Monthly Archives: July 2011

i have to say, leaving the rockies was really really hard. i could have quite happily spent the whole holiday/rest of my life there. however, we had promised drumheller to bb, and knew it would be worth it. we got up early and drove up a mountain to a viewpoint over banff and there i cooked breakfast just as the pancakes were ready a tour bus stopped, and all the ppl coming off visibly smelt the pancakes and looked over. great to have breakfast with a view .

we then drove to johnstons canyon for our final excursion in the rockies. it was amazingly busy and we couldnt park in the car park – a first! so we parked on the road side and walked up. the walk follows the canyon up past a lower and upper falls to inkpots at the top. we knew we had to leave by 1 ideally, so knew we wouldn’t get to the top. the walk really clings to the canyon sides, in some places having ‘catwalks’ ie balconies sticking out for the walkways. it was a great walk and not overly challenging to the lower fall, and v beautiful. it was far busier than we were used to tho! there was also a geocache nearby. we started the wall to the upper fall, but realised time running short, so romped back, picked up an icecream and readied the van for a long drive i had premade sarnies for all of us, dh and mine with some fruit and munch bars in the front, and water, and on the girls table, their own sarnies, crisps, popcorn and fruit. thought we would be well provisioned for a long drive

so we set off, the drive was easy enough, have to say both dh and i had half an eye at the wingmirrors to see the last of the mountains as we went past. the change to flat farmland is a bit sudden, and a shmck to the system! but we made good time, and soon we were nearing drumheller. since there is only the summer to do road works, there is a franticness to it, and a whole road was pulled up to gravel, not making for a happy driving experience as went v v slowly. we drove through an area farmed by a hutterite community, and later saw some of the community selling fresh food in drumheller.

the badlands are v odd hoodoo formations cutting through alberta, and drumheller is there. we could tell we were getting close as dinosaur statues are everywhere! everthing is advertised with a dinosaur. our campsite had loads of them . was v nice campsite with a shop and great showers . we had curry for tea [i had made too much before and frozen half, so nice and easy to do ] and had a lovely shower, then we drove to drumheller museum as it is open till late to book things for the next day. we booked the dinosite for me and bb and the dinodig for sb and dh. then the girls played on the outdoor playpark area – a kind of soft play until bored and we went home ready for an early start the next day.

reflecting on our time in the rockies, we had a great time. the motorhome was a brill way of seeing it, and gave an extra dimension of freedom and excitement. we tried to see a mix of things – lakes, canyons, walking trails, mountains, museums, experiences – the glaciers and the jasper tramway, hot pools and watersports – rowing, rafting, canoeing as well as a lot of driving about. if we could only go to one area, it would be jasper, as there is something of everything in that area and v beautiful and there was loads more you could see or do. i wouldn;t have missed kootenay though either, and enjoyed the way we saw lots of different areas. i would highly recommend time in the rockies for anyone i also think there is loads more there i would have loved to see or do, and if i got the chance to go again i would grab it. holiday of a lifetime tho are few and far between, and if we have money to do something this big again, i imagine we will go to somewhere completely different.

we decided we would up and out, and stay at the tunnel mountain camp the next night, even if it isn’t so picturesque, because what is the use of pictureseque when you can’t leave the motorhome!! having not used the camping blocks, however, we did have a sani dump run to do, and that ended up a bit of a palava. it is the not so brill part of motorhoming, tho not too dreadful either as long as all goes smoothly. unfortunately it didn’t . DH got a bit stuck and had a wobbly moment, i went out to help and got bitten to pieces, but at least did manage to separate us from the inpipe, tho leaving a bit behind on the rv – well, so dh told me. arghing at yet another ‘thing’ we drove into banff for brekkie determined to enjoy the day. we were nearly there when dh had a ‘doh’ moment that the bit he had been trying to remove actually was part of the van – thank goodness i hadn’t been successful in removing that too!

the odd think about banff a about 9am is that it is pretty much deserted! the shops only open at 10, so despite worrying about parking, and parking somewhere that was 2 hours only, we would have been fine. dh moved the van afterwards to a more permanent spot near the boats . our idea was to grab an early all canadian breakfast. hmmmm, didn’t imagine the complete lack of places to do it! eventually we found somewhere called coyote that was really fab. sb had buttermilk and blueberry pancakes with roast potatoes and scrambled egg also on the plate!! bb had just buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup – we had ordered her just 1 as a childs portion, but after much wailing at that upgraded it to the adult three. she ate…. one, obviously DH and i chose diff things and had half each, a mediterannean omelette and burrito, with potato bravas and pancake of bb each! was far too much food and we were completely and utterly stuffed. yummy meal.

the girls and i then went to the parks canada info place and dh moved the van. unfortunately, though they could give us our banff explorer tag, they couldn’t give us the kootenay ones, so arranged to get that sent to our home – v v helpful these parks canada ppl. we then watche a screening on changing use of the parks – including a fab 70′s looking round a motorhome with wet and dry cabinets and the display on tracks and scats. v informative.

