Jasper to Banff, AB, August 3-5, 2011

Jim was up bright and early and ready to get going ahead of the crowd. We need to stop by the sanidump on our way out. This campground has 718 sites! Luckily the dump has 8 stations. While Jim was taking care of that and filling the water tank I spoke to a young man next to us. He was from Taiwan and vacationing in Vancouver, Jasper and Banff. He had rented an RV. He told us he actually had lived in Beaumont, Texas for about 1-2 years going to Lamar University. Jim mentioned that he had also attended Lamar University and lived in Beaumont. Small world!
After leaving the park we went back into Jasper to fill the RV with diesel. On the way we saw an entire herd of elk on the side of the highway. I wanted to stop to take pics but I remembered Jim was following in the RV and I didn’t want a repeat of the “turkey” story so I kept on going trying to snap a pic from the car. We got to the station but it was full of other rv’s so we opted for another station we passed earlier. We got into that one easily and got out and back to a little turnout on the Icefields Parkway to hook up the car. Now we off!
The drive to Banff was spectacular!!! The scenery just kept getting more amazing as we went. We stopped at several turnouts to take some photos. We also managed to stop at the Icefields Center. We did not go into the center just took photos from the parking lot. We actually saw large tour buses driving onto the glacier. I don’t know how they do that..but there was one after the other. We got back on the road and kept on going. We stopped at one really large turnout…everyone else was stopping there too. One man and his wife in a fifth-wheel just stopped and started putting out his slides and setting up camp. Don’t know what he was doing. Anyway, the mountains were magnificient and the lake in front of them was the most beautiful shade of deep blue. I was taking pics when a French girl came up and offered to take a pic of me and Jim if I would take a pic of her and her friend. We’ve met lots of people who took our pic and we theirs on this trip.
We finally got to Banff and exited the highway only to get behind some cyclists. We couldn’t pass because the road was narrow and hilly with curves. We just followed behind. Before we finally got to our turn into the campground one of the leaders in the cyclist group fell back and stayed in front of us weaving along the lane and going as slow as possible. Jim though she was doing it on purpose and it sure looked that way. It wasn’t long before we got to our turn into the Tunnel Mountain Trailer campground. We were given a site with hookups which wasn’t the best but they said make do…take both sites if necessary. The campground looks like they have plenty of better sites for us but we stayed where they put us. Jim says he feels like a mountain goat getting in the rig because the steps open to just a small bit of ground before dropping off. It’s only two nights so we’ll stay.
We went into Banff and walked to the visitor center to pick up maps and get some recommendations on what we should do. We set off walking down the main road to the Bow River bridge then along the river to the Bow Falls. We walked up lots of steps and steep trails and more steps to finally arrive at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. It looks like a castle on a hill. We just went to the bar and had a beer then walked back into town. Along the way we saw a large deer with antlers eating brush next to the river. He just stood there while people were taking photos. I guess he’s accustomed to people. Along our walk back to the car we stopped into an ice cream parlor and got some cones. They were the most expensive ice cream cones ever! One small scoop in a cone for $4.95 each! We found the car, finished our cones and found the local Safeway to do some shopping. Tomorrow we will drive to Lake Louise! I’m sure it will be breathtakingly beautiful too.
