Border and Bears

In the morning we took the Akamina scenic drive to Cameron Lake followed by a walk to Akamina Lake. We were doing our usual singing along the trail to warn off bears when we came upon a group of rangers so that was a bit embarrassing. Even though singing and making noise is recommended so we were doing the right thing - we just aren't very good singers.

Next we drove the Red Rock Parkway trying to spot a bear.  We didn't, but we went on a walk around Red Rock Canyon and then to Blakiston Falls. It stayed mostly dry while we did all this-just light rain on and off.

Next we drove around the Bison Paddock where we did manage to see some bison....although it seems that they are enclosed there! It was quiet on the road so we were able to stop and watch the bison for a while which was fun and we got some good pictures out of the windows before the rain started properly and the inside of the van started getting wet.

Bison close up!

We left the bison and drove to the USA. The border crossing was quiet and didn't take too long. We got our tomatoes taken away but got to keep all the rest of our fruits, vegetables and food. They never explained why or even told us that they had taken them - Rosie just happened to see it in the mirror while the customs people were looking in the back of the van. It was just a few tomatoes though so we weren't too upset.

Once across the border we drove on a little further to Glacier National Park, the USA side of the Waterton-Glacier park. We had been on the Canadian side earlier. We had to get used to driving in miles per hour instead of km which was a bit confusing because although there is also mph on the dashboard it is very small. We also encountered a lot of cows on the road and of course the rain came with us :-(

When we arrived at Glacier we went to the St Mary campground to get our site for the night and to have lunch. Then we took the free shuttle bus along the Going to the Sun road that runs 50 miles across the park. We did not go to any sun unfortunately, but we got to see the mountains and scenery and enjoy the narrow winding journey with someone else driving for a change. We went as far as Logan Pass and then changed buses to go to Avalanche Creek where we did a short walk. The weather at Logan Pass was so bad that we almost didn't continue but we decided to after all. In the end it was worth it because as well as the journey and the walk we saw two grizzly bears by the roadside on the way back. Two bears! In one afternoon. After seeing none in Canada in two and a half weeks. We were very pleased and excited.

While having a snack waiting for the shuttle bus, a chipmunk tries to climb into my bag.

We have a lot of blurry bear photos....

We got back to camp at around 6:30pm. We did not want to cook outside so we had cereal and fruit for dinner. We should know better than that because we know it does not give us enough energy for hiking the next day, but we just couldn't face the rain and cold.
We went to a presentation by a local Native American man at the visitor centre at 7:30pm and then walked back to camp. There is a trail between our campground and the visitor centre of about 500 metres. We had been warned about an active bear in the area when we arrived, and no tents are allowed in the campground at the moment because of it. So when we saw a massive fresh looking poo full of what looked like berries we were a bit worried. We made sure we made a lot of noise walking back to camp later.

Mystery poo, probably a cow....probably

After we returned we still had to shower and it was almost dark. We had not done our usual walk around the camp to find the facilities earlier like we usually do so we ended up walking around the camp trying to find the shower block in the dark.
The campsite is big and almost deserted. Perhaps due to weather, or bears. It took us a looooong time to find the showers. Then we tried to take a short cut on the way back and ended up in a completely deserted closed off section of the camp in the pitch black. We were wearing flip flops and Rosie claimed her feet were freezing off. We eventually made it back to the van after our short cut brought us in a circle back to the showers and we started all over again sticking to the main roads. We decided that tomorrow we will drive to the showers.

The next day we had decided to do the 10 mile hike to Iceberg Lake. We had seen in the park newspaper that there was a ranger guided hike on this trail on that day so we decided to join that. We left camp at 7:45 and drove to Many Glacier to meet the ranger at 8:30am.
We saw another grizzly bear on the hike as well as three moose.

With the hiking group

More blurry grizzly photos

Bear claw marks

A blurry moose

Moose Impression

It was cold but we were mostly lucky with the rain. It was only light during the hike and didn't start raining heavily until were almost finished. We got back to the lodge in Many Glacier tired and wet. We got hot teas in the lodge and the man gave them to us for free. Maybe we looked like we needed them.

After the hike we drove back to our campground in St Mary. We sat in the van for a while listening to the rain bit we really didn't want cereal again so we got all our rain gear on and just got out and cooked. We made sausages, corn on the cob and beans. It was worth it. Even after we had the washing up in the rain to do too.

A quick trip back to BC

The rain continued the next day as we headed back into British Colombia to Kootenay National Park. We drove past most of the walks and viewpoints because it was just too wet. We did stop at a beautifully clear lake called Olive Lake during a dry period.

Olive Lake

Will we ever get to take off these rain jackets?

When we got to Radium Hot Springs we decided to take advantage of the poor weather to do laundry. The laundry room was part of a petrol station that also had a Subway so we ate lunch while we waited for the clothes to dry.

