Travel Challenges & Sparkling Lakes

We left the Revelstoke area on Monday September 1st and traveled east on the Trans Canada highway to Glacier national park an area surrounded by steep mountains and glacial alpine rivers. There was potential for northern lights that night and we thought this might be a good location for photography. As we were driving around the campground looking for a site to pick there was a loud grinding sound – we had hit the front right leveler on a sneaky dip in the road. The RV has four automatic jacks that are great at leveling the RV, the downside is reduced ground clearance. We were pretty dejected when we looked at the jack and realized it was bent. Little did we know it was about to get much worse. 

The following morning we decided to move on to Golden, a small mountain town about an hour away. Sara has a skydiving friend there who owns a café (Papa Bears) and we wanted to pop in and say hi to her. About 5 minutes outside of town we got a scary warning on the dash screen saying 10 starts remaining for the RV. We had been warned that if you get too low on Diesel Emission Fluid (DEF) the engine shuts down and you have to be towed to the dealership. We never received the low DEF warning - just went straight to the countdown. 

We stopped at Papa Bears and had a great lunch and quick catch up with Veronica and her finance Rob who have created a wonderful coffee shop and café. Next up was trying to work out what was going on with the van. After John called our Dallas Mercedes service rep. and tried a few things it was obvious we had to find a Mercedes Benz dealer. We were parked on a side road outside a house and the homeowner came out to see if we needed any help, offered us cold drinks and a ride to the local repair store – Canadians really are great people!

Wednesday September 3rd we were up early and headed to Calgary which was 160 miles and about a 3 hour drive. We had luckily found a dealership who had availability and told us to get there asap and don't turn off the engine on the way. We had no idea what was wrong, or how long a repair would take. John’s birthday was the next day and we had visions of celebrating it in the Mercedes service center waiting for parts. The drive took us past what was meant to be our next location Yoho national park and Emerald Lake, then past Lake Louise and Banff. The haze from forest fires combined with the rising sun created some stunning pastel-like views as we drove through the mountains.

The dealership was great and diagnosed the issue quickly. When we hit the bump in Glacier the front leveler bent and severed the DEF hose. Luckily the part was in stock and all was fixed, including the bent bracket by 3:30pm! The trip was back on!

We decided to get out of Calgary before the traffic got worse and drove 1½ hours to the Kananaskis valley. The cats were not happy about the day’s activity and clearly were unsettled about being locked in the RV bedroom as the van was repaired. Flash who has started to sit on our laps and look out the window loudly meowed his disapproval of the Calgary traffic instead of the mountain and forest views.

As we were backing into the campsite a red engine coolant light came on with a message saying shut off engine. Really, what else could happen? Turns out the shroud around the radiator wasn’t connected correctly – that was an easy fix for the two of us to manage so thankfully we didn’t need to return to Calgary. Phew that was a long day.

Thursday September 4th – John’s Birthday! We decided to stay in the Eau Clarie campground another night. It was really peaceful with only 5 campers spread across the 50 sites; just what we needed after the crazy previous days. We had planned to visit the Kananaskis area so the diversion worked out. We enjoyed the mountains and lovely lakes, although haze from forest fires was an issue,  

Our approach of not planning ahead very far does cause a bit of anxiety about whether we will find a place to stay. We have noticed it always works out and our next location was a great example. On Friday September 5th, we drove north again past Banff and Lake Louise, returning to Yoho national park. We pulled into Kicking Horse campground and asked if they had any availability. There had just been a cancelation, and if we could fit the van into site 13 we could stay the night. Perfect, and yes, we fit!  We were excited because we wanted to visit  Emerald Lake which was just 15 minutes from the campground. The lake is a very beautiful and popular and we have wanted to return since visiting 25 years ago. We spent a delightful evening at the lake, wandering around the shoreline finding different spots for photography. The lake wasn’t quite as turquoise as we remembered, possibly because of the smoke haze and the late afternoon sun not shining directly on the lake. It was still a magical time.

The next day we stopped for a great lunch in the tiny village of Field. The Truffle Pigs Bistro is a small family-run restaurant recommended by John’s college friend Alex. Apparently, people come all the way from Calgary just to eat at the restaurant. It was a great meal! 