We did finally get up this morning after a nice sleep. It’s warmer here than we’re used to but still cool enough for comfort. We drove directly to Lake Louise and stopped at the visitor’s center for advice. After getting a map of the area we walked around the little shopping area and visited the Post Office to see if we could get on wifi without a password. We needed to pay for 15 minutes so we opted to just go on to the lake. It wasn’t a very long drive to Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise hotel which is on the shoreline of the lake. It looks like something from Walt Disney…majestic mountains in the background with a beautiful blue lake sitting below. It was crowded with people which seemed to be mostly Chinese or Japanese all with cameras and posing for a million photos. We found a couple to take our photo so we took theirs too. On our walk around the lake I saw a poor man trying to take his own photo with the lake and mountains in the background. Of course, I offered and he was so appreciative.
The first thing I heard when we got out of the car was bagpipes. As soon as we made it to the lake and the hotel we saw a drum and bagpipe band playing. It was a perfect accompaniment to the visual beauty. We didn’t walk all the way around the lake (I don’t think you can) but turned back and went into the hotel to have a look. Very regal looking…I imagine they charge a pretty penny or shilling for a room. I took a photo of the view from the café. What a way to wake up in the morning.
We left Lake Louise and headed to Moraine Lake. We had to take another longer road to that lake. It was very narrow and steep and twisty. Beautiful sights along the way…views of surrounding mountain peaks. Pretty soon we got to a place where cars were parked along the right side of the road. As we went further we found they had no room in the small parking lot at the lake and people were walking up the main road. We tried to drive slowly through the parking lot hoping someone would leave and let us in but no such luck. We decided we’d have to miss Moraine Lake. I’m sure it was also beautiful.
We drove back to the Village and had lunch at the Family restaurant. I had a Caesar salad with grilled teriyaki chicken and a nice piece of garlic butter Texas toast. It hit the spot. We had seen all we could at Lake Louise and decided to drive the scenic Highway 1A route back to Banff. There were warnings all around about bears and wolves and “watch for the wildlife” but it took a little while before we saw our bear. Actually it was, I think, a mama bear, older baby bear and new baby bear…all grizzly. They were eating berries and grass on the side of the road. I tried to get a good photo but they were on Jim’s side of the road and they were mostly hidden by grasses and shrubs. We were recommended to stop by Johnston Canyon to see the falls. Before we reached that area we started seeing cars parked on both sides of the road…”what now?” They were parked to see the falls. We tried the parking lot and had no trouble finding a space. We walked to the canyon and read about the trail. There were actually two trails…1/2 mile to midway up the canyon and the lower falls and 1-1/2 mile to top of the canyon and the upper falls. We opted for the shorter walk. Most of the walk was on catwalks hung on the side of the canyon. It was just big enough for a single line of people going up and a single line of people going down. Sometimes one way had to wait to let people by. It was worth the walk and I’m sure the upper falls were even better but we’d walked enough today and were satisfied with what we saw. There was even a little cave in the wall which I went through which put me right at the falls. I didn’t stay to get really wet but it was fun going through the tunnel cave.
After we got back on the road to Banff we kept our eyes peeled for wildlife but never saw anything else.
Before going back to the campground we took a side trip to Lake Minnewanka, the largest lake in Banff National Park. It too was surrounded by mountains and was a beautiful blue color and crystal clear. We took the loop road back and passed by Johnson Lake and stopped to take some photos. We did see lots of stone sheep along the road.
Now back in the motorhome we are preparing to leave tomorrow and head to the USA!!! We are stopping in St. Mary, Montana, to visit Glacier National Park. I’m sure the drive tomorrow will be as spectacular as all the others have been.

