100923 Lake Louise & Banff

Sun/Weather – I woke up early and got on the road right away. I had two hours of sunshine before it became mostly cloudy, which it stayed for the rest of the day. It sprinkled on me a couple times, but no rain, though.

Color – I drove through my favorite part of Jasper/Banff parks late yesterday afternoon and early this morning. There was incredible color from golden birches (along with the usual snow-topped mountains and incredible vistas) on this part of the drive. Too bad the sun wasn’t really good either time. Next time!! (That’s what I keep telling myself, that this is just my first trip, the one where I hit the high points, so I know where I want to spend more time next time I come.)

Lake Louise – Drove to Lake Louise. Stopped and saw the lake. Beautiful, for sure. All the canoers on the lake spoiled the view a little when I first got there. Had lunch at the Fairmont Chateau Hotel right on the edge of the lake, in the Lakeview Lounge. They sat me next to a huge window with a great view of the lake. I had a very good crab and corn bisque. (This one goes on your list of recommended restaurants, Laura. Be sure to ask for a table by a window.)

Moraine Lake – I drove up to this beautiful alpine lake. It’s higher up in the mountains. Windier. It was a lot colder there. Just as I got there, however, the sun came out and shone on the lake, showing its incredible aquamarine color. I took some pictures fast, then left. It was too cold for me. The drive there and back was great, though. More fantastic vistas.

Banff – In the afternoon I drove down Hwy 1 to the town of Banff. There are bridges over the road with trees on them, that I found out later are wildlife crossings. They said that they have been a success, many fewer animal/vehicle accidents, so they were building a couple more of them. Banff is a lot bigger than Lake Louise. I drove around town a little, spent a little time at a city park, Cascade Ponds, then drove the Minnewanka Loop. This city park is surely the most beautiful I have seen. Snow-covered mountain views [photo right], and a view of an amazingly long waterfall [photo below] falling down the nearby mountain. There were more incredible views on the Minnewanka Loop [photo above], and a mama bighorn sheep and her young one visited with me for awhile, hoping for a handout, I'm afraid. I stopped at the Safeway store, but didn’t end up buying much as everything was so expensive. Last thing I did was to drive to/by the Vermillion Lakes, a marshy area with mountains in the background. I joined a few other photographers as we all stood around, waiting for the sun to occasionally peek through the clouds. Next time I will spend more time in this town.

100922 Mt. Robson Provincial Park & Icefields Parkway

Mount Robson PP - Today was a very satisfying day. After days of glimpses of snow-topped mountains, today I finally got a good look at them. It was a clear, sunny day today. (Hurray!) I decided to drive back into BC, along the drive I took yesterday to get to Jasper, through Mt. Robson Provincial Park. And I wasn’t disappointed. It was a delight. I stopped at Yellowhead Lake [photo left] and Moose Lake [photo below right], and the marshy area I’d passed yesterday [below left]. I stopped at the Visitor Center to see Mt. Robson in the sunshine. [below right] The birches are turning gold. The mountains are snow-topped and are everywhere along the route. The water is blue. I don’t see how it could be a more beautiful drive.

Icefields Parkway - Then in the afternoon I headed down the famous Icefields Parkway that runs between Jasper and Lake Louise. This drive is rated as one of the ten most scenic in North America, and I certainly wouldn’t argue with that. It’s hard to imagine how a drive could be more scenic than this one. I read recently that there are no words to describe this drive. More spectacular beauty. Even more golden birches. (I love those birches! Such elegant looking trees.) Even more, and higher, white-topped mountains.

Columbia Icefield - My friend Beck had sent me, some years back, a description of her trip out on the Athabasca Glacier (part of the Columbia Icefield), in Jasper NP. And her description made me decide that was something I wanted to do, if I ever got the chance, despite the pricey fee ($50). And am I ever glad I did. (Thank you, Beck.) A bus takes you to the edge of the glacier, where you get on a vehicle they call a “sno cruiser”, but its tires are huge (almost as tall as me). That’s the vehicle that takes you out on the glacier. I sat in the front seat, which is what I usually do, if it’s available. You get a better view, and, as I get older, my motion sickness gets worse, so it helps with that too. I had no clue what was coming, so I had an excellent view of the 32% downhill grade in the road ahead, and just about lost my lunch when I realized he was going to drive over the edge and down that road! But, it was perfectly safe. The vehicle is locked into first gear and has huge treads. They “haven’t lost anyone yet”, as they say. The vehicles are built specifically for the “ice road”, as they call it. Each vehicle cost $750,000 when they bought them a few years ago. (Later the driver told me about a co-worker who put the vehicle in neutral by mistake instead of first gear, on her first time down alone, with a tour group. Everyone on the vehicle thought the ride was just part of the thrill of the experience and was yelling “Whee” as the drive burned the rubber off the brakes the whole way down. Yikes!)

