Day: 33 Baniff to Lake Louise, AB

Day: 33 5/31/15

We took the scenic 1A highway to Lake Louise Village this morning.  Two lanes winding and beautiful, it sure beat the Canada 1 interstate.  The campground at Lake Louise wasn’t taking advance reservations so we headed there first to secure a place to stay for the next two nights.  Leaving the campsite we found a post office (open on Sunday no less). We had not been able to send any cards since Yellowstone and were glad to get caught up.

 

Visitor Centre

Next up Lunch!  If you haven’t eaten at a restaurant in Canada lately, you will probably be shocked – a typical lunch for two will cost you $50-70 Canadian.  The postmistress told us about her favorite place in Lake Louise and the bookseller next door also named it so we decided to follow their advice and try Bill Petro’s Café in the village.  The food and service were excellent and the price was very reasonable. Give it a try if you are ever in Lake Louise.

 

Bow River in Lake Louise Village

After lunch, we drove up to Lake Louise (the lake).  It was absolutely stunning, the color was a pale milky blue.  (We discovered later that limestone dust from glacier activity is what gives it this color.)

 

Lake Louise Lodge

As with Miniwonka Lake in Banff, we found all the commercial venues and mobs of tourists to be a detriment to an otherwise spectacular place.  We were really surprised to see things this crowded 3 weeks before the “Season” officially begins.

Odometer: 81098 Miles Today: 30 Total Miles: 3898

Day: 32 Baniff – Johnson Lake

Day: 32 5/30/15

 

Johnson Lake

We got an early start 9:10 (for us it is early) and headed for nearby Lake Winniwonka but saw a sign pointing to Johnson Lake and decided to go see it too.

 

Friendly fellow

Johnson is a cold clear mountain lake with a 1.5 mile trail around it.  We hit the trail and seemingly at every turn, we encountered another beautiful view of mountains and lake – clicking on, I took some pictures of a woman fly fishing from a float tube.  She was the only fisherman on the lake and I was envious. (We met her in the parking lot later and she had caught a few brookies.)

 

She told us she got Saturday morning to fish

About 2/3 of the way around the lake were 2 red Adirondack chairs on a high hill above the lake – of course we had to sit awhile and contemplate the beauty around us.  It turns out the Canada Parks system is placing chairs like these on beautiful spots throughout the country.

After our walk, we continued to Winniwonka and while it was beautiful, it was overrun with people and lots of commercial boat rides, power boat rentals and just didn’t have anything like the wilderness flavor we had just experienced at Johnson Lake.

 

Even old people like to hold hands

Tonight, the weather was great and I broke out my griddle for the gas grill and whipped up a batch of my famous (to Mary at least) cranberry pancakes.  YUM!

 

Just like a mirror

Odometer: 81068 Miles Today: 22 Total Miles: 3868

Day 31 5/29/15 Canmore, AB to Banff, NP

Day 31 5/29/15

Elk in our campground in Banff

We had critters visiting the two adjoining campsites last night, they left stuff outside and it was scattered far and wide. Dumped tanks and did a thorough rinse out of the black tank as its sensor has been indicating at least half full for a week or so.  Now it is indicating empty.

We left our camp at about 9:30 and stopped at the store on the way out of town – needed a new stove lighter and a couple of other small items. Then off on the short run to Banff, NP and the Tunnel Mountain RV Park.  Surprise, it was nearly empty so we booked a spot and took the bus into the village.

Banff (the village) is styled on a Swiss Chalet meets trendy modern motif.  Lots of restaurants, bard, trendy clothing stores and a few brand outlets occupied the main street through town.  We were fortunate to find the Banff Brewery and decided to quaff a few local brews while sharing a Canada Burger (Alberta beef, cheddar and bacon) and a Buffalo Chicken sandwich along with shoestring fries served in a cone.  Waddling was in order afterwards.

We saw 7 Elk in the campground when returning from town about 4pm.  Mary crashed for a nap while I headed for the showers.

Odometer: 81046 Miles Today: 27 Total: 3846

Day 30 Black Diamond, AB to Canmore, AB

Day 30 5/28/15

Heading for Banff NP, Alberta

We left Black Diamond around 9:30 after finishing breakfast and headed for an RV dealer in Alberta – the fridge still will not work on Propane and we decided to try again to have someone look at it.  The RV dealer didn’t have the time to mess with us but did direct us to a smaller independent RV servicer a short distance away, they had an experienced Pleasure Way tech who was familiar with our model and its installation. He said it was only one of three relatively minor parts (recommended replacing all 3) but the fridge had to come out – a significant 3-4 hour job in this model.  He didn’t stock the parts (our unit is 13 years old) and it would take several days to get them. Sigh.

The view in Canmore

Back on the road to Canmore and our stop for the night.