DH joined us and we walked along the riverfront to… the canoe hire! we hadn’t said anything about it to bb as didn’t want a repeat of the wailing at lake louise, but we hired 2 canoes for 2 hours at the same price it would have been for 1 there. bb was absolutely beside herself with utter happiness. the rest of us were also really happy we went bb and dh, sb and i. we told the young things that we were enthusiastic novices and needed to choose the quietest river route so they directed us up a slow sidestream to the vermillion lakes. it was perfect

I cannot put into words just how much i loved paddling along with sb, zigzagging up the creek, crashing into the riverside, ducking under the branches that we hadn’t avoided we didn’t ‘pull’ at the same strenght, and it took me a while to learn to pull and steer as it were dh had it easier, as bb pull didnt alter much the direction of the boat, and she was mostly enthusiastically splashing. and it was soooo peaceful . there weren’t too many canoe hirings, and many of them went up the river rather than our creek, so only occassionally did we have to alert others of the dangers of coming near us . we went under a railway bridge as a train went over – v exciting, and then finally paddled our way to the vermillion lakes. this was just so beautiful [and tranquil if you ignore us ] and we had canoeing races, and sb and i tried to go backwards for a bit – and then we just revelled in the perfection of being on an empty lake reflecting the sky and the mountains.

we went back and got in just before our 2 hours were up, having thoroughly enjoyed it. i begin to really wish we lived on a lake or minor waterway so from the boats we had an icecream and enjoyed the sunshine and decided which of the museums to go to. we went to the banff park museum first. A bit odd as stuffed with stuffed animals, and SB got the unnerving thing, but bb quite happy looking around them. there was an interesting kids hands on bit as well. we then went ot the Luxton first nations museum which was very interesting, but a bit timewarped, and possibly could do with a bit of a refurb and rethink to make it sing to kids, especially when they are getting used to interactive elements everywhere. the tableaux were a bit unnerving – as sb pointed out, no one was smiling. i think it could have done with being a celebration of the culture a bit more perhaps, tho i completely get the need to catalogue how the coming of the pioneers changed things irrevocably. sb chose a wedding card for my cousins there, but neither chose to buy anything else. we went back into banff and the girls played at the park area until it was time to head off to a campsite and consider meal options

we went to the mountain tunnel site for motorhomes. it was kind of like a semigrassed carpark! however, no mosquitos and we could see the mountains. bb found a friend fairly swiftly, and she and they ran around looking for ground squirrels and leaping of bridges etc . after tea we then got into the motorhome and went for a drive. we drove to lake minnewanka, which is indeed v beautiful, and wandered about. not far along trails as lots of bears there, and then drove to johnson lake and finally some winding paths back to the campsite. we saw elk and bighorn sheep, and a wolf girls were both asleep, and we sat out with a beer for a bit before calling it a day. our last full day in the mountains.

this was another of my favourite days. I have to say, i loved all days really on balance, tho there were obv a few better than others . this was one of those perfect days

we woke up early and had a quick brekkie and drove to the HQ of the rafting company. we were the first there, and had time to get ready and all excited the other 14 or so then joined and we got into a minibus and were off. the leaders were v informative. ours is in college doing wildlife filming, and rafts all his holidays, having rafted around the world. the other chap was from australia. they gave loads of info as we drove to the kootenay river, and went on a logging trail to get to the getting in point. we were all doing a half day session, and as it was a family rafting experience – ie not particularly wild – it was mostly first timers or those with younger kids. BB was most definately the youngest. SHe was also adamant she was going to paddle too. we therefore got put with the most experienced leader

SB chose to sit right at the front and DH next to her. BB had to be at the back so she could go to the middle in the more rapidy bits, but sit on the edge and paddle otherwise. so i went with her. I had worried abit that i would look like a crazy big lady who shouldn’t be doing this kind of thing, but have decided not to bother worrying. so we all got in and pushed off. The first bit was a bit rapid-like and SB loved getting a face full of water and leading the ‘stroke’ on her side of the boat. on my side i had a skilled older dad at the front and then 2 hopeless pre-teen boys then me, sometimes with BB. i was a bit concerned the boat would just go round in circles!! luckily i am not too bad at powering a paddle, so the tangle in the middle seemed to match the other side

as we intermittantly paddled and drifted down the kootenay we saw birds, deer and our guide pointed out minerals and rocks, trees devastated by the pine beetle, talked about water, melts, river levels, rock flour and rafting as a career. He was very interesting and seemed to have done a lot of traveling through the rockies and knew his stuff – always good when you have ppl like me on board i did enjoy the paddling, and the fact the water is soooo cold! made my cold feet keep the rest of the body cool. we had our nereus case for the camera, so had a few more admiring looks for that. should have bought a load and sold them on the way round!!

