After our relaxing time in Glacier, we headed North. We had done our research and decided to cross into Canada at Chief Mountain, US 17. We weren’t overly concerned about getting in, but because we don’t have the typical RV set-up we didn’t want to have any problems. We read that Chief Mt wasn’t very busy and that the border agents were nice.
We got rid of the few veggies we had left, had our passports, driver licenses, and Gus’ rabies certificate ready and all the vehicle tags written down. As we pulled up, we were the first in line. A nice young lady walked out and took our passports & IDs, asked us where we were from, where we were headed, did we have firearms or fireworks, asked for the vehicle tags and Gus’ rabies certificate. We were prepared and she even thought we’d done it before. It took about three minutes total and we were on our way.
As we started driving in Alberta the scenery continued to be amazing and we were excited to be on roads we have never traveled.
We’ve had pretty good luck finding free campsites although sometimes we don’t know what we are getting ourselves into. One took us on 5 km of horrible rough road and I was hangry because we skipped lunch. But when we got to the end it opened up to a pretty little lake. We settled in, took showers in our handy little trailer shower and read books. A few people came and went but all in all it was pretty quiet.
The next morning we headed into Banff National Park. It was raining and overcast so we probably missed some of the cool sights. We drove into the town of Banff and were overwhelmed. There were so many people and buses and RVs. We quickly got out of town and found a campground just south of Banff in Canmore. We unloaded the Jeep and headed back into Banff. To make sure I didn’t get hangry again, we stopped at Banff Brewing for a beer and appetizer but realized that the appetizers were the price of what we expect an entre to cost. As neat as Banff probably is, it’s a tourist town. It reminded us of Vail or Aspen and it kind of took the shine away.
We got up Sunday morning to scattered showers and decided to go for a drive on the 742 out of Canmore. Now this was right up our alley. It was a wide gravel road that followed the bottom of a mountain range. It took us by reservoirs and streams. The best part was that it wasn’t busy. We drove at our own pace and stopped for pictures when we wanted to.
After we left Canmore, we headed North though Banff National Park to the Icefield Parkway. As we drove in, it was still raining and overcast and we really couldn’t see anything. We wondered why so many people told us the view was so awesome because all we saw was trees and nothing above. We found a campsite at Mosquito Creek Campground and quickly set up the EZ Up tent and a small tent city because the weather was not getting any better. It went from rain, to sleet, to snow. We went to bed with the furnace on thinking there is no way the snow will stay.
We woke up Monday morning and everything was white and it was freezing! But it was absolutely gorgeous. The fog had lifted and we could now see that we were surrounded by huge snow-capped mountains on all sides of our campground.
We headed to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake which were both extremely beautiful but again swarming with people. And some people just have no etiquette. I can’t count how many times people banged into us because they weren’t paying attention or didn’t care that we were walking on one side of the trail and they wanted to walk four wide. Needless to say it was a bit peopley for us.
Tuesday we packed up the rig and drove north on the Parkway toward Jasper. Thankfully it was a clear sunny day, still a little cold, but we are so glad we waited to do this drive. Pictures just don’t do it justice. We were in awe the entire time. We stopped at a few waterfalls, saw some wildlife and took Gus on a 2 1/2 mile hike. He did great but he’s been napping ever since.
The new roads that we have been traveling on have been everything we hoped they would be. It still feels like we are on vacation and that it’s going to end soon. We are struggling with wanting to just go grab a beer and dinner at a cool place we see and act like we are on vacation. Eventually we’ll get there. It’s all new roads, all new places, all new mindset.
We reached Dawson Creek, Alberta Wednesday afternoon. This is Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. We stayed at Mile 0 campground where we met our first friends of the trip. Three guys on motorcycles from Washington were setting up tents and we ended up chatting with them and sharing some Two Hearted beer with them. It was a fun night. We realized that at this point in our trip, we will probably run into a lot of the same people. It’s fun to see all the different rigs, find out where everyone is coming from, and share our excitement as we make our journeys.
Off to Yukon Territory…