View from our campground.

Odometer: 81028 Miles Today: 105 Total: 3819

Day 29 5/27/15 Sparwood, BC to Black Diamond, AB

Day 29 5/27/15

On the road again at 9:30. We crossed the Continental Divide again (West to East) at Crowsnest Pass and entered Alberta.

On the Continental Divide in Alberta

At 11am we stopped to see the Frank Slide – a 1903 landslide that killed about 90 residents of the coalmining town of Frank, AB. The interpretive center at the site is first rate and we passed a couple of hours viewing presentations and looking at the exhibits.

Leaving Frank, we turned North on Canada 22 to follow the Alberta Cowboy Trail.  We stopped for lunch at a campground/picnic area along the Oldman River and met a wandering Fly fisherman from Calgary and we talked for an hour about fishing, computers, places to see, camping, government and all manner of stuff.

Frank Slide

About 2:30 we got back on the road seeing lots of cattle but nary a cowboy in sight. As we neared Longview, AB, we began to see oil wells (a first for us in Canada.)

We arrived in Black Diamond at the Lions Club Campground at 3:45 and, after setting up the rig, walked to the only Hotel in town (about ½ mile) for an early dinner.  Local beers and Buffalo wings were our choice and it was all excellent.

Indoor Curling Arena!

We left to a chorus of thunder and lightning, then rain, then hail and decided that we just had to duck into the Bistro on Main for a dessert of warm apple pie with ice cream served up by our tiny Korean waitress who was almost always busy telling the giant Korean cook what to do.

Waiting for the Wings

When we left the bistro, the rain picked up again so we darted into a drug store to buy a couple of plastic ponchos but they didn’t have them.  We did convince the nice checkout girl to give us a couple of plastic shopping bags to cover our heads. What a sight!

Gotta love craft beer!

Odometer: 80923 Miles Today: 123 Total: 3714

Day 28 West Glacier, MT to Sparwood, BC

Day 28 5/26/15

The view from Fernie.

I got up full of energy and decided to wash the RV before getting on the road. It had been a month and she was looking pretty dirty.  I spent 30-40 minutes in the 40 degree morning washing the road grime off before hitting the road North to Canada.

About 11:40, we entered a major construction zone in Whitefish, MT.  It was a pretty town but we were stuck in single lane traffic following a pilot truck for miles so we didn’t dare stop. I’ll bet the merchants don’t like that.

We crossed into Canada at the Port of Roosville at 11:45.  The border agent was courteous and thorough but after he checked our passports, he waved us through.

Guess who is coming to dinner?

Fernie, BC was a bit of a disappointment, we expected an old mining town and got a modern college town.  It is all good (but some is gooder than others and the view from Fernie was fabulous.)

4 young Elk wandered around for an hour.

I cooked up some burgers on the grill and Mary supplied all the trimmings then we watched a movie until our twilight visitors arrived.

Odometer: 80800 Miles Today: 142  Total: 3591

Day 27 Polson, MT to West Glacier, MT

Flathead Lake, MN

Left the Eagle Nest RV Park about 9:45 and stopped at Safeway in Polson for groceries and water then hit MT 35 along the Eastern Shore of Flathead Lake.  This path bypassed the busier towns on the western shore and offered beautiful scenery at a more sedate pace.

McDonald Lake, Glacier NP

We pulled into the Town of West Glacier, MT at about 1pm and stopped at the restaurant there for lunch where we had the daily special of turkey on rye with a cup of corn chowder (excellent & spicy). Of course, we had to follow it up with Huckleberry Pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to cut the heat a bit.

Mary on the Trail of Big Cedars

Continuing into Glacier, NP, we were disappointed to discover that we could only drive part way up “Going to the Sun Road” due to remaining 90’ snowdrifts near the summit.  We did however, find “The Trail of Big Cedars” that followed a creek about ½ mile up the mountain and then crossed over and returned.  Lots of really beautiful trees, waterfalls and rock formations.

Since we couldn’t cross Glacier as originally planner, we headed back out of the park to the North American RV Park where we joined 3 other campers in a 100+ space park – lots of solitude among the cottonwoods.

Odometer: 80658 Miles Today: 121  Total: 3439

Day 26 Phillipsburg, MT to Polton, MT

From prairie to rolling hills

We met up with Shirley (The candy store & newspaper lady) this morning.  She gave us the newspaper in West Yellowstone that led us to Phillipsburg.

Flathead reservation mountain view

We headed for Missoula, MT  about 70 miles north and stopped for gas and lunch.  We ate at the Wheat Montana Bakery and Deli – first restaurant we had seen where they sell 50 and 100lb bags of flour along with sandwiches and muffins.

Leaving I90, we caught US89 North through the Flathead Reservation towards Polson, MT a beautiful community on the shores of Flathead Lake.