In the middle there was a v comprehensive snack break – coffee, hot choc, cold drinks, cakes, cheese and biscuits [optional meat] and an opportunity to swap positions on the boat. not many swapped, and sb got to keep pole position we paddled off, with BB getting to do a fair bit of paddling. when she hadn’t been for a while she would ask me to ask when she could paddle again. about 5 mins before the end she started asking when it would finish – so obviously half day was the perfect length for her. we all disembarked and piled into minibus for drive home, bb fell asleep on sb’s lap in minutes [should have had her with a parent!] this turned out to be a shame as we saw both a black and a grizzly bear, and poor BB was asleep. they were pretty close to each other, but not being agressive.

Back in radium hotsprings we went to an odd icecream bar. all but sb had an icecream, she chose a maple syrup shake, and despite her protestations, i realised it must be fairly awful, and persuaded her to let me buy her an icecream we then went to the parks canada information whilst DH did some shopping. the girls put in their completed yoho xplorer booklets and the lovely parks canada man took them through swearing an oath to protect canada’s wildlife and gave them a certificate and tag. we also picked up the kootenay xplorer booklet, and did some of the suggested activities at the tiny little museum room. this had a bit on the local tribes language and mythology, the rather shameful period of trying to stamp this out and also an interesting bit on forest creatures and fires. Back to the van and we set off.

The first stop was suggested by the xplorer booklet, at the redwall [handily an earthcache and geocache site] where we looked at the iron rich rocks, we went past where we had not that long back seen the 2 bears, but they had gone – to BB disappointment. there is a lovely view spot just as you get to the kootenay valley, so we paused there to look, read the info boards before driving on. I had given the girls a packed lunch for their table, so they were just munching away we did stop for a munch tho by the kootenay crossing. the girls enjoyed running up and down and paddling before we set off for the floe trail. along the way we saw a herd of white tailed deer. i only saw the mum and babies, but BB pointed out all the bucks in the grass she has a good eye, and also most of the possession of the binoculars

the floe trail was also something suggested by the xplorer booklet, as there had been a fire in 2003 and it suggested looking for various things, including regeneration. it was absolutely nature noise only, there are v few vehicles on the highway, and we soon lost the sound of them. we were supposed to be in tight 4′s – which the girls not so keen on! so we played a traffic light game of them running forward on green, stopping on red etc. i imagine all that noise would have kept bears at bay there was a great ricketty bridge over the river, and that is where we turned back. there were lots of berry plants on route, not yet ripe, but would be a bear magnet later in the season! with older bb we would perhaps have planned less motorhome travel and fewer but longer walks.

our next stop was at paint pots – again in the xplorer booklet, but something we would have done anyway. a lovely walk through forest – which had a smell of vegetarian stew i thought, but laughed at by my family , and the girls ziggzagging walking along logs like beams. [still not managing tight 4's tho i did better when saw another family walking back with bearspray in hand!] across a v wobbly bridge and finally to the ochre beds. we saw lots of tracks, which we thought were a variety of deer, bear, wolf and wolverine. [possibly!] the girls paddled in the ochre, and i got bitten to pieces. they drew pictures with the paint and eventually we move on as the day was lengthening and it is v bear contry-ish. We had a good paddle and wash of feet in the clear icy stream before back to the motorhome.

as time was drawing short, and we were heading for banff before dark, we didn’t get to walk along the marble canyon like i had hoped, tho did stop briefly at the great divide for photos and a geocache. the girls didn’t get out, i think they were getting tired again also playing games as we travelled. they did very much like travelling in a motorhome.

finally we drove towards banff, taking the v slow but beautiful bow valley route – tho no bears – all the way to 2jack campground. mostly as we thought we would breakfast at lake minnewanka. we should have seen the signs when we were surrounded by mozzies, and the parks canada girl on reception only opened her mesh screen for nanoseconds! girls collected wood and DH did BBQ for tea, but not perhaps the best place for it since we were bitten to pieces. it was our last opportunity tho for a rockies fire, so definately done :). minimal going out after that though

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You would have been 40 today. You were so keen to live and make 40. I miss you with my whole heart, but will raise a glass to my beloved sister today x x

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we got up fairly early but had a leisurely breakfast. there was free wifi and a laundry. we did the major wash, the girls played on the small playing park area and we watched the parachutists come down. There were other kids that BB ended up having fun playing with, and so SB and I played ingenious. the campsite is owned by an englishman that just hasn’t quite gone home yet, and has set up what he would want in a campsite, and also an adventure – mostly aerial – holiday/activities.