We went through a “puddle”, then the driver told us it was there on purpose, to clean away any mud and debris off the tires, so as not to bring any debris onto the glacier.

The driver said that we were at the world's only three-way continental divide, that goes to three oceans: Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic.

Where we walked around the glacier, it was 1000 feet thick. Since it was a beautiful, sunny day, I had a much more pleasant experience than Beck did (cold, windy). They’d had about six inches of snow recently, so it was just like walking around on the snow in North Dakota. We were close enough to the Andromeda glacier, however, that I could see the blue tint of the ice.

All-in-all, the experience of a lifetime. Something I won’t ever forget.

I stopped at the first campground inside of Banff National Park this evening. I wanted to get down out of the high country before I stopped for the night, as it was going to be below freezing again (second night in a row).

A guy in the cg last night said he’d been to Banff NP several times before, and this was the first clear day he’d seen. So I am fortunate. I’m fortunate in another way also. From a photographer’s point of view, the timing of this visit to Canada couldn’t have been better. The golden birches are peaking. The six inches of snow they got recently has dusted all the mountains with white. If I’d gotten here even two days ago, only the highest mountains would be white-topped (the ones with glaciers). It's a good thing I spent a couple extra unplanned days in Buckley, and a couple extra unplanned days in Sequim. :-) Things always work out for the best.

I saw a few “caribou crossing” signs today. First time I’ve ever seen one of those. Didn’t see any caribou, though. :-(

I cried my way through BC this morning. Then I cried some more on the Icefields Parkway. I was so moved by the beautiful vistas. So grateful to be here. So thankful to have a Creator with such magnificent skill :-) and love for us, that She creates so abundantly, extravagantly, joyfully.

100921 Columbia Mountains & Jasper National Park

Columbia Mountains – The whole drive today was scenic. It started out with high hills, yellow aspens, birches, and cottonwoods, waterfalls, rivers, lakes. Beautiful. But overcast. The further north I got, the more yellow trees. At some point I saw my first glimpse of a snow-covered mountain top. And they kept getting more frequent, as I went through the Columbia Mountains, until at the visitor center in Mount Robson Provincial Park, there were snow-covered mountains in all directions.

Elk – I saw four elk in my first 20 minutes in the Jasper National Park. Two bulls with large racks. It’s rut season, and I heard both males bugle. First I saw one bull herding a female. “This one’s mine; stay away.” Then I saw another bull, very close to my RV. In fact, I heard them bugling as I was going to sleep at night. Sometimes they sounded very close, like they were in the campground.
I drove through the small town of Jasper, and got a good view of the mountains to the northeast as the sun was setting. The views in every direction are awesome.

100920 Yellowhead Scenic Highway

Snow – As I was unplugging my electric connection this morning, I glanced up at the mountains, and saw a dusting of snow! While it was raining down here last night, it was snowing up in the mountains. Beautiful! When I went by the post office I asked about the roads through the mountains. No snow where I was going, they said. As it turned out, the road I took was above the snow line for part of the way, but, still, the roads were fine. The ground is so warm that the snow has no chance of sticking until you get pretty high, and, even there, there was no snow sticking on the road. But the dusting of snow made for a beautiful drive. Even so, I was relieved when I got to Hwy 5, which is a major highway, and off 99 and 97, which are smaller roads.

Yellowhead Scenic Hwy – The road from Kamloops to Clearwater is designated scenic the whole way. Shoot, everywhere I’ve driven in BC, since I got to Vancouver, has been a scenic drive! The road goes in the valley in between the mountains, along the Kamloops Lake, then along the Thompson River. Part of this drive you would consider "high desert", and there was lots of sagebrush and other desert-like things. The area around Kamloops Lake reminded me of Roosevelt Lake in Arizona [photo above right]! That surprised me. But as I get further north, there are more yellow birch and aspen and cottonwoods mixed in with dark green fir trees. I saw a golden eagle flying above the Thompson River.

My BC Weather Girl – My BC Weather Girl lives in Arizona!! I called my mother and asked her to check the weather forecast for Jasper and Clearwater for tonight. She said it’s supposed to get down to 24 in Jasper tonight but only 34 in Clearwater, so I will stay in Clearwater tonight. But after tomorrow, the weather forecast for Jasper is warmer, and clear! Hurray!

100919 BC Coast & Sea-to-Sky Highway

Metric – I got on the Internet for just a couple minutes this morning (they've warned me it could cost me as much as $20 for 5 megs in Canada), to convert kilograms and metres, so I would know which bridges I can go under (11 feet is 3.85 metres) and what my weight is. I don’t have to worry unless they restrict the road to 5000 kg or under).