Multi-language signs

We wondered about the Flatheads and wondered if they might be the Indians who strapped their babies to a flat board to carry them on their backs.  No one we encountered seemed to know.

Eagle Nest office

We loaded up on provisions at the local Wal-Mart before checking in at the Eagle Nest RV Resort in Polson.  Eagle Nest is an exceptional RV park.  All the facilities are absolutely first class, the staff friendly and they have a meet & greet hour on the lawn every afternoon at 4:30.

Golf view from campground

Mary sheered my locks and we did laundry before turning in for the night.

Odometer: 80537 Miles Today: 146  Total:  3318

Day 25 Phillipsburg, MT

Back Creek Pottery

Just bummed around Phillipsburg today, no miles – all on foot.  Met Ed from Back Creek Pottery, a potter from Asheboro, NC (go figure), he moved here a couple of years ago.  We had a good time talking about potters and places in NC. 

Phillipsburg Brewery

Ate BBQ, drank some more craft brew at the Phillipsburg Brewery (one of the firemen from the clambake last night was the brewer on duty today) and ate more ice cream at Doe Brothers.  Just a typical wonderful lazy day.

Inside brewery

Odometer: 80391 Miles Today: 0 Total: 3172

Day 24 Livingston, MT to Phillipsburg, MT

View from Osens

Pulling out of Osens RV park at 9:30 – great little park with a wonderful view and deer in the field next door last evening – we topped off the fuel and cleaned the windows for our first run on Interstate highway since Salt Lake City.  I put the CC on 60 and just rolled up and down the mountains.  Trucks passed us on the way down and we passed them on the way up.

Downtown Phillipsburg, Montana

About 20 miles past Butt, MT, we left I90 for Montana Scenic Rt1 and took a break at the rest stop there.  We met a group of ladies from the Eagles Auxiliary in nearby Anaconda, MT who wooed us with brownies, carrot sticks and coffee while telling us everything to see in Phillipsburg, MT (our destination for today).

Checking out the flowers

Traveling on MT1, we passed mines and lakes and about an hour later we arrives in Phillipsburg, a town of about 820 that has no real reason to continue to exist (and prosper) than the will of it’s friendly citizens.  A few years ago, they decided that the town either had to attract some revenue or die.  They cleaned up the old buildings and attracted new businesses from potters and brewers to boutique shops and BBQ restaurants.  The established businesses perked themselves up and now the town is a prosperous little place and a great low-key destination for tourists.  They distribute a newspaper throughout the Northwest, have several B&Bs and smiles for all the visitors.

Our campground.

Friday night was their annual all you can eat clam and oyster bake put on by the volunteer fire department.  They take a refrigerator truck to Seattle, fill it with clams and oysters fresh off the boat drive it back and cook it all along with all the trimmings and, of course, craft beer from the town brewery.

Waiting in line.

We walked to the firehouse and waddled back afterwards with some new friends and some wonderful memories – I estimate 2000 showed up – the picture is where we were in line with just as many behind us as in front. 

Inside the firehouse - almost there!

Odometer: 80391 Miles Today: 167 Total: 3172

Day 23 West Yellowstone, MT to Livingston, MT

An unknown lake while waiting for traffic.

We were delayed this morning by complimentary cappuccino in the campground and the necessity of redeeming a couple of coupons in town (hat and chocolate) so it was 10:54 before we headed back into Yellowstone, NP.

Today, we headed North again for Mammoth Hot Springs near the North entrance to the park.  We were warned that the road out of the park was subject to construction delays and they didn’t lie.  We were stopped several times but just took it in stride and enjoyed the scenery where ever we were.  Once we overlooked a lake and another time as we started moving Mary saw a grizzly bear at the edge of the woods.

Our lunch spot

Mammoth was a disappointment for us as there was no parking within 2 miles of the springs and the visitor center wasn’t starting tours until next week so after a short stop, we headed up US 89 but stopped along a cascading river for a picnic lunch before heading for Livingston, MT

Waiting to cross the road

Traveling along 89, we finally saw our first elk of the trip, then several herds (perhaps 50 or so total) and right past a forest service campground we saw two beautiful longhorn mountain goats.

About half way between the park entrance and Livingston, we stopped at a rest stop along the Yellowstone River for a short break before continuing to Osens RV Park for the night.

Yellowstone River rest stop

While having that cappuccino this morning, we met a woman distributing the Phillipsburg, MT News. We are both a little road weary so we decided that a couple of low key days would be just fine and Phillipsburg is going to be the place. I called and booked an RV site for two nights so we’ll be reporting from there tomorrow.

Check the stats below, we passed 3000 miles today!

Odometer: 80224 Miles Today:109  Total: 3005