I miss the mountains already!

Sad day today … starting to head east again and the last little bit through the mountains. We finally saw big horned sheep – it was like they knew we really wanted to see them, so they were just standing there on the side of the mountain waiting for us.

We’re taking a different way back this time – the Yellowhead across through Edmonton and we landed in North Battleford, Sask for the night – about an hour from Saskatoon (Saskatcha-toon if you’ve seen Grown Ups.) It was our first night in 15 days that we didn’t sleep in a tent. Tomorrow is another day of driving to get us closer to Ontario and hopefully we’ll be able to do a few more days of camping before we’re back to reality.

Just an observation, but it’s kinda cool to see the names of NHL players posted on town signs who came from these remote towns. Those are dedicated parents who must have driven them hours a day to the closest arena – not to mention distant cities for games.  

 

Westfalia count = 20

What a view!

Today we made our way to Jasper and took the Tramway to almost the top of Mount Whistlers. This wasn’t like the little ski lift we took last year at Lake Louise to the top of a ski hill …. This was a gondola that took us up a mountain! What an incredible view of the mountains and lakes from up so high.

We then did another 1K hike further up the mountain – wish we’d known about it ahead of time so  we didn’t have to do it in flip flops (I seriously need a pedicure!)

We made a quick stop in Jasper to see the new totem pole that we saw being built and painted last year.

We paid a visit to Mount Robson P.P. again, lucky for us it was one of the few days when the clouds had cleared enough to see the whole mountain and we stayed at Mount Robson P.P. again – it was one of my favourite spots last year.

Westfalia count = 18

Our feet are sore.

We managed to get a site at Kicking Horse Campground today. YEAH! Although it was in the RV area, that's ok, it was much much better. They have way better mountains over here.

We spent two days wandering around Yoho doing the tourist thing. We did a 5K hike to Wapta Falls, saw Emerald Lake where the water is even greener than Lake Louise, checked out the Natural Bridge, The Spiral Tunnels, Takakkaw Falls, and did a Walk-in-the-Past hike to an old deserted locomotive.Our feet are so sore!

One of the coolest things we saw today was the merging of two rivers - Yoho River is milky white and Kicking Horse river is green.

Westfalia count = 15

Kootenay and Yoho

The morning began with a nice dip in the Lussier Hot Springs inside Whiteswan Lake P.P. It was freezing this morning – only 8 degrees – so Dave was the only one brave enough to put on his bathing suit and sit in it, I only went in up to my knees. What was cool about Lussier is it’s a natural hot spring in the wilderness as opposed to the developed pools at resorts.To get to this one, you have to walk a bit of a distance down a steep path to a fast moving river where there are three small pools built up by rocks. It was pretty jam packed at 8 a.m.

We made a quick stop in Invermere to buy a new huge home-away-from-home. Dave can actually stand up in this one.Left Turn Clyde and his gf seem to like it.

We drove through Kootenay National Park and made our way to Yoho National Park. We didn’t go this way last year so we saw a whole new bunch of mountains. We arrived on the Friday of the long weekend, so sites are scarce. We managed to get one that was basically in a parking lot with a picnic table off the highway. But who cares, we’re surrounded by beautiful mountains.

Westfalia count = 12

good morning mr. bear

Our conversation at 7 a.m. this morning:

Dave: Jennifer, there’s a bear in front of your car.

Me: there is? Where?

Dave: in front of your car

Me: oh, ok. What are you gonna to do?

Dave: I’m going to go sit in the car. You coming?

Me: uh, ya.

For something that you always think would be a terrifying experience was actually very non-eventful. We just stood outside the car and watched as our new friend went about his business wandering around eating berries and digging old tree stumps for bugs. He hardly even knew we were there.

We had delicious eggs bennie at the Prince of Wales hotel for one last view overlooking Waterton Lake and the mountains.

We stopped at Frank’s Slide where in 1903 the side of a mountain slid and killed more than 90 people in the small mining town below. The debris field is 2 miles wide, 1 mile long and 3 stories high.

We crossed the Alberta / B.C. border today at 2:27 p.m – so we spent 7 days in Alberta.

We randomly came across the world’s largest truck in Sparwood, B.C. I initially thought it was just meant to be a tourist attraction – but it’s actually a real truck used for mining.

We stayed at Whiteswan Lake Provincial Park, a 30 kms drive down a steep dirt logging road deep into the mountains on a beautiful crystal blue lake. It was the last night in our trusty tent, the zipper on the door broke so we had to sleep with it partly pinned. The bright side is we’re no longer in bear country so didn’t need to worry about bears curling up with us during the night, the not-so-bright side is it was very windy and chilly, so made for an uncomfortable sleep.

Westfalia = 10 (that’s 7 today!)

Today is my mom’s Birthday. Happy birthday mummzie!

Hellllo mountains. I've missed you.

Finally! The mountains! Hello mountains, I’ve missed you. We arrived at Waterton Lakes National Park, known for “where the plains meet the mountains” – also known for the Prince of Wales resort and its breathtaking view overlooking the crystal blue lake and mountains.

Our campsite was at Crandell Lake about a 10 minute drive into the mountains. We’re surrounded by a view of a different mountain peak in every direction.  

 We’re definitely in bear country. When we registered, we were warned about the recent cougar and bear sightings. Ok then. The next morning we woke up to the sound of what we think was a bear  growling at a dog, and saw 3 more bears during the day – one from the road climbing up into the mountains, and two more on the side of road so close I could reach out and pet it – of course, I didn’t. Driving along the parkways you never know what wildlife you’ll see that will cause you to stop. We came across a large pack of mountain goats just out strolling down the road – we had to sit and wait about 10 minutes for them to move.

We spent the day taking in all of the incredible scenery.  We went to Red Rock Canyon and took a short hike up to Blakiston falls and also went to Cameron Lake where it’s winter 2/3 of the year. Every trail had warnings of black bears and grizzlies, so we avoided taking any remote hikes (our moms will be happy to know that.)

Westfalia count now = 3

Luke Skywalker's planet

We arrived at Writing-on-Stone P.P. to another incredible landscape. We’re almost at the Montana border. It’s very dry and hot.

My favourite part of this park was walking through the hoodoos. It’s incredible to think that 85 million years ago it was the bottom of a sea, and now we can walk around within it. It’s so very cool. It looks like a little village of sandstone buildings. I thought it looked like where the Ewoks would have lived, but Dave corrected me – it’s more like tattoo-een, Luke Skywalkers home planet. Guess I got schooled. Anyway, I was fascinated by the hoodoos and think it’s pretty neat this is right here in our own backyard.

We also took a tour led by Stella, a Blackfoot Native Indian.  We were taken to the writing on stone area where she told us about the stories and meanings behind the images the Indians sketched on the sandstone hundreds of years ago.

Our tent is starting to fall apart. Two tent poles have broken, but McGyver fixed them with electrical tape. Fingers crossed.

cool coulees

We took a little side trip today to see the Red Rock Coulees. I can’t believe how vast and barren the plains in southern Alberta are.  We drive and drive for hours and hours and see nothing but rolling hills, farm land, bales of hay and the odd farm house off in the distance. I don’t think the folks out here drive through Tim Horton’s very often.

The red rock coulees are in the middle of nowhere and look like giant red boulders that have just randomly fallen from the sky. They just don’t make any sense,

We also had to make another quick little trip to Bow Lake to see the large Pinto Bean. Definitely worth the trip, I highly recommend it (not really).  But hey, we got a complimentary bag of brown beans at the info centre.