Dawson Creek, BC, to Jasper, AB, August 1-3, 2011

We woke up to get ready Dawson Creek and leave when Jim discovered the battery was dead on the tow car. He did get one of our campground neighbors to jump the battery so Jim ran it until we got ready to go. We hooked it up and took off. Needed to fuel up first so we stopped at the Safeway fuel station and was able to get 5 cents off for each litre of diesel by using a coupon we were given when we shopped at the grocery store. The drive was a long way to get to Jasper, AB, in one day. The trip was beautiful and completely awesome once we got close to Jasper and into the park. We went directly to Whistler’s Campground hoping to get a site. It was difficult to make the turn off 93 because of cars stopped on both sides of the road…people were everywhere. We never saw what they were looking at but must have been some kind of wildlife. We were anxious to get set up. When we turned into the campground there were two long lines of RV’s and cars trying to get into the campground. We finally made it to the kiosk and I got out and asked the man at the window…”What have you got for me?” He started clicking the computer keys to check on available sites for our MH. All they had was unserviced sites…no hookups. That’s OK. He found us a great site…#29AA. The campground actually has 718 sites. All the sites on our loop are very deep and wide enough to be easily accessed. We got right to it and easily backed in. Jim was worn out from the drive…not only was it long but it was also a very windy day. I could feel the MH being pushed around on the road. Some of the roads were very narrow with steep drop offs…no shoulders. I fixed some canned soup which I doctored up with extra chicken, chicken stock and left over rice. It was very good. I grilled some bread with butter and olive oil to go with it. We had some wine and just relaxed to prepare for tomorrow.
Woke up this morning after a great night of sleeping. My shoulder feels much better this morning. Must remember to take care of how I use my arm. I must have done something wrong to have it feel as bad as it did for about three days.
We had our breakfast and Jim made some important calls back to the US. We left the MH and headed to Jasper to visit the information center. We got some maps and advice on what to do in one day. Jasper is such a cute town…very Scandinavian looking. First place we went was us Maligne Canyon road. Stopped at the canyon trail and walked the short trail to the falls in the canyon.
We left there and continued to the end of the canyon road to Maligne Lake. Very beautiful drive. We looked around the lake shore then took the trail to Moose Lake where we actually saw a moose! She was in the water close to the opposite shore from where we stood. She would stick her head completely under the water to eat the grass. She would walk along the shoreline and once went deep enough to be totally underwater. Her head would pop up with her chewing grass. It was exactly how I expected to see a moose…in a pond in and out of the water. We just stood there watching, swatting mosquitos and taking pics. It was so amazing to be that close. She soon walked out of the water and up a nearby hill.
We walked back down the trail to the lake and took the car over to the boathouse. You can rent canoes or kayaks to take out on the lake. They also have a boat tour of the lake. Jim and I just wanted to walk along the shore so we walked awhile then went back to the car and back towards Jasper.
We went back into the town to check out the diesel stations to fill up the motorhome when we leave. We also were hungry from all the walking so we found a little bakery with wifi and had a sandwich. We were able to connect with the web to check email and facebook. We left town and headed back to the Icefields Parkway driving out past our campground to a road which led to Mt. Edith Cavell. We’re never sure about these roads except they usually lead to something good to see. This road was steep, narrow and winding. We had to drive about 18 miles up this road to reach the end at the trailhead for Mt. Edith Cavell and the glacier. I wasn’t sure how much more I could walk and definitely did not want to meet more mosquitos but we started walking…I should say climbing…the trail. It was very open with lots of rocks and small trees. Pretty soon we would see the glacier and the lake…couldn’t stop now. It was a nice walk…sometimes a little steep…but I stopped to rest as needed. We finally made it to the lake which contained big chunks of ice from the glacier which disappeared into the lake itself. There was a large cave up further on the side of the mountain but we decided it was too far to go. It was very beautiful. We went back to the trailhead by another route through rocky terrain covered with small trees. All in all a very nice hike.
We made the drive back down the curvy road and headed to Athabaska Falls. It wasn’t a very far drive and we’re happy we went. We parked in the carpark which has parking for RV’s as well as cars. There are several viewpoints for the falls. I’m always amazed to see the power of water. We were sad to see a bench dedicated to a young man who lost his life over the falls. He was hiking with friends and fell into the river only to be carried over the falls. This was not a small little fall but a very rocky, fast and long falls. No way to survive that. It saddens me to think that people can underestimate the power of flowing water. We still saw young people at the edge, standing on rocks above the falls.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day. We were ready for a quiet night before getting back on the road in the morning.