Washing done we set off, going past a crazy ‘home museum’ with loads of broken down tractors outside and what may be classed as junk . time to drive down the columbia wetlands towards radium. it was a nice drive down, with loads of views of the columbia river and wetlands. rather hysterically the ‘viewing points’ all had trees infront of them, and the worst view of all. luckilly they did have geocaches… we stopped at one for lunch, and definitely loved the motorhome for the freedom to eat and prepare on the hoof. Enjoyed the completely different scenery here, very farm-in-tyrols similar, and some good traditional barns. thought that we could v much live here, as not in national park, but a quick hop into. the climate was def different than the other side of the rockies, and crops were definitely further along. the girls sang ‘in the jungle’ nearly non-stop and it morphed into a song of there own with many more woohoo’s in falsetto than the original!

we nearly went part of the way to the bugaboos but the road turned into track, and that was against the rental conditions, so we did a slightly scary 3 point turn and carried on to radium. loads and loads of mountain sheep – this time the male herds. it was scorching weather again – at last! Popped into the supermarked for supplies and went to the campsite. much more open than others, and had a play area near our pitch which the girls enjoyed.

Then we set off to the hot springs for a swim the route to these springs not quite as exciting as miette, but the girls were keen to visit these ones as a diving board essentially there is one hot pool for wallowing, and a cooler pool for swimming and diving. the girls much preferred it, and had fun swimming and coming down the little slides. me and sb also jumped off the diving board – see my decision to be a bit braver is already paying off! I couldn’t quite bring myself to actually dive tho – baby steps!! we spent ages there and i was quite prune fingered when we got out!

Back to the campsite for tea – had already defrosted bean chilli and had with wraps. early night as getting up early to go white water rafting the next day – very excited

we got up bright and early and drove into town for breakfast, picking something up from the bakery to eat as we drove to lake louise. it is busy, and we wanted to make sure that we could park easily enough. we got there in good time and nibbled our breakfasts before going down to the lake. we had hoped to go canoeing, especially since the guide book said there were 4 person canoes. there were, but 2 adults and 2 littlies, and the price was such that for 2 canoes we would have to think hard about it. walking away BB had such a mega temper tantrum as she had been so desperate to canoe, and so couldn’t control it that we had no choice but to not canoe. it had a bit of a cutting of nose feel to it. i was unsettled as i could so clearly remember walking round the lake with viv that there was a blurring of then and now, and wailing tantrumming children and an out of sorts partner were not what i needed at all. however, we did walk round the lake, and i let myself blend then and now whilst holding hands with one girl and then the other. we did nearly do a walk to the teahouse, which would have been very nice, but BB wasn’t keen, and had only just regained her equanimity. the path was easy, and busy with tourists, but the lake and mountain serene and beautiful . there were some fallen tree trunks to make beams of, some rocks to scamper on by the waters edge, and a variety of birds to spot. watching the canoeists i did wish we were out on the lake tho. in the stillness and the tranquility i thought of you, viv, where you wished to go again x x

after we finished the walk we attempted to buy an icecream, but it was shut so we went back into the town and bought one there before driving on towards the spiral tunnels and takkakaw falls. driving on it was a bit of sleet a bit of snow and a bit of rain, so all those beautiful viewpoints weren’t really there for us, tho we did pull in at some stops and take the opportunity to look at what we could see. One of the stops was the spiral tunnels where the cross canada trains gain and lose huge amounts of height in a safe way. the info boards, as always, were very good, including historical, scientific, engineering and human interest bits. the old route without the tunnels must have been extremely scary, and obviously there were a fair number of derailments and fatalities. there was an interesting discussion on routes chosen and why as well. we did see a train go through these tunnels, but from a different viewpoint and later. it was very rainy though, and the girls starting playfighting, so we moved on!

the next stop was at the weeping wall where we bagged a geocache and answered the questions. it was still not the best weather, but at least not pouring with rain so we decided we could make takkakaw falls ok. we went past the monarch campground and up towards the falls. the road only opens mid to late june and there was snow higher up. there was also a scary bit where rv’s over 8m have to go up the switchbacks backwards for a section. DH didn’t fancy this, and the roads are pretty empty, so he did a big swing round and went forwards. eek!! luckilly ok

As we got to takkakaw falls it started to rain a lot again so we all got togged up and set along the route. Takkakaw falls is arguably the highest falls [they do argue] in the rockies, and its name means it is magnificent in Cree. there were lots of beaches BB was keen to paddle a bit in as we walked along to the falls foot. due to the drizzle we saw no rainbows but DH and the girls did some rock climbing up the slippery slopes, the start of a climb that can take you to the top. BB particularly loved the climb. SB had a small fall on the way down, so i helped her back to the van for meds and got the tea going etc for when BB and DH joined us. Unfortunately, I also did some washing up and put the sink side out, so when DH raced in, he didn’t look, hit his head on the drainer, fell down the stairs and broke the door . we tried to fiddle and fix it, but then we had to take off the top bit the holds the door open and doesn’t let it slam about hmmm 2 problems we were going to have to pay for . When DH recovered, we set off driving again. we had a layby stop to consider camping at monarch, but it is small looked full, and the road near it was roads worksy, so we decided to carry on.

