Jasper-Grand Prairie-Fort St. John (officially on the Alaskan hwy)

June 27,

Well, we're a couple of days behind on our updates.  Mostly cuz there's nothing exciting that we have done. We took care of routine things in Jasper, weather was not that great. As promised, there were elk all over the campground and Mac had fun trying to hunt groundhogs outside the trailer. Twice he has escaped the trailer or car and we were lucky to see him in time and get him back.

 After leaving Jasper we made it all the way to Grand Prairie in a day. (about 250 miles)  Had some rough patches  in the road and drove the last hundred miles through the rolling foothills in a torrential downpour.  Other than  the normal leaks we're still high and dry.

I had a couple of little potential problems to take care of in Grand Prairie.  First, I had noticed some grease outside of the hub on the left front tire. I feared that the bearings were going out on us.  So, a special shout out and thanks to the guys at City Center Automotive for getting me in this morning to have a look.  Andy says the bearings are just fine and what I saw was probably just a little grease that had squeezed out around the cap.  He also said the front brakes looked good and pronounced us fit for the Alaska Highway.  Whew!

I had also noticed that we seemed to have a lot of play in the pin box (the hitch arm on the trailer) So, yesterday afternoon Gail and I took the outside panel off up under the bedroom so we could inspect the welds.  All looked good and were told by an RV place that there is a certain amount of give in the pin box.  Got that all back together and did a little extra caulking to keep out the rain and we're good to go.  I'll still avoid the big bumps.

Grand Prairie visitors center and some local sponsors, along with a local Buffalo Rancher put on a "Buffalo BBQ" every Wednesday afternoon.  We learned about it in the Milepost Guide and were actually kind of surprised that it was still going on. (Ya see, our Milepost is from 2008)  However, not being a person to pass on free food we had a very nice meal.  So, all in all, we had a really nice 2 day stay in Grand Prairie. And the people at Tamarack RV were very helpful and patient with our situation. They were booked solid and we could only have 2 days, but if needed we would've been able to stay.

Mile 0

But all is well and we headed out for Dawson Creek and on to Fort St. John. Dawson being only 88 miles away would've made a waste of most of the day. We did stop and take an obligatory photo of the Mile 0 post and official start of the Alaskan highway. All we've been doing to this point is get to the beginning! We continued on to Fort St. John and a little campground by a lake for the night. Since leaving Grand Prairie, we have been driving through a big prairie and agriculture area. And all the little towns are booming with gas and oil  companies and support. Plus, lots of mud everywhere.

 Boy are the days long up here. We have room darkening shades for the windows and it's a good thing. Even though we've been going to bed around 11 or 11:30, depending when the movie ends, it's still pretty light out. And I think it will stay up longer as we get to Alaska. Since TV has been limited and we can't pick up the satellite, we are going through our movie collection, working through the Bond series now. All fun and adapting.
Big 3 day weekend coming up, Canada day, so will find a spot for the weekend and avoid the driving crowds.

Escape

June 23

WOO HOO They opened the road and we’ve escaped.  Made it to Jasper this afternoon.  We did see numerous areas of slides along the way.  I can see why it took a while to get them all cleared.  It must have been quite a mess.  Lots of mud and rock piled along the road.  We did run into sections of the drive where the road was in terrible shape.  Frost heaves, and deep expansion cracks made for a really rough ride.  The ranger here assured us that once we get past Jasper the road will improve. 

There were some beautiful vistas along the way.  Lots of glaciers and waterfalls coming off the shear cliffs.  We even had 3 bighorns chomping on the grass in a crack in the road.  Lucky for us they were in the other lane!  I still am in awe of the beauty of the Canadian Rockies.  The lakes and rivers that aren’t muddy are an unreal blue or turquoise. This is caused by the glacial silt in the water. The glacier grind up the rocks and mountain and it turns to “flour” and ends up in the water. Very pretty and unique color

The park here in Jasper is HUGE.  Over 750 spaces but we’re not sitting on top of one another.  Also when we checked in here the ranger gave us a free night because of having to cancel 2 nights because of the road condition.  What a  nice thing to do.  

Columbia glacier

As we remember it from 20+ years ago this is the place where we had so many elk in the campground.  There are warnings all around the park and the ranger said to make sure we had Mac on a leash as the elk aren’t fond of pets.  Hopefully they’ll settle in for the night in the lush grass around the trailer.

Stuck in the rain

June 19, 2013  The adventure continues as we leave Radium Hot Springs in the morning.  First, we end our stay here with several bighorns right in the campground.  Then through town and up the 11% grade past the hot pools which we indulged in both nights of our stay here.  We saw another small herd of bighorns not far past the pool then the sign warning us to “Use Caution, Bears on the Road”  Sure enough we didn’t have to go far and there they were, right there in the ditch by a parked truck.  We actually ended up seeing 5 or 6 bears just in the 86 miles we drove today.  Very exciting!!  