Mile "0" Alaska Highway, Dawson Creek, BC, July 30-31, 2011

Needed to get diesel and found a station right on the main road. We pulled in behind a truck pulling a trailer. The guy seemed confused so I thought I’d just mosey out and see if I could help. The guy sounded French and wasn’t even sure the pump was diesel…I told him it was so he went about trying to fill up. I went back into the rig. Pretty soon he drove off and we drove up to the pump. When Jim was out getting ready to pump the fuel the little guy came running back…he had left his credit card in the reader. Then the attendant came out and told the little guy he needed to pay. Very confusing! Jim finally was able to get fuel and stood and talked to the attendant while it was pumping.
We finally got on the road to Dawson Creek. This road was pretty boring for awhile…just road with matching sides. We had a few hills to climb. The only exciting thing was that after all this time, and all the gravel roads, we finally got hit in the windshield with a rock. Nice nickel size crack on Jim’s side. When we got to Dawson Creek Jim called USAA to see about getting it repaired. Don’t think it will be very easy to have done in Canada especially on a long holiday weekend.
We found our campground in Dawson Creek…the Mile “O” Campground just as we came into town. The office was the smallest thing I’ve seen so far. He gave us a nice pull-through with full hookups. We drove into town to the Wal-Mart and the Safeway to do some shopping. We also found the Dairy Queen and had a blizzard…not our usual but we tried something new, Turtle Pecan Cluster. It was good but not as good as our German Chocolate favorite.
Out campground is right next to Pioneer Village…and little outdoor museum with old buildings in a town setting. We visited there first thing the next morning and went all through the buildings and the property. I still think it’s funny when I see things in a museum that I’m familiar with or have used myself. Lots of the stuff looks like it came out of my mom’s house. They also had lots of old farm equipment and cars. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the tour. The lady at Pioneer Village also provided us with a map of Dawson Creek and some ideas of what to do and see. We drove into town and stopped at the Visitor’s Information Center and toured their in-house museum. One side was about the train station and the other was a regular museum with all kinds of things about Dawson Creek and the Alaska Highway. We sat and watched a film about the building of the Highway. Dawson Creek is mile zero for the Alaska Highway. Right outside the Visitor’s Center is the official marker for Mile “0”. We took some photos but will come back when we leave and take one with the rig. We started on the walking tour with the Art Gallery. It was full of local artist work and also a large collection of photographs from the building of the Alaska Highway. From there we walked across the street (Alaska Highway) to downtown Dawson Creek and walked all around town looking at the locations of historical buildings and reading the booklet as we went. They have lots of murals painted on the sides of buildings. Lots to see. We drove through the city and out the other side of town trying to find the buffalo which was advertised on the map. Never found any buffalo but did see some other parts of Dawson Creek. We actually discovered there IS a creek running right through the middle of Dawson Creek.
We ended our day in Dawson Creek at the Dairy Queen for another blizzard. We’ve missed our DQ!

Watson Lake and Fort Nelson, YT, July 28-30, 2011

Left Whitehorse early in the morning after going by the dump station. There were all kinds of rv’s coming and going from the campground…some going out and some headed towards Alaska and elsewhere in Canada. I wish we had time to meet more people and spend some time getting to know them. Had much the same kinds of roads on the way to Watson Lake. Didn't see much in the way of wildlife on the roads. It was raining when we arrived at Watson Lake. Our campground is behind the local fuel station and convenience store. We're just happy we found a place and it even had hookups. There is not much there but the famous Sign Post Forest. Story goes that a soldier was homesick so he wrote his hometown on a board and nailed it up on a stake. You can see where this has gone. We looked all through the signs and found some we can relate to...one was even from my hometown, Palestine, TX.