this was a mistake really, as it was a long drive. we stopped at field, and looked at the info on the burgess shale there. would have loved to go to it, but felt that BB would have been utterly miserable, and I am not exactly fit, though would have done it! We picked up a Yoho xplorers booklet from the parks canada place and looked in the mini mueum. BB fell in love with a schleich mummy and baby grizzley bear, so we did buy those with her money

Moving on we decided to drive all the way to golden, to have an easier day the next day. It was a LONG way! and when we got to the municipal ground it wasn’t appealing, luckilly they had a brochure of campsites in BC, so we found a phone number of one in nicholson and went there. It was much nicer, and even had wifi! the first opportunity we had to send of geo-logs, catch up with friends – that seemed very odd!! and pop a few photos on flickr for family back home. quick tea and DH and i played race to the galaxy game before bed and planned out the next day a bit. we also took the opportunity of wifi to book a family white water raft experience along the kootenay river. my sisters dying words were have fun today, so my challenge will be on or around her birthday to do something fun and perhaps a bit challenging to celebrate the joy of living. this year it was to be my first whitewater raft experience.

Best laid plans and all that, in the ‘plan’ for the holiday, we should have set off on this bit of the trip the day before really, but as is the way when trying to fit so many things in we hadn’t. But to give us a shot at the day we planned an early start. And we pretty much mananged it. The time stamps on the first photos of the day are about 08.15.

And yes it was overcast and raining still  as we drove off to the Athabasca Falls.  This was not a promising start, as this is said to be the most beautiful drive in the Rockies. The guides books and websites are full of majestic mountains, towering over the rivers and the road and instead  the cloud line was pretty low .  Actually was disappointing (and I’m still disappointed – Chris) as we had been looking forward to a beautiful drive, and instead it was raining, we were a day late setting off etc etc! however, when you are in the mountains, and it is going to be the only tim that you are there, you just have to make the most of each day, regardless of weather

So teh pattern of the day was to cruise South, with a few places to stop and explore properly, interspersed with short stops to lok and take photos etc.. first stop was a pull-in where there was a commerative plaque about David Thompson, and a Geocache. David Thompson was an fur trader/explorer/surveryor  who mapped large areas of Canada in the late 18th/early 19th Century. We had watched one of the excellent Ray Mears Northern Wilderness programs about him, and felt we ought to stop here. Thsi in particular commemorates his crossing of the Rockies here at the Athabasca Pass, to open a trade route.

There aren’t a lot of Geocaches around the Natioanl Park really, you need to ahve permision, and they mustn’t contain any tradables, or anything that might attract bears etc. So need to get them whilst you can

Carying on a bit further, we pulled into the Athabasca Falls pull in and had breakfast there, and then dressed and went to look at the falls. BB was perfect height to find the geocache. HH and BB wandered whilst awaiting Chris and SB, and then viewed the falls. There was a parks canada guide there with lots of different horns, so i could identify that i had seen mule deer whilst driving back from jasper the prev night. The horns told the story as  I had been uncertain whether that or white tailed deer.

Whilst we were looking at the falls, a local told us how much the river had been swollen by the very rainy june, and that usually far lower. we wandered to all the various bits, and enjoyed reading the info boards. Down by the athabasca river there was a small shingle beach, and we ran around on that, and I  played with the panorama function on the camera we saw some people l start a gentle white water experience, and the girls were quite jealous.

We moved back to the motorhome and started on our route, pulling in at quite a few stops, both to see what there was of view in the low cloud, but also for some goecaches,  as we got higher the drizzling rain turned to sleet and it was considerably nippy

For some it was already feeling like a long day

At Tangle Falls, I got out for a quick scramble. Everyone else stayed in the motorhome, though SB complained afterwards that she wished she’d come when she realised where I had been.

We got to the Columbia Icefield Centre , DH went to buy the tickets and I put the soup on for lunch. However, when he returned, it was clear we needed to get going quickly, so we piled multiple sweaters/fleeces on and bundled the waterproofs, gloves, hats etc in a bag and all wore walking boots. we were prepared for the glacier . Yuo get on a normal coach which takes you part of the way, and then you swap to a special Snocoach for the drive up onto the glacier.  We travelled up with very  informative drivers, swapped to the snowbus and were onto the glacier. Wehad nearly 30 mins walking on the glacier, throwing snowballs and enjoying it. As is normal on the glacier, it is was windy and it was snowing reasonably heavily. I was very surprised that some people seemed not to have thought at all about what to wear and so after poking nose out of bus had to stay in. Particularly sorry for the 2 little boys who were wearing shorts and one light fleece. even sorrier for them when we had to wait outside between buses for 10 mins. we were toasty warm tho!