Coast – I spent the morning driving up the coast. The highway along the coast was awesome (Howe Sound, actually). Or, I could tell that it would be awesome, if the clouds weren’t obscuring most of the mountains. The coastline is more rugged than any other I've seen. The mountains are higher. Reminds me of the Big Sur coastline in California. Only more. Bigger. More rugged. This is definitely a drive that I want to take some time when the weather is better, and take more time. I stopped at two provincial parks and saw Shannon Falls and Brandywine Falls, each impressive in its own way: Shannon Falls [right], because it falls so far, from way high up in the mountain. Reminded me of the falls in Norway (though the Norway falls are longer); Brandywine [left] because it's a full river falls, and perfect. And the sun came out and shown on the falls just as I was going to take my picture. :-)

Squamish – I stopped at the Wal-Mart here to pick up some meat and cheese for sandwiches. I was surprised at the small selections of everything. There were few choices on the meats, few choices on the cheeses. And the cheeses were sold only in bigger blocks, packaging that I’ve never seen before. Like, if you make it in to town, you’re only going to buy big quantities, to last you till the next time you make it in to town, maybe. But the VIEW from the parking lot, with the mountain peaks looming above!!! Incredible. Much of the land that I'm driving through is Squamish Nation Territory, and I see evidence of that in the signs and totems as I drive along. Many place names in BC are from the native languages, or First Peoples, as they are called here. They are unfamiliar to me, and some are completely impossible to read or pronounce (like TK'EMLUPS Car Wash).

Sea-to-Sky Highway - This route took me through Whistler. I had planned to take the peak-to-peak gondola ride, but with the clouds and the rain, I wouldn’t have seen much, so I will save that for next time I’m here, when the weather is better. I saw only glimpses of Mt. Garibaldi, though I can tell from the glimpses that the views in Whistler would be spectacular on a clear, sunny day. I definitely want to come back some day when I can spend more time and really see it. I got gas for the first time in BC, for $1.094 per litre ($4.26 per gallon).

CG – I saw a sign for a B&B and RV campground in Lillooet and stopped. I’ve never stayed at a place like this before. This guy has made three RV sites on his property, and built a little cabin. Actually, paying $25 for a site with only 10 amp power, and no shower, and no WIFI, is a little steep. But I am too tired to go any further today and it's at least 2 1/2 hours over the mountains. It’s different also in that he advertises that he speaks German, and he was obviously a little disappointed when I told him I did not. The other couple staying here does speak German. I guess the owner is probably a German ex-pat. I have a wonderful view of the mountains. And it’s very quiet here. I learned one thing: My laptop works fine when I'm running on 10 amps. I did finally see some RVs today, in the provincial parks parking lots and on the scenic road I was on all afternoon. Makes me feel better, that I’m not the only one on the road. :-)

100918 Vancouver

Border Crossing – I drove to Blaine so I could cross the border there and see the Peace Arch (and it’s closer to Vancouver). There wasn't any place to stop, so I didn't get a very good look at the Peace Arch. Despite my anxiety, (due to my Victoria Customs experience, I imagine), it was a breeze. I’d been told I could bring across no unpackaged meat, fresh fruit, nor fresh vegetables (and the website even mentioned eggs and dairy). I’d even sacrificed and drunk one of my wine coolers earlier in the week so that I’d be under the liquor limit. :-) I expected them to search my fridge like they did the last time I crossed the Canadian border in my RV. But no inspection. And he didn’t even ask about fruits or alcohol or any of that. Just the usual questions about where was I going, how long was I going to stay, etc. I guess it pays to cross at a busy border station. (The lines were long.) They don’t have time to get too nosy. Whew! That was a relief. I stopped immediately at the Info Center and changed my American dollars for Canadian dollars, and got information about RV camping and RV parks and stuff. The visitor center person said there are no rest areas in BC like they have in the US (they aren't as plentiful as they are in the US, I have seen only three), and you can’t park in parking lots in BC like you can in the US (somewhat true – I’ve seen one Wal-Mart and it said “no overnight parking” but I have seen a semi parked beside the road, apparently overnighting, so I think there are some options).