We left the next morning expecting to stop at Muncho Lake but decided to on to Fort Nelson. This had to be the most eventful drive so far. We saw more wildlife on this trip that any other drive. It all began with some horses right on the sides of the highway then we saw a black bear on the side of the road. We had seen warnings about bison and then we saw why. We came across lots of bison right on the sides of the road. Traffic was stopped on both sides for people to take pics. There were so many everywhere. We also saw other black bears as well as a grizzly bear just beside the road. Luckily it was on my side so I could take some pics from the rig. Some people got out of their cars. I was happy with my viewpoint inside the motorhome. We also came across some stone sheep and lots of them right on the road. I couldn’t believe how many different things we saw. I was clicking my camera all the time. I hated to go to the bathroom afraid I might miss something!
We got to Fort Nelson and camped in Triple “G” Campground. When we arrived I went into the office and the lady already had a check in slip completed for me…I guess everyone comes for only one night. She was very nice and had a young man lead us to our pull-through site. We didn’t even need to unhook. It was a nice campground. It was such a long drive we just relaxed for the evening and worked on our plans for the coming days and did some laundry. Went to bed early so we can get a good start in the morning.

Dawson City to Whitehorse, YT, July 26-27, 2011

Jim cleaned the RV at the RV wash station before we left Dawson City. The car and the rig were both covered in dirt and rocks after the trip across Top of the World Highway. It is so nice to be in a clean rig. Probably won’t last long but it’s good for now.
We refueled at the station next door then hit the road. Not long out of town I saw a fox crossing the road. That was about all the wildlife we would see on this trip. We would see lots of water. We crossed several large rivers and creeks. We stopped at a turnout just above Pelly’s Crossing. We could look down on the town and the Yukon River which wrapped around it. We had to cross over the river. At the turnout we met a man from Canada and talked to him for awhile. He was traveling in the opposite direction.
There was one patch of roadway that was under construction and we had to be led through that with a guide car. It was pretty messy but got through that OK. We finally made it to Whitehorse. Whitehouse is the largest town we’ve seen in a long while. The highway skirts the town and our campground is just at the last turn off the highway for the city. We drove into the campground hoping we’d find a spot with no problem. The first thing I was told was that they had nothing. Uh oh! Our luck has run out. After talking to the lady she said she had a site with electric (15 amp) and water but no sewer but she wasn’t sure we’d fit. She also had an unserviced site…no hookups…which was a large pull-through. She said we could check them both out. We decided to take the smaller one with some hookups but we had a difficult time getting into it. Jim finally just headed in and dragged the electric and water hose from the back to the hookups. It was fine and had plenty of room for the tow to park. One problem we had was the tow was making a horrible sound again like a rock was stuck in the brake. Jim said he would check it out in the morning. I didn’t mention that during all this it was raining. These times are not the fun times. We got all settled and dry and had a wonderful evening just getting our plans in order for the morning.
Jim did remove the tire on the tow and found something which had become bent. He straightened it our as best he could and the car sounded fine. We headed out first to a trail and footbridge across the Yukon River. It wasn’t far from our campground and we found it with no trouble. We parked at the trailhead and walked down some steps to right beside the river. We walked across the footbridge and enjoyed the view of the river running fast below. There was a trail along the river and one which was just on the edge. We saw a young woman with her dog walking there…I took a pic.
Jim and I walked for awhile along the other side but didn’t go far before turning back and crossing the bridge again. It was swaying a little….I could feel it moving.
We drove into town and found the visitor’s center where we watched a film about the town. We got some recommendations on what to see. We first walked back out to the river…they have a river walk all down along the river. We decided to save time we would drive out to the fish hatchery and then back into town to the McBride Museum. The fish hatchery has the longest ladder in the world. The salmon that migrate back to this fishery make the longest migration in the world…2,000 miles. There were no salmon yet but they expected them to arrive in the next five days. They have received reports from other locations on the arrival.
We left the fish hatchery and went back into town and parked right at the museum. We went all through the museum and saw some beautiful but stuffed animals. We also went through one exhibit which had lots of stories and equipment from the gold rush days.
We drove the car to the SS Klondike National Heritage Site and took a guided tour of the paddlewheeler. We watched a film first about the days of the paddlewheelers on the Yukon and how they were used during the gold rush days. Our tour guide was very good and knew lots of facts and stories about paddlewheelers and the SS Klondike. The most amazing thing was how much wood they needed to keep the ship running on steam. It was a beautiful ship and must have been an exciting time to travel that way.