I’m (Daddybean)  slighty ambivalent about the whole buses upto the glacier thing, with the track up the mountain and big buses tooing and froing it all seems a bit intrusive. But the Athabasca glacier is only one small part of the Columbia Icefield. If the weather had been better and we had more time I would have liked to ahve tried one of the walking tours that go up onto the glacier.

Anyway, we got back to the centre and went into the shop, where BB bought a raven statue, and both girls ended up with postcards to stick in their journals – tho both girls v far behind in this!! had their pics taken with huge cuddly toy bears and then we looked round the little museum area before returning to motorhome for lunch – at nearly tea time!.

DH and I had a chat, It was 5 pm and we still ahd 130K to drive to Lake Louise (we so far done about 100K)  One option was to camp there, the other to press on to Lake Louise. it was snowing/cold, so we pressed on and missed walking to the toe of the glacier. You can’t do everything. Time, the weather, and the desire for the driver to be getting on  meant we didn’t stop so much on the next bit, and passed on by some places that we would otherwise have stopped at. The Weeping Wall and Bow lake were the main, but brief stops.

And finally  got to lake louise about 7pm. There was a minor worry about whether the campsite was full (it’s a very popular spot, it was the weekend and Lake Louise is easily accessible from Banff, and even Calgary), but I had seen there was an overflow, so was surprisingly the optimist of the pair and since we were happy to accept anything and had s amll enough motorhome, we actually got onto the tent site there, so spent a nice night in a parks campsite.We had Pizza for tea,  it was something i could make quickly as DH was v tired from all that driving. And the girls finished the day with a jigsaw. It had been a frustrating day in many ways becuase of the weather, but also memorable as well becuase of that same weather

I am still not sure how this day managed to get so comprehensively away from us. perhaps we overacheived the day before? it made us play catchup on part of the journey that we would have preferred to have taken more slowly. i think it may have been breakfast. we must have taken too long. it was probably pancake day. i know i made them to tempt the girls out of bed . eventually we packed up and said goodbye to wabasso campground and went to the jasper tramway there was a bit of a wait before we could go up so it was getting to lunchtime before we took the tram up. whilst waiting we looked in the shop and bought some gifts for grandparents, and also a couple of postcards and icecreams

I loved the ride up, me, so not very good at heights it was smooth, felt safe and the most fabulous of views. there is a conductor in every cabin, and they talk about what you can see where. certainly some of the lakes we didn’t get to around jasper looked beautiful too. lovely shades of green, and we could clearly see pyramid and patricia lakes. there was also a really reall long train making its way to BC. it takes 7 mins to get to the top, and it is a fair bit colder there! we had a look at the info boards around the walkway [and realised we were at a dead end, so naughtilly went through a no entry. we then set off up the very steep trail to the summit.
We went up fairly slowly it has to be said, but i was determined to do the climb. it is steep, and actually fairly busy with lots of people going up and down and its shale and feels uncertain under feet.however, in the end the girls and dh did the final bit without me. And i think that is the thing i regret about the holiday. it was v steep and shale slippery and i started feeling v v vertiginous and quite quite dizzy. not helped by at a pause a man getting the collywobbles and going down. i tried a bit more, but let scaredness get the better of me, as t got steeper and slippier. i had done 3/4 i think at that point and had really wanted to go up more, but was feeling v dizzy and edge of the world precipice like [tho there wasn't one] so i missed going up to the final top with dh and girls, and felt i had let everyone down . i have resolved to try not to let that happen again.

they loved the top, didn’t see any hoary marmots and loved the snow – as there is a ridgeline dip with snow there to tramp through. i knew as soon as i couldn’t see them and had gone down a bit to where i felt safer that i had made the entirely wrong decision and nearly decided to follow them, but … ho hum. i did get to have a fab co versation with a singaporean lady and her daughter who now live in BC, and looking up, i did get quite far really. the views were fabulous, but it was busy with lots of people up a slippery narrow path, not the same sense of peace and tranquility. I also spotted a small route signposted easier route – sign post had been far too small on the way up!

the family returned, i said goodbye to the singaporeans and we went back down to the top station and had lunch. it was far to salty and bb wouldn’t eat hers. DH and I managed as hungrier and also resting paying loads of money to leave food we had sweet potatoes and garlic bread – v nutritious . we went down the tramway again, back to the motorhome and back into jasper for a few things before setting off for the icefields parkway.

except it didn;t happen quite like that. our cashcard got rejected, we realised we had topped up less and spent more, and due to wififreeness did a fair bit of banking on iphone, where silly swipes make passwords and tiny buttons difficult! then we needed to check it out and buy petrol. we lost the next 2 hours and therefore the moving on, so decided to spend the night at wapiti camp and leave first thing in the morning. it also rained!! how not on! The girls and i did get to tidy the motorhome though, and see a train shunting back and forth – a passenger train for a change too.

on our way back we saw a herd of deer. I wasn’t entirely sure whether they were white tailed or mule deers and they ran off into the woodland. Later i found out they were mule deer from looking at antler shapes. We got to wapiti – another great parks canada campground, cooked chilli in wraps for tea, which is always lovely, played with the girls, and SB did some journal before calling it an early night and setting the alarms for early in the morning. it was raining again, which didn’t bode well.

