Month: August 2017

Saturday was a pleasant day for driving. We headed south from Banff on secondary roads. We were headed to a boondocker outside of the town of Pincher Creek. We picked up a few groceries and enough fuel to get us through to the cheaper fuel in the US. It didn’t take us long to leave the mountains and soon all we saw were the foothills. It was a bit hazy, probably from the forest fires.

We arrived at our hosts for the night, Bev & Garry. They live on a farm that has been in the family for nearly 100 years. Garry has lived there all his life. They have crops only now, and some barn cats with young kittens. There was another family already there (although they were out visiting an attraction when we arrived) and another expected. We parked right in their front yard where they had a very large gravel driveway.

Garry even had a couple of spots where he had put in hydro connections and a water tap. After a nice visit with our hosts, we had our supper and while we were eating, the other family arrived.

Both families were travelling on the road for a year with their two children (ranged in ages between 7 & 11). One family lives in Montana and the other in Australia. The four children had a great time running around the wide open space of the farm and chasing the kittens!

The next morning we had a leisurely morning at the farm before leaving for Montana. We’ve decided that we will drive south from the farm which will bring us right in to highway 2 at Saint Mary which is the start of Glacier National Park and where one of their campgrounds are located which will accommodate our sized trailer. According to their web site, they didn’t fill the campground last night so we’ll see if we are able to get a site for a couple nights. Otherwise, we’ll start heading east.

Friday we left Jasper before 10 to drive the Icefields Highway. Initially there was a bit of sun with blue sky. We stopped at a number of scenic points along the way to view waterfalls and lakes. A couple of the places we had to hike in a bit. It was nice to be out – the weather has changed and is much cooler. We find it hard pulling the trailer and trying to find appropriate parking spots in some of the scenic places. They don’t have good access for trailer parking. Sometimes you can tell where you should be parking, but the painted lines are worn off and many of those in cars don’t realize they shouldn’t be parking in those areas so then there is no room for someone with a trailer. There is usually dedicated bus parking – when a bus arrives and lets their passengers off, the scenic area becomes crazy with people running and pushing up to take pictures. It is almost best to let them go ahead and get done and then take your time to get your pictures where and when you want to!

We stopped at Sunwapta Falls, The Icefields including the Athabasca Glacier, Peyto Lake, Bow Lake and a number of other smaller view points. At the Icefields, a bit of weather moved in and it actually started to rain. Fortunately it didn’t last long and we were soon dry with the wind that was blowing. It is interesting to see how the glacier has been retreating. We saw a sign that showed where it was in 1982 in relation to where it is now.

When we arrived in Banff and got set up, we had a quick supper and then headed to the Hot Springs for a soak in the pool. Imagine our surprise when we walked into the building to see friends from church there! We had no idea they were coming and they were only there for a week. The chances that they would be there the same week we were and show up at the same attraction….! After a visit, we headed into the pool and enjoyed a relaxing time until closing time.

The next morning, we both made a decision not to do any of the sightseeing in Banff. Driving down the main street the night before to get to the Hot Springs made us both aware of how busy and commercial Banff had become. We decided to relax at the campground for a while. Joyce baked bread, zucchini muffins and cookies and then we barbequed supper before heading heading back to the Hot Springs.

Sunday we’ll leave Banff and drive south towards the border of Alberta and Montana. We’ll be boondocking it at a farm. We’re looking forward to it!