We have launched on our travels to Alaska. (Note: this is a work in progress, links to follow as the posts develop)
First part is to go through British Columbia, Canada. In preparation for our northern adventure we moved from the NCC church parking lot to Birch Bay State Park for a couple nights. After some difficulty with the first two campsites, we were able to get into 128 on the southern loop and finish up our clean up items to store and say goodbye to Caleb, Cassi, Andy and Molly (who just arrived home from a Rome, Italy exchange program).
Then we headed over the border to Canada at Sumas, Washington. And went (not so much) straight to Walmart for supplies. Walmart was a bit of an adventure for us, Theresa had to sort out the new brands and weights in Kilos, and I did not have a coin to get us a cart.
Then it was off to our first campground, Claybank [city] Park, in Merritt, BC. After a one night stay we drove to beyond Kamloops, BC and stayed in our first Provincial park at Paul Lake. Nice, remote (no cell service) and hilly. Not wanting to settle, we set our sites (sights, pun unintended) for whatever Banff National Park might have to offer. Our new friends recommended the overflow parking at $12 (Canadian) per night so we picked a spot and settled in. (although the jacks would not extend – I will log that in maintenance).
Banff – Beautiful, really steep rugged mountains with snow and lots of trees.
Lake Louise – Day 1 I fixed the wiring and we headed off to a reserved shuttle to do Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. After a picnic on the bench overlooking Louise,we hiked up and down to the Fairview overlook at Lake Louise. Beautiful blue water and lots of tourists speaking in tongues 😉
Day 2 for the national park – after purchasing a day pass on the way to Jasper, we stopped at the Icefields parking lot and leveled up. A short hike to the Columbia glacier and then off towards Jasper BC. The next overflow ($17 per night) campground was beyond Jasper, over a really narrow bridge. Nice views, the grass should be maintained better (OK so I still think about grass, whipping and mowing).
Jasper – a tourist day with our new friends (Terry and Carl) checking out the tram (did not go up), lunch in town and a nice drive and short hike at Maligne Lake. The fire from last year definitely changed this area! We had a nice quiet (ignore those trains and traffic on the highway) evening where we had a gathering to decide route plans because the fires are blocking the path to the Alaska highway.
Path to Prince George – the next day we packed up, went back over the narrow bridge (good job, Theresa) to dump tanks at Whistler campground. (8 dumping stations) put in our first jug of DEF, and I observed that the water heater was coming out of the wall of the trailer. [to be logged in maintenance also] After that we set out on highway 16 towards Prince George. Beautiful mountains and rivers, only road signs for moose, no actual critters. We saw several provincial parks along the path, but wanted to get to Prince George where we had reservations at Sintich RV park.
Prince George – Nice LONG walk from one park to the Cottonwood trail and a quick visit to the Railroad museum. Pretty interesting train stuff! Quick visit to Costco and Canadian Superstore where the clerks help me figure out how to get a cart with a looney, I am now an expert.
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