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It’s actually pronounced maleen. someting we just didn’t get to grips with till right near the end of the holiday. We woke the girls up early, got them strapped into their seats and drove to the sixth bridge of the maligne canyon for breakfast. it was a beautiful early morning drive out, and when we got there we were alone, to set out brekkie on a table, wander too and fro over the bridge, and paddle our feet into the icy water. Have to say it might be a little while before we goet photos added to this post. i think we took about 1000 that day – or so galoka says . We explored, looked played pooh sticks, giggled and then, having finished breakfast we drove up to maligne canyon.

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It was clearly going to be a scorcher of a day. we parked up and went out to see a parks canada interpretation going on. It was a bear awareness and pelts, claws, spray, bells etc to be discussed, and what to do should we meet one. i became determined to purchase bear spray we looked at the info boards about geology, well i did, and nudged sb into reading them too. I Like canadian info boards :).

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it was outrageously hot and we set off downhill. the general idea is that you walk down hill without noticing what a sweat and struggle it will be to come back we started at the second bridge – mostly by mistake and walked down to the 4th bridge, stopping to look at views, be cooled by spray – particularly at the 3rd bridge and marvel at the depth of the canyon, and that there was ice down there. BB stared to be a bit unhappy with the walk as we got by the fourth bridge. It was hot and thirsty work and she has the littlest legs and to be honest, we had walked down loads and loads of steps.

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We didn’t take the same route back though, we took a side path, which happened to have a geocache part way up, and by a mixture of looking for things, spotting birds, plants etc we found that we were most of the way back up. the final push for bb accomplished by the thoughts of an icecream at the cafe

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So we sat on outside tables at the cafe, with the canyon rushing to one side eating icecreams and suddenly the walk didn;t seem to have been so busy BB didn’t fancy seeing bridge 1 though,so SB and DH did that whilst we looked at some of the fossils and then went back to the motorhome. I remember visiting maligne canyon with my parents, candaian family, and obviously my sister. She made such a thing of wishing on rainbows in her last year that whenever I see one I think of her x x the carpark was completely full, so a careful drive off up to Medicine Lake when all back.

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unfortunately when we drove into the stop at medicine lake our soil pipe had come loose and dragged along the road like a wriggly snake, and was no longer fit for purpose. we had a spare, but i was a bit worried how much rental place would charge for replacement. oh well! we got various different lunches each and went out to eat, but it was way too hot by the tables so went down by the lake and sat on some rocks. The lake is stunningly beautiful, as are most lakes in the mountains, and the pull off is a perfect place to park with a view right down the lake, mountains all around . great having lunch with such a view. near to us was a tree where carpenter ants had carved out huge sections. when i had finished eating and put down my plate they came and took some crumbs. we weren’t sure if this counted as feeding animals within the national parks! so took the plates up to the motorhome. BB saw some beautiful ducks, but they had gone before we all got down to the lake shore. We saw a pika, and the girls had great fun walking along logs as beams – some were fairly high off the ground! Logged the earthcache and then got back in the motorhome to carry onto maligne lake.

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driving up towards maligne lake we went past lots of signs telling us to look out for caribou. I did keep looking out, but i didn’t see any. A parks ranger explained that there are very few of them in the herd, and that they are only just replacing themselves with the good years and they live on a v specific age lichen, so that they are hard pressed fmr where to live. Anyway, i didn’t see them . But we did see a bear wandering along the road edge it was a black bear, though cinnamon coloured and obviously considering going down to the lake.

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we drove on and found loads of cars pulled over and parks canada rangers flagging us down. there was another bear! a black one down by the lake happily feeding, and due to the slope and distance they were allowing people to get out of cars and look. parking the camper off road means it did tilt v worryingly down the slope. i was a bit concerned it would tip right over! so we got out and had a good look at the bear munching near the lake with our binoculars – good for DH remembering to pack them . we drove on, and were amazed to pas another bear, this time with cub on the other side of the road awwwwwww. particularly good for the girls to see as well. v cute. we definitely stayed v much in the motorhome rather than upset a mama bear

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finally we drove on to maligne lake, and it was getting a bit late. there is a famous boat house there. I had thought we might go on tour boat to the end of the lake and back, but BB was desperate to row herself – eek! they had rowing boats, canoes and kayaks, and because all 4 of us could go in the rowing boat, that’s what we went for. the lake water is freezing – ok, its about 4 degees – so you are strongly advised not to fall in! I did wonder whether we would ever get away from the boat house we turned so many circles!! SB wnt on her own, the bb and dad, then me [i am pleased to report we went in a straight line then!] and eventually we went to that first headland you see on pictures. we giggle and laughed and took loads of pictures and it was utterly fabulous even if we took an hour to hardly go anywhere [SB says the tide was against us!]

