Crossing into Canada!

After leaving Glacier, we drove to north Dickey lake campground. It is a national forest camp about 30 miles south of Canada.

Shelly keeping Sadie warm. Or maybe, Sadie keeping Shelly warm.

Dickey lake camp.

The camp overlooks the lake, and is only $10 per night. My kind of camp! Shelly is getting tired of me saying that. And that I don't like rv parks. It was raining when we set up, but quit soon after. The hosts, Fred and Jo Shauer, were very friendly. Shelly was gathering firewood, when they offered free firewood. I was getting to try out our canoe for the first time on this trip. The lake was calm, and was perfect for canoeing. We built a fire, and invited the hosts to join us. We visited with them until it started raining about 9 pm. We got to hear the loons calling. 

 We got to the Canadian border the next morning, and had no problems getting through. We drove to Edwards lake campground about four miles off hwy 93, and got set up on a grassy site near the lake.  

We enjoyed the day relaxing, and got to watch the loons and bald eagles. 

This one landed in a tree about 80 yards from our campsite.

Taking off!

What a sight! Having a good camera to shoot these pictures is nice. We sat by the fire again, and listened to the loons calling. At home, watching the bats leave the bathouse, Shelly says I am bat sh*t crazy, and now she says I am looney. I don't know if that is an improvement or not. 

Edwards lake in the morning

 We decided to only drive an hour toward Cranbrook, B.C. We need to wash clothes, and buy a few groceries. We found Horseshoe lake campground about 20 miles from Cranbrook. It backs up to a mountain range to the East, and overlooks a small lake.

The scenery is so good, after setting up camp, we decided to stay at least two nights. 

An osprey hovering over the lake. 

We drove to town and did chores. We got our first Canadian sticker shock buying gas. It is 1.39 per liter. I think that works out to just under $6.00 per gallon U. S. Ouch. Then there is the $26 for a 15 pack of beer. Another ouch. The campground is free, so it all evens out, especially considering we paid $40 for a night in an Rv park in Columbia Falls. This is much,much better. That is another funny word. Much. Much. We visited with Ray and Shannon, and sat by their fire until about 11:30.  Mick and Connie, and their daughter Connie, also sat by the fire that night. They are all from Cranbrook and super nice people! Ray told me of a trail that follows sunken creek, and took me to the base of the trail on his Polaris. He also loaned me his bear spray, which made me feel more secure in Grizzly country. As I said, super nice people! 

Sunken creek. There is not much perspective here, but the boulder is about 10 feet across. I was playing with the shutter speed on the camera to get the different effects.

I got to go wading to get to the log bridge.

 The first log bridge. 

The second log bridge

Yup, bear poop! I was a lot more cautious after seeing this. I was glad Ray loaned me his bear spray

I kept waiting to see this, but this was actually taken in Kootenay park from the truck. 

Ray had said he would be back in four hours to pick me up at the base of the trail, so I hiked 2&1/2 hours uphill, and I hiked back in about an hour and a half. 

 Shelly went back to Cranbrook while I hiked, and had pizza waiting for me when I got back. I think she was glad she didn't have to hike with me. We visited with everyone again until about 11:30. 

 We packed up and said goodbye to everyone, and drove through Kootenay National park, which is where Shelly pointed out the bear in the picture. The drive was scenic.

Our rig

Going into Kootenay park. 

We drove to Lake Louise, and found out all the Rv parks were closed because of all the snow this winter. We decided to stop at lake Louise camp. It was $32.30 which wasn't bad for an electric site. We drove to the village, and found wifi. We talked to Tyler on FaceTime, and chatted with Erica, who was at our house. We drove up to lake Louise and Moraine lake.

Moraine lake

Lots of snow here!

Lake Louise 

You can see the glacier on the mountain. 

 We left Lake Louise about 11:30 in the morning and ended up in Whistler campground near Jasper about 5. It was only about 150 miles, but the ice field parkway was amazing. We saw a black bear near the road, but it kept it's derrière toward me, so I couldn't get a good shot. The snow covered mountains and glacial lakes were everywhere. I had heard from everyone who had been here this was worth seeing. 

One of many stops

It describes itself!

A lakeside stop

Our Airstream by the lake

Athabasca falls

 We left Jasper, and headed west toward Prince George. We hiked a trail to the Overlander falls. 

It was sprinkling again. 

Shelly forgot to get the picture of the falls behind me.

This was the third black bear we saw, and the first that wasn't camera shy

He was curious about us, or maybe saw his reflection in the Airstream.

Shelly in the ancient forest

I had to say something goofy to get Shelly to laugh.

We stopped in Willow river campground. It is more of a wide spot in the woods, but secluded and free. The mosquitos have come out with a vengeance, so we played cards in the camper. 

Alaska bound phase 2

We left Rocky Mountain National Park on Wednesday after seeing the weather forecast of snow, rain and cold wind. We drove to Boyd lake state park in Loveland where the forecast was  just rain. We did some shopping and laundry, and waited out the weather. It did not rain much here, but just east and west there were pretty big storms. The state park is in the middle of Loveland, so it is convenient to town. There is a nice recreation trail from the state park to a city park, and apparently connects to a larger system of trails in town. We are driving north to Wyoming today. 

 Boyd lake state park

 We drove north through Wyoming up to Douglas. The drive was hilly, but not forested, and got old with the gusty winds. We stopped in Douglas at the free rv park on the river. We got a few groceries, and drove around town. We went to a rustic bar in the old downtown, and drank a few beers. Shelly beat me at pool, but the bar was covered in old signs, and very interesting. The bartender asked if we had seen an animal like the one across from the bar. It was a bear with antlers. After saying no, he explained it was a cross between a bear and a deer, and called a beer! After going back to camp, we got to watch a live soap opera across the park. A young couple was apparently having a domestic dispute, and were very dramatic about it. They were in an older motor home, and had several friends who came and went, and helped in the dispute. They left the park about dark, and the rest of the the night was quiet. All in all a good deal, especially with the free entertainment. 