Harbor Tour – The last one-hour harbor tour of Burrard Inlet was at 2:45 and I just made it. (There were no spots left on the bus tour; I tried that first.) The little bit I saw of Stanley Park as I walked through, looked wonderful [photo above]. Next time I will spend more time there. I enjoyed the harbor tour. I saw some things I’d never seen before (piles of sulphur, piles of salt, container-unloading cranes at the dock, a drydock for a huge ship). The view of Vancouver from the water is unparalleled. I’m glad I did it. It gave me the “lay of the land” so that the layout of the city was clear to me (and I knew exactly where I needed to go). We saw the the building with grass on its roof (Convention Centre),the place where the Olympic torch was lit (Canada One), the building where the Olympic communications center was located (Canada One), and the building that looks like it has white sails on its top that is on all the brochures (Canada One).
Latte – I decided to walk to Café Artigiano’s and get a latte. They are supposed to have the best lattes anywhere, and it was very good. And they have won awards for their latte designs. That gave me a chance to take a look at the city. I did get a latte. It did have a pretty design on its top. It was good. Worth the walk. What looked to me like older buildings from a distance, aren’t. There were a lot of beautiful downtown buildings. All the silver high rises seem to be compliance with some kind of city requirement. And amongst all the new buildings, occasionally there would be a very old one. Like this beautiful Wesley church. I saw lots of high fashion on the streets – both men and women; reminded me of New York City that way. But Vancouver is much cleaner than NYC. I only saw three homeless people – much fewer in Vancouver than in NYC. And there are no taxi’s. Less traffic. Cars are small, like in Europe. Gas is over $1.14 per liter (which is about $4 a gallon). Lots of Japanese around.

False Creek Ferry – I walked to the west end of the peninsula that holds Stanley Park and downtown. I took a 40-minute tour of False Creek that took you to their usual stops (Yaletown, Granville Island, Science World) on one of their little ferries. (Thanks to my motion sickness watch!) I saw the Olympic Village, where all the Olympic competitors were housed. Also saw the new roof they’re putting on their convention center (where the opening ceremonies were held) that looks like a crown. I stopped at Granville Island and checked out some of the shops.

Sunset Beach – I walked along Sunset Beach while the sun set in the west.

Lion's Gate - When I left Stanley Park, I went over Lion’s Gate Bridge. Going over the bridge at night was scary, but, also, with the bridge all lit up, and the city lights on both shores, spectacular! I wish I could have taken pictures (no stopping allowed, and I was driving). :-)

Rain - I’ve learned that forecasts for rain in this part of the world don’t necessarily mean a rainy day, nor rain all day. It often rains in the early morning, or in the late afternoon or evening, with a beautiful sunshiney day in between. That was the case today, as well as the last two days. The sun came out when we were on the harbor tour and turned the gray day into a beautiful, colorful one. And the weather is wonderful here. I wore only my thin, short-sleeved sweater all day and was comfortable. Even after dark. I saw people in T-shirts and shorts, even after dark. Amazing! How can the weather here be so much better than it is in North Dakota, when this is further north? The tempering influence of the ocean, I guess.

So, Vancouver is my favorite Canadian city. So far. :-) Really. I loved it. I definitely want to come back and spend more time here. One day was not near enough.

100917 Mt Baker

Going to Banff – I spent the morning deciding what my next step was going to be. I looked at my money situation, the weather (how cold it’s getting in Jasper and Banff), the mileages for the various options from here, and decided to head up into Canada and go to Banff. It's something I've wanted to do for years, and I'm really excited about it.

Mt. Baker – Then the sun came out unexpectedly, so I decided to delay my crossing till tomorrow and drove the Mt. Baker Scenic Byway this afternoon. I'm glad I did. I got up close and personal with Mt. Baker. Gorp lists this drive in their top ten most scenic in the country. I was pretty disappointed in the drive at first. It was scenic, but nothing spectacular, and I kept seeing tantalizing hints in between the trees of stunningly white mountaintop, but never could get a really good view of it. Until the last five miles from the top. The amazing vistas there, and beautiful alpine area, made it worth the drive. I wandered around the beautiful Bagley Lakes Basin area for a little while. I was surprised at how much color there was; all the fall colors are showing now. I watched a beautiful loon gracefully swimming around one of the alpine lakes for awhile. The impressive American Border Peak had a white cloud hanging onto its top so it was hard to get a good view of it; I was surprised the border was within eyesight. I was close enough to get a good view of the blue-tinted glaciers on Mt. Baker. This is probably my #3 drive – after Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park in Montana and Beartooth Highway in Wyoming. Definitely a memorable drive. I also stopped at Nooksack Falls, which was worth seeing.

Sumas, WA - I took a wrong turn on my way back from Mt. Baker to Bellingham, and was surprised to find myself in a little town on the Canadian/Washington border! :-) The border crossing is just up the road from my RV park; it should be an easy crossing in the morning.

No Air Card in Canada – I called Verizon and found out I have no data access in Canada under my current plan. I decided against upgrading my plan, since I'll be in Canada for such a short time. So I will be hoping for WIFI when possible when I'm in Canada. Since I expect to be mostly dry-camping (no electricity) in Canada, I may not get any blogging done till I get back in the States. Don't be alarmed if you don't see any postings here for a week or so.

Weather – I am amazed at the weather here. Even though the temp has been only in the 60s the last few days, and, even though we are near the ocean and, so, should have high humidity, I’ve been completely comfortable in my elbow-length light sweater. Even after dark. In fact, I’ve had the window/door open the last two evenings, to keep it from being too warm in my RV! Amazing!!

Tomorrow - Vancouver!!