The drive over from Radium to Lake Louise was very nice.  I’m just in awe of the Canadian Rockies.  Highway 93 had some places where it was sloughing off on the downhill side making for some pretty good sized bumps.  We kept the speed down and the equipment made it just fine.  A couple of times we did have to pull off and let those in a hurry pass.  We didn’t know for sure if we’d have a campsite in Lake Louise or not.  The reservation web site made it look like there were no reservable sites and that only 10% of the sites were on a first come first served basis.  We kind of held our breath at the check in kiosk and we didn’t have any trouble getting a nice big pull through site between the railroad tracks and the river.  (Actually the whole campground is between the railroad tracks and the river and based upon reviews we knew about the trains)

This campground has the “tenters” segregated in their own loop which is encircled by an electric fence.  They also warn you when you check in to not leave anything that may even remotely smell like food outside of the trailer.  An Igloo Ice Chest is not bear proof!

June 20   Well, It started raining last night about the time we went to bed and we’re pretty sure it rained all night long.  This morning we ventured up to Lake Louise and as usual we got to see the lake in the rain.  Meaning this is our 4th trip here and the third time in the rain!  The Bow river runs behind our campsite and we cross it to get to the lake and just north of the bridge is a confluence and one of the branches was really muddy.  After some wandering under our umbrellas we decided to head back to the little village area for some shopping and a stop at the visitor information center.  We didn’t see anything we couldn’t live without.  

Lake Louise

Bow river in campground

Now mind you that since we’ve gotten to Canada, it’s been rainy and when we were able to get TV out of Calgary they would talk about “rainfall warnings.”  Obviously, we should have paid more attention because at the visitors center we found out that the road between here and Jasper (our next destination) is closed due to flooding.  No one has any idea when it will reopen.  Thankfully, the campground that we are in will have room for us to stay another night if need be.  We have also heard that from here you could get to Golden or Banff but you couldn’t get back and all of the accommodations in Banff are full tonight.  We’ll stay put and hope for the best.

June 21, new day and we’re scheduled to move to Jasper, NP. But the park center tells us the road north is still closed due to mud slides. The Bow river is very swollen through the campground and several paths are flooded. And several towns south have been evacuated and most of Calgary is flooded. So we fill up with more water and relocate to a new site, hopefully for one night. No one can get in to the parks from the Calgary area, or over the mountains from the west. Nice thing about not having a schedule!

Stay tuned for the continuing saga.

June 22

Well, We’re still in Lake Louise.  We know that there is a mud slide closing the road between here and Jasper and that there is equipment to move it.  We are being told that it’s a “fluid slide” which I take to mean like shoveling soup.  Oh well, We have a back up plan now which is to completely skip Jasper.  Will see what tomorrow brings.  

The Alaskan Adventure begins

After months of preparing, researching, stocking up, we are finally leaving on the Alaskan trip. At times I felt like Lewis and Clark, planning a big expedition. I'm not sure what we will find in the way of food and campgrounds. Have to put on our camping hat and staying in provincial parks with no hook ups. Should be fun and who knows when we will actually get to Alaska, no hurry, no worries.

Dash Mac

June 15, 2013,  This should be our last night in the Continental US for a while.  We are in Kalispell, Mt and will cross into Canada tomorrow on Hwy 93.  We fully plan to take advantage of the old adage that says "It's not the destination, It's the journey."  We'll not be in any hurry to get from one place to another and intend to see as much as possible between here and there.

The last day and a half we've been at a park on Flathead Lake.  Every time we've been here we think it's absolutely beautiful.  As self confessed "cold weather wimps" I will admit that we haven't been here in the winter.  I'm sure it's pretty in the wintertime too but probably cold and snowy.  As contradictory as it sounds, it's nice to be headed north to cooler temps. Found a great brewery in Lakeside, Tamarack brewery. Good food, good beer, great prices.

June 16, 2013,  Today, we crossed into Canada and it cost us an apple.  That was the only fruit that we had and fortunately it was in the truck with us.  The agent was very hospitable though, so I hope he enjoys the Pink Lady. :)   Once we got into Canada, Hwy 93 wasn't too bad, but from Whitefish, Mt  to the border it was really, really rough!  Probably to prepare us for the roughness of the Al-Can.  The entire route was pretty green and scenic and we had to slow a few times for deer to cross the road. We're spending our first night in the town of Cranbrook at a little private park.  Tomorrow we'll head to Radium Hot Springs for 2 nights.  We just made reservations at Redstreak Provincial Park, which is within walking distance of the hot springs.  We're getting excited about a couple of days of soaking in the hot springs.  Woo Hoo. From there, we will cross the Canadian rockies into Alberta and stop at Lake Louis for a couple of days. It's real iffy about the camping there, possibly a provincial park with no hookups. That's why we have a new generator!

Welcome committee

June 17, this stop is in Radium hot springs. Interestingly, we are driving in the Columbia river valley, the headwaters of the Columbia river just north of here. So there are river resort towns, golfing, hot springs. We are in one of the National parks at their campground with full hookups. Nice big sites, wooded and wildlife all over. We were greeted by a herd ? of mountain sheep. Had a bit of rain on the way and overnight. Tried out the hotsprings, a large commercial pool, with varying temperatures. Felt very good.

Next stop, over the rockies to Lake Louise and then to Jasper by next weekend. From there, it's north to meet the Alcan.

Rockies