 We drove north again through Wyoming, with the intention of getting to Billings, Montana. The weather is calling for snow in Wyoming, but not in southern Montana, so we are trying to outrun the snow. The scenery was much the same as yesterday, but getting hillier, and a few more trees. In northern Wyoming, the mountains off to the west were beautiful, and reminded us of why we are going north.

We stopped at Yellowstone river rv park in Billings for the night, and found out Wyoming and Colorado had gotten 6" to 12" of snow. I think we got out just in time. 

 Once again, the rv park disappointed us. Almost $40, and most of the campers were separated by an empty campsite, but if it would have been full, we would have had another camper's door 5 feet from ours. The wifi was nice to get caught up on world events, like what everyone on Facebook had for lunch. Ha! We met Ray Mullins from Michigan, and listened to his stories of the Alaska highway. 

 We drove south of Livingston, to a fish and wildlife campground on the Yellowstone river called Mallard's rest. There was only one other camper in the park, and only $12 a night. The wind was howling out of the north, but we were somewhat protected by a hill and a few trees. The snow covered mountains out of our window was great scenery.

I walked to an old dump, and got to see what someone threw away about 50 or 60 years ago.

I am not sure what this was,  but there was an abundance of beer, oil, and coke cans, as well as an old transmission from possibly a model t. " There is treasure everywhere" as Calvin says.

Another view of the camp.

 We  drove west through some gorgeous mountain scenery, and in the morning it was snowing on us in the upper elevations. About noon, the sun came out, and warmed up. We stopped at Beavertail Hill State Park, and paid for two nights. It is a great looking small state park, and our campsite backs up to the Clark's fork river. The temperature got in the upper 50's, and with sunshine and no wind, it was a near perfect afternoon. 

We hiked the park's trail, which was only about a mile.

We got several messages from Erica that it was pouring rain at home, and one from Sheron with a picture of their flooded back yard. With no wifi, and poor reception on the phone, we had to wait to see if we had much rain at our house. The next morning, 5/13/14, Sheron said they had 5" of rain at their house. We are excited thinking we might get water in our pond, after years of drought. We'll have to wait for a pond report. We had a low tire on the Airstream, and needed propane, so we drove into Missoula for both. We went to Les Schwab tire company in Missoula, and dropped the tire off to be fixed. After driving around town, and shopping some, we picked up the tire. The guy at Les Schwab said the valve stem was leaking, and he replaced it with a metal stem. He said we did not owe anything. Wow! What service! We drove down some back roads and explored the area.  We sat by a campfire in the evening, and enjoyed the lack of wind. 

 We drove through Kalispell and decided to stop at Lasalle rv park before we went to Glacier. We wanted to wash clothes, or at least wanted them clean, and didn't want to drive back to town after getting into Glacier. It is a typical rv park $40, but had a decent wifi. I replaced a broken dump valve on the black tank. On the third time taking it apart, I got it to work. 

 Glacier! We made it!

Shelly at Lake McDonald

On a short hike across a bridge over the river. Amazing scenery.

Shelly at Avalanche creek. Pictures cannot tell the story.

Us's again

Avalanche creek. It is a shame not to be able to hear this picture.

Peek a boo!

The talking tree! 

Avalanche lake. 

Shelly on a cliff over Avalanche creek. This gives a better perspective of scale.

Tree roots

Lake McDonald

 These pictures are worth a thousand words, and probably two or three thousand of my words. I still think this is the most beautiful place in America. The hike up Avalanche creek was about a five mile hike round trip, and combined with all the short hikes, we were tired by the end of the day. We are staying in the Apgar campground. That is a funny word. Apgar. We are planning on staying about four days here, and exploring Glacier more. 

On Friday, we drove north on the west side of the park, and decided site 87 in Fish creek campground would be a great site when it opens. It backs up to a creek, and is more scenic than Apgar. Later, we hiked the John's lake loop. It follows McDonald creek up one way and goes by John's lake on the way back. It is 3 miles round trip, and very scenic. 

I am running out of superlatives to describe this area. These pictures will have to do.

You can almost hear the roar of the water.

Shelly near Fish Creek campground

Hey, that's me, near a waterfall!

 At the end of the day, we sat by the fire, and visited with John and Jackie Patron from West Glacier. 

 On Saturday morning, we got a call from the helicopter place. They found another couple wanting to take the 30 minute tour! We got to see parts of Glacier that we would never see on foot, or in a car.

We're ready to leave!

Lake McDonald is 10 miles long. It looks smaller here.

A closer look at lake McDonald

A deep valley

It looks cold up here!

 I started videotaping during the first few minutes of the takeoff, and then the battery went dead! Ugh! What was I thinking? I was able to warm up the battery in my hands, and get about 10 more pictures. Luckily, Shelly has her iPhone as a backup camera. The views were incredible, and the ride was worth the $250, considering it is a once in a lifetime event. The couple with us were from Australia, and on a 6 week honeymoon. We drove to Whitefish to see a car show and swap meet. It was interesting, but after going to the Pate swap meet, this was tiny. We had Applebee's for lunch, and went to an antique store later. We relaxed by the fire again at camp. 

 On Sunday, we hiked Snyder creek trail. The trail is steep the first half mile or so, and all the trail we walked is uphill. The good news is it was downhill all the way back. We hiked about three miles round trip, and while it was downhill, it started raining on us. We had the fire department jackets on, so we didn't get too wet.

Snyder creek trail

Hats off!

Shelly uphill

Shelly is happy. We get to turn around and go downhill!

Rain coming our way!