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our time was up, so we went back to drop the boat off – i nearly fell in getting out – whoops] and then up to the chalet for coffee for adults and cake for kids. finally back to the motorhome when it was getting eveningy. on the way up we had passed a drive in with picnic place that looked lovely, so we chose to have dinner there. bB got tos stroke ‘chickmunks’ so was v hppy, as well as ground squirrels, and i cooked oven chips and beans . ’tis v nice motorhoming. i keep looking ‘em up on ebay. not sure that they would be so fab in uk with tiny roads and carparks etc…

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driving back we were lucky enough to see more bears another mummy bear with 2 baby bears, they were gamboling along, all completely ignoring the motorhome. we watched them till they disappeared into the scrub. we also saw elk and then a coyote crossed the road as we neared wabasso campground. And as a final treat we saw a grizzly as well, the girls were asleep by then shattered by such a long day.

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I think this may be one of those perfect days.

our youngest, BB, is a bit of a shopaholic. People that have been to English Heritage sites with us may remember some of our shopping experiences. Needless to say, we are keen to minimise the occassions, and so we had pre agreed that there would be some official ‘shopping’ and other to tht, we would only consider the spending of money if behaviour exemplary and item wished for pre approved The girls were both v rich for this holiday with both sets of grandparents and aunty M providing them with money [that reminds me, we owe SB £51 ! as borrowed from her...] and SB had saved her birthday money.

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where are we?? fairly certain we had a lazy morning and waffles for breakfast and then went into jasper to look around, get some shopping done for bb, as designated shopping day, and also buy a something to allow us to BBQ. parked the rv and walked in, and Jasper being The Town in Jasper national park there were a great number of touristy shops for the girls to walk in and peruse goods. BB was delighted she bought a beaver cuddly in one shop, a black bear cuddly in another shop and a purse in another,and so was v v happy. SB bought a canada t shirt. we ended up at the info place, and signed both girls in for the Xplorer programme, and because we were moving on the girl gave me the tags for when they finished. nipping into their shop and we bought some spotters guides for tracks and animals, both were invaluable, and also some other books. BB fell in love with some animals as well, so after discussion, she bought them instead of having another shopping day :).

we then went and had some lunch at a nice cafe, realised there was no wifi anywhere i had a v yummy pita pizza, sb had soup, bb cheese 0n pita and not sure re DH! we had bought the things for BBQ and so i planned to buy an icecream for the girls and DH would buy some groceries and we would meet at a park. this really didn’t work out. i failed to find park, we both wandered about getting hot – me with grumpy children! so i decided to go pack to the info place and hoped he would to. luckilly he did! we did also find a geocache.

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having met, we went to yellowhead museum – a bijou museum of immense smallness but very lovely none the less. there was a lot bout david thompson – an early explorer that we had read about and heard about before, and also quite a bit of early life in the parks. there was a small hands on section, and sb dressed up, but bb had had enough really, having got a bit too worn out when traipsing looking for her daddy earlier! we finished off with finding a geocache outside.

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We piled back in the motorhome and drove up to pyramid lake, wishing we had brought wood so could have bbq there! pyramid lake v v beautiful. loved the bridge across to the island and the peace there. would be a great place to canoe, and also ppl get married there – seems a good venue for that too. we wandered around the island, the girls hopping from treetrunk to tree trunk, and me and DH soaking up the atmosphere, the mountains and the lake and breathing in the pure mountain air – bliss we did also look for a cunningly hidden geocache, and also an earthcache. we all paddled in the lake wobbled on the stones and got bitten by the ever present mosquitos! dunno, laughing, splashing in the cold water with clear air seems like perfection. Really wished we had brought the wood to spend the evening there!

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However, we hadn’t so we went back to camp, saw some female elk on the way home – there was quite a number around wapiti campground. back at camp got the fire burning, SB and BB did some journal writing -the aim was to keep a journal of days each, with sticking in leaflets and some words in SB’s case. However SB has been so detailed with hers [more detailed than this blog!] that she is still on day 7. when i get there, i intend to blog as she writes . successful BBQ, the veggie hotdogs were ok, the burgers neither bb nor i could bear. we laughed, loved and DH and I got to play a game when the girls went to bed. we still had forgotten to buy any beer tho! Both BB and SB lost teeth this day! SB a molar, and BB one of her ‘vampire teeth’ . the tooth fairy came overnight

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