Chicken, AK to Dawson City, YT, July 25, 2011

Woke up in our dusty campsite and got back on the road…Top of the World Highway to be exact. It sounds great but it is a dirt road along the edge of a mountain and is wide enough in some places for just our motorhome. Thankfully, we got an early start hoping to beat anyone coming the other way. Some of the road ran along side some creeks and rivers and we saw cabins and trailers which are used by gold miners. We saw one little boat with a small dredge on it. We really saw no other cars for awhile. The weather was good..some sprinkles but no hard rain which would make the road muddy. We arrived at the border crossing into Canada right
behind another RV. We had no trouble getting through. We were
now in the Yukon Territory. The road is still dirt and gravel but we did see some paved areas. We also ran into fog or should I say clouds over the road. We were truly at the top of the world. It was amazing to see even though we had lots of clouds and overcast skies.




We made it to the Yukon River and watched the ferry come across to pick us up. It’s just a little thing and the river current is so fast. They look like they are being swept down with the current but they fight their way back to the dock. We actually fit on the ferry with the tow attached and took off for the other side. When we got close we couldn’t see where the dock was….it was just a pile of dirt on the edge of the river. They ran right up near it and dropped the ramp on the dirt and we drove off. It’s free…no complaints!




We drove through Dawson City... dirt roads too and found our campground on the outskirts of town. We set up camp, unhooked our filthy car and Jim took it to the car wash area to hose it off. We then went back into town to the visitor’s center. We picked up a walking tour and set off down the dirt streets. We saw all the sites and stopped in Bombay Peggy’s for a beer. On our way back to the car we decided to get pizza so, of course, we went to the Greek restaurant for that. Should’ve known better…the pizza was edible but that’s all I can say. The good news was we had half a pizza to eat another day! Got back to the rig and called it a night. We are leaving in the morning after Jim’s uses the RV wash to clean up the rig.

Valdez to Chicken, July 24, 2011

Woke up to rain in Valdez the morning of our departure. We were hoping to stop and get some photos of the area as we traveled back through Keystone Canyon and along the Thompson Pass past Worthington Glacier. We set off and stopped at the Forest Service shack to check on the arrival of the salmon…none yet. We hooked up the tow car and got on the road. We did stop at the Worthington Glacier visitor center and walked up to the observation area. It is actually most spectacular from up on the road looking down on the entire glacier. It was cold and spitting rain. Wanted to get back where it was dry. The area was still beautiful even though we had rain and clouds and fog. This road to Valdez on the Richardson Highway may be the most spectacular drive of our journey.
Our plan is to get to Chicken, AK, to drive the Top of the World Highway to Dawson City, YT. This part of the trip will take us back on the Richardson Highway connecting with the Tok Cutoff to Tok, AK, heading down the Alaska Highway and cutting off on the Taylor Highway to Chicken. We’ll see what it’s like when we get along further up the road. Don’t know where we will stop to camp.
We actually drove all the way to Chicken and camped at the Gold Camp RV Park and Outpost. There is really nothing in Chicken but this camp and another and three or four other business in the “town” of Chicken…a merchantile, a bar, a café and maybe another. Jim and I parked the rig in a no hookup pullthrough and walked to the “town”. We walked through the merchantile (souvenirs) and continued on next door to the bar. It had to be the smallest bar I’d seen with junk all over the walls and ceiling. The bartender looked like one of Jimmy’s friends and was from Philadelphia. One of his mother’s cousins owned the bar so he worked here last summer and this summer. We talked to a miner who had formerly worked as an oil hand in Louisiana….small world. It is so much fun meeting all these colorful people.
We ate in the motorhome and settled in for the night before we tackled the Top of the World Highway.