (25ft) RV gives us quite a bit of flexibility for driving and parking and having Starlink meant we were able to research location accessibility.

We said goodbye to the Tetons on Tuesday July 22nd, heading west into Idaho. We spent one night at Craters of the Moon National Monument which was an interesting area full of lava rock. The next day we left early; sure we would find a camping spot at Redfish Lake a beautiful area in the Sawtooth Mountain range. We were bitterly disappointed to find all six of the first come first served campgrounds were full and were told the main reservable campground books out six months ahead of time.  We finally found a dispersed camping spot in the adjacent National Forest, basically you drive down a non-paved road and pull over where you see a good spot. We spent the rest of the day working on reservations for the upcoming week, since our plan of five days at Redfish Lake was a bust!

Determined to get some photos we drove to the Redfish lake visitor center the next morning and walked to the lake shore. It was so beautiful Sara decided to swim, which was very refreshing in the cool mountain water.  

We were heading for northern Idaho 420 miles away to cycle the Coeur d’Alene bike trail. We decided to stop half way at Cascade Lake state park for a few days to relax since we’d been pretty active for 25 days. The drive that day was on narrow, twisty mountain roads with beautiful forest on either side. The term “Hold on to your whiskers kitties, curves and steep descents ahead” was invented! We arrived late afternoon to find a lovely campground with easy access to the lake. We enjoyed three relaxing days - paddle boarding on the lake at sunrise was a special moment. 

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Burning Man Flipside

Burning Flipside is the Texas version of Burning Man. It’s considerably smaller with about 2,400 people attending versus 60,000 to 70,000 for the annual main Burning Man held in the Nevada desert. Sara and I have tried to get tickets before but none were available; this year however we were successful! We thought it would be a good opportunity to find out what Flipside was like and equally important take our RV on a test run to see if everything worked.

We thought preparing for this event would be significantly easier since the location is only three to four hours away, versus the three days we need to get to the Nevada desert. This event started on Thursday April 24th and ended on Sunday 27th, whereas the big Burning Man event is a full week. All of these Burning Man events require you to bring your own shelter, food, water and of course all your costumes. Turns out we still had a ton of work preparing all the provisions and the all important “Shade Structure”. No one would dare going to Burning Man without adequate shade structure!

Finally Thursday afternoon on April 24th we had the RV completely loaded and launched for Apache Pastures which is northeast of Austin. We left in a significant rainstorm that added two hours to our journey down to the event. We ended up arriving in the dark to a very wet muddy location. We checked in and after driving around trying to find a place to park the RV without getting it stuck in the mud we finally settled on a decent spot. After setting up our shade structure in the dark we decided that was enough activity for one day and staggered into the back of the RV and went to sleep.

Friday was a day we spent getting to know where everything was and figuring out how to get around. This event was very different to the main Burning Man because the location was all grasslands and trees with a few dirt roads to get around on. At the big event in Nevada the location is a huge flat desert playa where you can get on your bike and go anywhere any time of the day or night. The roads at Flipside were pretty narrow so using our bikes was more difficult and not a good idea at night. Turns out there were a lot of people driving golf carts around the event and you could flag them down for a ride. At first we were not super excited about the event I think because we were so used to the enormity of the Nevada event. As we started to realize getting rides was fairly easy we became more comfortable and we started to find some theme camps that we enjoyed.

Saturday we moved around the event and enjoyed chilling at the RV. The weather at night was fabulous and cool. The daytime temps were on the warm side and muggy but could have been a lot worse if the event was held on its traditional Memorial weekend. Saturday night was the Temple burn. When they start burning things people really get in the  spirit of Burning Man.

Sunday was our last day and we were starting to get a good feel for living in the RV and how everything worked. We realized that thirty gallons of fresh water doesn’t go a long way. We never could get the hot water heater to work which was not a big deal and the air conditioner stopped working that day.  When we got back home a quick call to the Leisure Travel Van customer service provided the easy tips to resolve all these issues. There is a lot to learn with an RV. The pro tip is don't leave cans of chocolate milk in wire pantry rack - they can get pierced and spray milk all over the place!

Sunday night was the main Burn.  This year they built a large three story wooden structure that resembled a Heart. They also had an excellent professional drone show before the burn. After the burn we decided to go to the Lava Lounge. We had fallen in love with the Lava Lounge Saturday night. It was big and not crowded with two DJs, a dance floor, and served several delicious drinks. 

We stayed up late, danced a little, and were honored with the remote that lit the fire at the top of the tent. We visited a number of different camps including one that showed old time movies. All in all, we ended up having a great time and were glad we gave Burning Flipside a go. Monday morning we packed up and had a leisurely drive back to Dallas.

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Vancouver - Parks and Bays

We sadly left the Yukon on Wednesday April 2nd, flying on our new favorite airline Air North. For even a two hour flight you get an excellent sandwich and a hot cookie! At the request of a friend we confirmed the DC3 airplane windsock still works at Whitehorse airport. 

We saw more cars and people in the first two hours in Vancouver than over 11 days in Yukon - it was quite an adjustment!

Our house was beautify decorated with a rich history of the Squamish Nation. We enjoyed reading about the owner's late father Chief Knot-La-Cha and loved the totem pole in the living room. 

Our first day we drove north to Whistler stopping along the way at Brandywine falls park for a picnic lunch and a short hike, enjoying the scenery, the falls and the forest. We visited the 2010 Olympic Park venue to see the ski jump and biathlon areas, it was fun to be back on snow again. The day was finished with a stop at a local bar the Watershed in Squamish. We stuffed ourselves with delicious fish and chips and Canadian beer. We continued to be amazed by the friendly Canadians we met.

Friday April 4th we decided to explore a few of the 250 local parks in Vancouver. This time of the year the cherry blossom trees were blooming, along with daffodils and other spring flowers. We started with Stanley park, which is on the northwestern peninsula of Vancouver city.  At around 1,000 acres the park has a lot to offer, with trails, forest, gardens, beaches, a long seawall and marina for boats and float planes. We spent quite a bit of time in the area with First Nations Totem poles representing a number of indigenous nations and drove around the parameter of the park.

Our second stop was Queen Elizabeth park, in the center of the city. It had beautiful cherry blossom trees and spring flowers and we enjoyed a peaceful few hours in the early evening sun. We had planned to drive home for dinner, but it was rush hour and the traffic was terrible, so we stopped to eat instead. We started driving again once the congestion had died down and the bridges to north Vancouver had cleared. John was interested in ice cream, and we found a store on the route home. The ice cream was incredible and was made in the store by the owners who are originally from Mexico! Sometimes it is good to see where the day takes you. As we were heading home we decided explore for night views of Vancouver from the north shore and found a great spot at a place called the Shipyards. We were worn out when we got home, but it had been a great day. We were lucky our whole time in Vancouver to have such sunny days. 

On our last day in Vancouver we went to Capilano Park which is in a rainforest and has a long suspension bridge crossing a river. The park has several suspended walkways through the forest. It was a lovely few hours in peaceful nature after the city congestion the previous day. For our last lunch of the trip we had a great meal at the Olive and Anchor in Horseshoe Bay. We enjoyed the late afternoon hours in Whytecliff park experiencing fabulous views of the bay on a lovely sunny day.  It was a wonderful end to the trip.

We're back home now and getting ready for the Texas Burning Man event in Austin at the end of the month. Our trip to Canada was very memorable and we look forward to returning to Canada in our RV this summer.

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