Bighorn sheep grazing in Radium Hot Springs

We drove a little further to our camp in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day loitering around the campsite in between rain showers: spotting deer, playing on the playground and putting on a show in the camp ampitheatre. The campsite was very quiet and we didn't like our spot because it was too hilly. So we walked to the entrance and queued up behind a couple of RVs to exchange it for a flat one. The new site was also closer to the bathroom which is where we like to be for our middle of the night trips.

Loitering

Putting on a quick show

In the morning we didn't get up with the alarm because there was a monsoon going on outside. We waited for a break and then quickly got ready and hit the road. We had a long drive to cross back into Alberta and reach Waterton Lakes national park just north of the US border. The landscape changed as we went further east and became a flatter grassland, similar to parts of Aus but still a lot hillier. It was very very windy and wet so the drive was quite tiring. We stocked up on trail mix and head torch batteries, had a very wet in-van picnic lunch and saw the world's largest truck.

Rain

Sad face

Rain

Big truck - sightseeing highlight of the day

Alberta

It looks like this is a picture from a different trip!  Must have been a brief blue sky interlude.

Once in Waterton we went out for pizza to save cooking in the rain. There was some wifi in the village. The first time since Golden that we have had any. I deleted 90 junk emails and paid my credit card. Rosie downloaded some new kindle books. Unfortunately the wifi was not good enough for us to post the blog. We keep writing it but who knows when we'll be able to put it online - we might have finished the trip by then!

No cooking tonight, my hands had nearly frozen off washing up the lunch plates in the icy water at the camp.

Rain, Rain and Banff

We left Jasper in the rain. It had been raining on and off all night but we set off hoping for some blue sky later.

We spotted a whole crowd of elk by the roadside again on the way out of town.

More elk

We drove a slightly different route south than we had taken coming north so we could go to see the Angel Glacier and Mount Edith Cavell. We walked to the viewpoint and got to see a lake with chunks of ice floating in it which had been one of the things we wanted to see in Canada. So despite being soaked by the time we got back to the van, we were pleased.

Angel Glacier

We walked a little bit of the trail with a couple from Washington DC. They were doing a longer hike and wanted some other people to walk with because it was a trail where it is advised to be in a group of at least four because of the bears. We were only doing a short walk there today though so we had to leave them. We saw some other hikers go soon after them so they would have had some new company soon.

We rejoined the main highway at Athabasca Falls and made a quick trip to see the falls in our damp clothes. Then we did the same at Sunwapta Falls. The rain was getting worse and there was no danger of any waterfall being dry today. They were both rushing with brown water.

Someone wants to get back in the van at the waterfall viewing!

We got back in the van and drove the rest of the way to Banff only stopping to switch drivers and for an in-van picnic by a creek. Our coats and clothes were steaming up the van on the way.
The scenery driving back down the icefields parkway was spectacular.  We think that the rain had brought some snow to the mountains because they all seemed more sprinkled with snow than on the way north. We also saw a wolf run across the road.

Wet wet wet

Driving back down Icefields Parkway

Once in Banff we found our campsite and then went to explore the town. It was very busy - it seemed the weather had probably kept people in town instead of out hiking. Rosie managed to park the van while I helped by pointing out non-spaces.  We had a look around the shops and then had another meal. Dinner maybe? At 3:30? Even though we had hardly done any walking we were still really hungry. We had salads, garlic bread, pasta and ice cream washed down with lemonades and hot tea while we watched the weather out of the restaurant window.

Part of our mega mid-afternoon feast

We waddled back to the van with full bellies and back at the campsite we made the most of the hot showers to get warm.
We relaxed for what was left of the afternoon. The rain gradually stopped and the clear skies brought the coldest temperatures of the trip so far. We got out the thermals for the first time and retreated to hide in the van again. We will stay two nights here in Banff so we decided to give ourselves a lie in until 8am tomorrow.

Hiding in the van

After our lie in we drove out to try and do a hike in sunshine meadows. However when we got there we discovered that the trailhead was 6km down a private road. There was a shuttle bus to the trailhead but it cost $27 each for the 12km round trip so we decided that it was a rip off and went instead to Johnstone Canyon (free) and did a walk there instead.

We stopped at a deserted picnic area and heated up our leftover chili for a delicious lunch.  It smelled so good, so we kept an eye on the bushes but no bears wandered out for a taste.

After lunch we went to the cave and basin thermal pool that was the inspiration for Canada's first national park. We were a bit disappointed by it. I think we were expecting a much bigger cave and it had a very sulphurous smell that Rosie didn't like. I said I couldn't tell much difference from being with her in the van every night.

The Cave

The Basin

At the Cave and Basin national Monument - looks cosier than the van!

We went back to camp and cooked burgers.