We drove east back past Lake Louise (those spectacular views never get old) and then went south on highway 93 into Kootenay National Park. We keep thinking we will run out of beautiful scenery and mountains, but they just kept coming and coming. We camped next to the Kootenay river and loved the turquoise color of the water. The turquoise color comes from "rock flower" which are minerals deposited in the water as the glacier scrapes the rocks. 

Sunday September 7th we drove further south and stopped at Radium hot springs for a relaxing soak. On the way to the next campground we drove through the small town of Radium and stopped at a great Austrian restaurant. We’ve been cooking in the RV most days, so it was a treat to eat out two days in a row! 

Click here for the photos!

Revelstoke!

We arrived in the mountain town of Revelstoke on Wednesday August 27th. The area sits at the base of three mountain ranges and is well known for all kinds of winter activities including some very good heli skiing. We had one night booked at the National Park Snowforest campground, and planned to stay in the area until Monday after the Canadian Labor day weekend. We loved our campsite nestled in the trees and decided to try and stay two nights. Sara checked with the office about availability for the next night. After a sharp intake of breath from the rangers, and a few sad head shakes they said "let’s check". Turns out our exact site was available, and yes we would love to stay in that location another night!

We enjoyed the cooler temperatures and built a great fire using the wood included in the camping fee. We had been plagued with damp wood at previous campgrounds and finally had dry wood! The campgrounds are very strict about burning wood from other areas to prevent the spread of invasive insects and disease. Some of the National Park campgrounds enable you to purchase a fire permit and then access unlimited wood which is always nice, especially when it burns well!

The next morning we relaxed in the peaceful campground. The cats loved this location and spent hours outside with us wandering around the area. We thought Zeke was sitting in the undergrowth relaxing quietly and were horrified when he walked into camp with a little vole in his mouth. We were not sure of the park regulations about killing voles but assumed we had broken them. 

Around 3pm we drove 27km up the Meadows in the Sky parkway. The rangers told us parking at the top was tough during the day, so we waited until most people had hopefully left. It was a lovely drive up a road with some sharp hair pin bends and great views of the valley. We found space to park at the top and hiked a long path to the top of mount Revelstoke which had stunning views of the surrounding mountains. There were some lovely ponds with reflections and an old historic fire lookout cabin. The views were a bit hazy due to smoke from forest fires in northern Canada. 

Friday August 29th we needed to find a camping site early for the long weekend before everything filled up. We had researched the area and decided to explore a small road that headed north about 100km to a dam that had created Lake Revelstoke. There were several British Columbia recreation site campgrounds and if needed some wild camping. We first stopped to top up our propane which we were doing every 3-4 weeks to be safe. The gauge had stopped working in Idaho and the only way to check capacity was for John to slide under the RV to look at a manual gauge. We also stopped to dump our black and grey tanks and fill up on drinking water. We've learned RVing is a lot about tank management, especially if you aren't sure where you will be camping! 

After an hour’s drive north we arrived at Downie Creek campground which still had a few sites available out of the 22 available. The sites were very close to each other; the campground was surrounded by trees with no views and there were a lot of children running around. Initially we weren’t looking forward to the next three days, but it turned out to be a great stay. Everyone was a local and they were very friendly and welcoming and we enjoyed chatting to them. A short walk or bike ride took us to the shore of Lake Revelstoke an 81 mile lake surrounded by an interior temperate rainforest and glacier-capped mountains. 

The weather was warm and the lake water very pleasant for swimming and paddle boarding,  which we enjoyed all three days. We found a trail that took us into the trees and away from the campground activity. The cats, particularly Zeke, loved exploring this area going deeper into the forest each day. On Saturday evening following the afternoon rain, Sara explored the lake shore for several hours on the paddleboard. The water was smooth as glass, and when she returned we both cycled back to the lakeshore for evening photography. 

Sunday August 31st was an amazing day, one of the best of the trip. We started with an early morning 15 mile bike ride on the quiet road, enjoying great views of the lake and mountains. In the afternoon we both got on the paddleboard and carefully paddled around the corner of our camp inlet and found a private sandy beach. We spent the afternoon there swimming and just sitting on logs with our feet in the water enjoying the amazing mountain views. It was a magnificent day!

