Jasper—More than a dot on the map! Our plan to go to Jasper was frivolous—we had perused the map of BC and seen that the road past the Columbia Icefields went north to Jasper and then there were roads from there heading back south. We had no idea what a treat and challenge and bed of serendipity the Jasper area would be for us. We got to Whistlers Campground in Jasper National Park about 4pm and joined the peak hour rush of RVs trying to get a campsite for the night. All the powered sites were taken (as they were every [View Full Entry]

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Icefields Parkway and Columbia Icefields Friday Sept 18: The Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) runs north from Lake Louise to Jasper, and it's all within the territory of Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. It's a spectauclar drive! (230km/144mi.) Although I rode along part of it in 1970 with my 3 friends, Ellen, Marty and Kitty, just after we left college, I had no memory of its grandeur. I can only think it must have been a rainy, cloudy day so we couldn't see it, because it seems it would be impossible to forget this road otherwise. And I do recall [View Full Entry]

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Johnston Canyon and Moraine Lake Twinning The National Parks people and the government of Canada know that one of the major draws to the Canadian Rockies and the national parklands is the chance for people to see wildlife. So it's a worry that the reproduction rate of some of the big animals has been dropping. In response, there are efforts to buttress up the wildlife habitats and educate people on staying away from critical areas during spring calving and the autumn rutting season. On the highway between the townships of Banff and Lake Louise, the policy of “twinning” is [View Full Entry]

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Why Lake Louise? Once upon a time, a newly married couple were having breakfast in a tiny motel dining room overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Diamond Head—in AUSTRALIA, a bit north of Myall Lakes. Though the view out the large picture window was the main attention getter, on one small patch of wall there was a gorgeous poster of Lake Louise in British Columbia, Canada. “I was there once -- it's so beautiful,” she gushed. Then, airily, “One day I'll take you there.” That was 35 years ago, and Martha is FINALLY able to keep that promise to Phil. The newlywe [View Full Entry]

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Banff Fri Sept 11-Tues Sept 15 We liked the Banff campground, the local library (for internet work) and the beauty of the area so much we stayed there for several days. Bears Bears continued to be a major concern for the National Parks Service, and every camper was required to keep a “bare” campsite. If you were travelling without a hardsided vehicle, there were lockers in which you were to put all your foodstuffs, cooking implements and cosmetics whenever you were absent from your site. According to the ranger, they had few incidents with bears because of this policy. B [View Full Entry]

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Yo Ho Ho! Hurray for Yoho - National Park! Thurs Sept 10-Fri Sept 11: Though we began our stay at Yoho with another early night, listening to the rain on the roof of the van, the next morning was magic as the mist rose off the surrounding mountains and we saw what a stunning place we were in. Looking up we saw rugged mountains all around us, including Cathedral Peaks and also a glacier just above our very site! At Yoho we first encountered the “bare campsite” policy. We were instructed by the ranger at the entry gate that we mustn’t [View Full Entry]

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Into Canada at last! Up the Columbia River Valley in British Columbia Tues Sept 8-Wed Sept 9: The day had come to enter Canada! We were ready, we thought. We'd laid in some fresh provisions and pulled our passports out of their hiding place. Not many people were at the border crossing on Route 95 so it looked like a piece of cake. Little did we know we were moving into the realm of illegality. The guard at the crossing wanted to know how long we'd be in Canada. “We're not sure,” I replied, happy to be a grey nomad at [View Full Entry]

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Coeur d'Alene, Farragut State Park, Sandpoint and Smith's Lake Sat. Sept 5-Mon Sept 7 -- Heyburn State Park was totally booked out for the remainder of the Labor Day Weekend, so on Thursdasy morning we checked the map and found a park further north which had a huge number of campsites, called up the office and just managed to get the next to the last site for Saturday and Sunday. Whenever I'd asked people for advice on where to go in Idaho, they told me Coeur d'Alene, so that was our next destination. To the early French fur traders, Coeur d'Alene [View Full Entry]

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Heyburn State Park, near St. Marie, Idaho Wed Sept 2-Fri Sept 4: As we pulled out of Hells Gate Sate Park, we stopped at the Visitor Center and saw some wonderful wildlife exhibits and a 20 minute video of the travels through Idaho of Lewis and Clark, assisted by the young Indian woman Sacajawea. How on earth they persevered is just amazing to me, up over Lolo Pass and on and on. For those of you unfamiliar with the story of Sacajawea, when she was a young girl, her people, the Shoshone of what is now western Montana, had been raided [View Full Entry]

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Walla Walla, Chief Timothy Park and Hells Canyon The stop in Walla Walla was to see our good friends Bonnie and Les Griffith. Bonnie is an accomplished artist who works in pastels and mostly does beautiful landscapes. (You can check out her work on her website at www.bonniegriffith.com/). Besides good food, laughter and catching up, Bonnie took us to the Whitman National Historic Monument, where the early missionaries, the doctor Marcus and his wife Narcissa Whitman, had lived, taught, farmed, proseletyzed and medically cared for both Native Americans and Oregon Trail immigrants for man [View Full Entry]

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