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Published: October 25th 2005
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Jo's birthday bash
Bet you're sorry you missed this. September 4th
Quick trip to beach to make Jo a birthday card, can't believe she's 20!
The road is not so busy today and if anything the scenery is more beautiful - the
sunshine helps.
Only a small queue for ferry. Rush to business centre to charge Camera and laptop.
It's a bit of a pain when we are limited by a rechargeable battery.
Back on the mainland we head north and are very soon back in mountains.
They are uplifting in more ways than one.
Settle on a campsite in the shadow of the 2nd largest lump of granite in the world
just outside Squamish.
Small town nearby is hardly open so get pizza to take back to camp.
We eat this in the car as it is cold and dark. Sorry you missed your party Jo.
Septmeber 5th
Take advantage of the hot showers then back on the road.
Short detour to visit Brandywine Falls. A long drop waterfall, very pretty.
Superb scenery for most of the day. Stopped at a trail head for sarnies and
got stung by a wasp.
Follow the main road through the mountains. It's very remote and I wouldn't like to
Brandywine Falls
So named because of a bet about the height of the falls. The stakes were a bottle of brandy to a bottle of wine. do
this route in the winter.
Landscape opens out once through the pass. Some farms dotted here and there but not much
sign of life.
Not many road signs either and we find our campsite more by luck than anything else.
Area seems depressed and several closed down holiday sites.
Moosehead resort is a small RV site by a lake. They are very friendly and put us on a
big lawn leading down to the water. Grass can be in short supply on Canadaian campsites.
Have the use of a firepit so despatch boys to get wood from the shed. They return with a
wheelbarrow full....enough for several days.
Make a small fire and the lads toast marshmallows..most end up in the fire!
They retire to a treehouse and tease the squirrels with cones.
September 6th
It was very cold last night and the car had frost on the windscreen this morning.
Perhaps it's time to go back to hostels. Route back to main road easier, think we turned
off too soon yesterday.
Warning light comes on in the car. No idea what it means. Looks vaguely like a radiator
so we stop at a garage ... they
Boys on the dock
Hathaway Lake...Moosehead RV site don't know what it means either...but add water.
Helpline for car hire place say keep on driving if it starts to flash it might be
a problem.
Eventually it goes off maybe the water takes time to get through system.
Detour through the town of Whistler, a popular ski resort.
Has an alpine feel....a very upmarket alpine feel.
So we carry on. The mountains become bigger and more impressive.
Some exclusive properties here.
Arrive in Jasper where we plan to stay the night.
The Info centre is large and well run. Rooms here are quite expensive.
The local Ranger assures us that the nightime temp will only drop to 7C.
So we risk camping again. There is only one site open this week so we go there.
Whistlers is only a few minutes from town. There is a big queue will we get in?
Yes, there are over 500 pitches here.
Given a site in the woods..more warnings about Bears and additionally a warning to
beware of Elk. It is rutting season and this makes them dangerous. We are told not to get within 30 yards of one.
A. I dont really know what an Elk looks like.
B. I
Tent in the mist
Evening at Moosehead RV site can guess what rutting is and it's not on my list of sghts to see
C. How far is 30 yards?
In to Jasper to eat. There is not much open and by 8 pm our choice is limited to a KFC
that includes a Pizza Hut.
Let's face it these are what we would normally end up at anyway. Do feel a bit sorry for
the rest of the tourists.
Find a liquor store, you cant get alcohol in a supermarket. The man explains about all
the types of licences you have to have here, he can only sell wine and beer. And if you want
cigarettes here you have to go to the Pharmacy! across the road.
September 7th
It may have been 7C last night but I was up at 6 in the car to get warm.
Leave boys in bed and head into town to do some much needed washing.
The launderette is an amazing place full of steel machines in a cellar.
They also have shower rooms, interenet, a coffee bar and tables to wait at.
Steve and I take off most of the dirty clothes we have on to add
to the wash. We dont go
quite as far as the jeans advert...it's too cold for one thing.
Sit and read while machines do their stuff.
Amongst customers is a Mountie in full dress uniform, from hat to spurs!
Visit Malign lake. This is the second largest glacier fed lake in the world.
Spot a moose on the verge on the way up but there is too much shade to take a photo.
The lake is way up in the mountains at the end of a logging road.
It is magnificent. Bordered by trees and massive peaks with clear blue water.
Sit and stare for ages. I could live here, it's like another world. So calm and quiet
and so many small things to see.
Route back takes us along the shores of Medicine Lake. This lake is unusual in that
the water level changes dramatically at some times of the year. Today the water is low
and it looks like a network of small streams running across a sandy basin.
The rest of the water has taken to the underground channels.
Stop at Marble Canyon for a walk.
The canyon is narrow but very deep at the top end.
Lake edge
Malign Lake Very impressive. I am not comfortable
crossing the first bridge. The boys are leaning over, shouting into the canyon and the like.
I arrange to meet them at bridge 6 with the car so they wont have to walk back up the
canyon path.
That's my excuse anyway.
Bridge 6 has a beautiful riverside seating area and a place to paddle in the sparkling
(freezing) water.
Relax for an hour with my book and soak up the ambience of the place.
The canyon walk was spectacular I am told.
We have new neighbours at the campsite, a couple from Tennessee.
They are very friendly and we pass a pleasant evening chatting. We are given Moonpies to
try. They are a little like Wagonwheels.
Learn that the strange whistling we have been hearing is the Elks. It's a very spooky
sound and I would never have guessed it came from an animal.
September 8th
We are going to stay in a Motel tonight, 3 cold nights in a row are enough.
Took the road named the Icefield Parkway. The whole road is a national park and it is
full of wonderful mountains and ice features.
The weather is
Lake and Peaks
Malign Lake view of mountain not good today and we can barely see the peaks.
Hiked along the Angel Glacier path on Mt Robson. The trail follows the upper edge of a
morraine field to a hanging valley and lake.
Above the lake is a higher valley which holds the Angel Glacier. When it reaches the end
of the valley the ice falls into the lake. Spectacular and srangely powerful sight.
Next stop the Icefields themselves.
After deciding not to take a guided tour on the icefield we drive to the foot of the
glacier and walk up.
The path is rocky and quite hard going. There are signs warning of all the dangers
everywhere.
At the end of the climb we are faced with the leading edge of the Glacier. It is huge
and not white as I expected but brown.
We risk the heavily marked 'safe' path a little way on to the ice. You can see the
ravines that represent huge dangers very close by.
It's stunning stuff.
The rain has not really let up all day so we make our visit a short one.
Some hairy curves down from the mountains to the road to Rocky Mountain House.
Check
Two Raspberries
Boys and the wild raspberries they found on bank of Malign river into the motel. TV on before I make it through the door.
We have been a week or so without telly but the programmes are mostly trash and I am
disappointed that the boys still seem addicted to any flickering screen.
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