Monday we got up unusually early at 5:30am for some sunrise photography. We cycled down to the lake and waited several hours for the sun to come over the mountains – guess we didn’t need to get up so early!  Most people were heading home after the long weekend, and we too packed up and said our goodbyes. As we left one of the campers gave us a hand knitted towel as a parting gift – it really was a special experience for the three days.

Click here for the photos and videos!

Mount Robson and the Thompson Valley

After leaving Jasper we entered the “no plan – plan” phase of the trip. We were driving west, south then east in a large loop of about 600 miles, exploring the North Thompson Valley in BC. The goal was to be back in the mountains of Yoho national park in early September when hopefully things would be quieter and campsites easier to find. 

Our first stop was Mount Robson provincial park, which at 12, 972 feet is the highest peak in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. When we arrived, the top was completely covered with clouds, but in the morning it was clear blue sky. John prefers photos that include clouds however we spoke to a local who said he had only seen the top of Mt. Robson a few times, so we thought it appropriate to show it clear and visible. Friday August 22nd, we drove to the trail head of the mountain and Sara rode her bike up a steep rocky path with steep drop-offs into the fast-flowing river on one side. Not being used to off-road trails she almost turned around a few times; however seeing a family with two young children who had ridden up the night before and camped she was inspired to continue. The view at Kinney Lake was well worth the fear going up and down; an alpine lake surrounded by steep mountains. 

That afternoon we were relieved to get a camping spot at the second campground in the park. Everything was first come first served, and our backup plan was wild camping at a gravel pit up the road. It was still early enough on a Friday afternoon to have spots available, even better they had hot showers!

The next day we drove north to the tiny community of Dunster (population 24). The area had caught Sara’s attention because Google maps showed a place nearby called Croydon and Sara’s Dad was from Croydon which is south London. Dunster has a railway station built in 1913 which is now a restored museum and a cool historic general store. It was a fun afternoon chatting to the locals about the area’s history. Plus the general store had fire starters, Sara’s favorite tea and a post office where we bought some stamps we needed. We decided not to go any further north and turned back south to spend two nights in Valemont since we needed to do such mundane things as grocery shopping and laundry!

The campsite in Valemont was next to the Swift River which was a dedicated salmon spawning habitat. The Chinook salmon swim all the way from Vancouver to lay their eggs. There were a lot of salmon swimming up the river and it was quite moving watching their struggle after a 3-month journey about 850 mile journey.  The water was turbulent and hard to photograph, but John persevered and managed to get a few shots. They were quite big, about two feet long, and we were careful to follow the directions to not disturb them, even a shadow can prevent them from laying the eggs. 

We left Valemont on Monday August 25th and drove south to Clearwater which is the entry point to  Wells Grey Provincial Park which has 42 waterfalls. We were staying at a campground north of the highway to have a quiet night. Most of our campgrounds had been off the highway so had road noise and sometimes train noise. The area is quite wild and all facilities are close to the main road, including the train track which we seemed to have been following since Montana!  The only noise that night was our neighbor having a terrible argument with someone, he did apologize the next day. The campground had some interesting buildings and we thought it had been a military base, turns out it was a minimum security prison some years ago.

On the way out we stopped to see Spahats Fall which is 197 feet tall and enjoyed a pleasant walk through an old growth forest. Then we headed to Kamloops for groceries and pet food. It was a really hot day, almost 100F, and we of course managed to hit town at the hottest part of the day. Kamloops is in a dry hot area and was the largest town we had gone through since leaving Kalispell in Montana. We were able to get everything we needed and then headed to Salmon Arm for the night. We knew the area was hot and were trying to get through to the lower temperatures in the mountains of Revelstoke as quickly as possible. 

We had driven just over 4,000 miles by this point and everyone was settling into van life. We’ve memorized most of the places in the van that cause a nasty head strike if you’re not paying attention, and we have learned to move around each other in the 160 sq feet of interior space. Finding campsites has got easier, aided by Google Maps and iOverlander.com. The cats continue to enjoy getting outside and certainly enjoy the forest sites the most. Best to avoid any area with small children or dogs which particularly scares Zeke. We have tried to walk them together, but they always go in completely opposite directions, even if we are trying for a quick photo!

Click here to see the Photos and Videos