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.