All posts by paula

147-Golden, B.C.

Takakkaw Falls in the Yoho National Park

While driving through the Yoho and Banff National Parks in Canada we took a side road to see one of the highest falls in North American, Takakkaw Falls. After driving about 13 miles on a narrow windy road with one switchback that was so narrow most people coming up (the tight side) had to make 3point turns, causing people coming down to stop and wait for them. With our big truck we had to do that as well, and even after making the turn we had to pull our mirrors in to squeeze past a big truck coming down with his mirrors pulled in.

The falls are magnificent! Not as high as Horsetail falls in Yosemite, but lots of water spilling over in a small crack in the rock of the cliff. There’s a short hiking trail to get right at the base of the falls where you can see it full length and feel the mist as well! Part of the hiking trail was a wooden bridge across the river and Laddy was real uncomfortable crossing it – but with some pulling and coaxing we got him across.

The cliff to both sides of the falls is almost perfectly vertical and was probably carved by the water spilling over the edge. As we looked at the falls and cliff we noticed movement on the cliff and saw a mountain goat and two climbers in fairly close proximity. We got a good picture of it and I’ve included it here.

Here are pictures we took:

147-Golden, B.C.

Yoho and Banff National Parks in Canada

We’re in Golden, BC at the moment so that we can visit several Canadian National Parks in the Canadian Rockies. There’s been a lot of smoke as there are wildfires burning all over the region. But we’ve taken drives to see the sights anyway.

On the Saturday that was part of the Labor Day weekend (it’s celebrated in Canada as well as the U.S.) we drove through the Yoho National Park and into the Banff National Park. It was fairly busy, so busy in fact that we couldn’t find parking at a couple of stops we wanted to make. We’ll do another drive into this area when the weekend is over.

But, in spite of the busy weekend and smoke in the air we were very impressed by the Yoho and Banff National Parks. Beautiful country! Definitely part of the Rocky Mountain chain, the mountains were incredible! One difference between these Rockies and the Colorado Rockies is that in Colorado the drive goes up and along the very top of the range (at about 14,000 ft) while in the Canadian Rockies the drive goes through the range but not to the top. So the views were quite different. We saw several very large glaciers from the road and we know there are many, many more that cannot be seen from the road. We noticed that many of the glaciers are much larger than glaciers we saw in the Glacier National Park in Montana.

The road, by the way, is Route 1, the TransCanada Highway that bisects the entire country!

We drove from Golden, BC to the town of Banff, Alberta and back home again. We saw different views coming and going so it was well worth the double time to drive both ways. Banff, Alberta is a small resort town that seems almost exlusively built for winter sports. It had a real Alpine feel to it.

We also stopped at the Takakkaw Falls (see separate post here) which was magnificent even in September because it’s fed from a glacier. We wanted to stop at two lakes, Emerald Lake and Lake Louise, but there was no parking so we’ll do that on a separate drive.

Here are pictures we took:

146-Fairmont Hot Springs, B.C., View from Front door

View from our front door of the Canadian Rockies

While staying at Fairmont Hot Springs we had a gorgeous view of the southern end of the Canadian Rockies right out our front door.  When we arrived it was very smoky in the area due to the huge fires seemingly all over British Columbia so we didn’t have such a great view the first few days.  But on the last day we were here the smoke cleared and the mountains showed much better.

Here are two pictures – one when it was smoky and one when clear. WOW!

146-Fairmont Hot Springs, B.C.

A beautiful area in Fairmont Hot Springs

We’ve been here in Fairmont Hot Springs for a few days.  We did go on one drive to see the countryside, but it’s been very smoky here and you can’t see much.  And, the smoke has been thick and you can feel it when you breath.  I’ve been leaving the trailer closed up with the air on to avoid getting a lot of smoke inside.

The hot springs are a real popular destination here in B.C.  The RV park is at the hot springs, with a hotel, spa, restaurants, zipline rides, bouncy things for the kids, horse rides and of course…the hot springs.

There’s a huge pool that is heated with water from the hot springs, and a very pretty waterfall a little away from the resort where there are natural pools that you can rest in like a hot tub.  We’re right up against the southern end of the Canadian Rockies and the view out of our front door is spectacular!  But, until the last day we couldn’t really see it.  See my post for two pictures of the same view – on a smoky day and a clear day.

Here are pictures of the waterfall and pools:

146-Fairmont Hot Springs, B.C.

Crossing the border into Canada

We crossed into Canada today; I was really nervous about it based on the info I had been reading and stories online from other folks who crossed the border with an RV.  There are restrictions such as no fresh fruit or veges, no raw meat or meat products, no dairy, very small amounts of spices and herbs, a small amount of ONE kind of liqour (beer or wine or hard liquor), no dog food that isn’t in an UNOPENED bag and not more than 20KG.  No live plants and no soil.  Only an amount of prescription medicine that you’ll need for the length of time in the country (what?!?)  And, no guns!
So, we rented a small mini-storage unit and put the guns and ammo in that which means we have to come back to Kalispell, MT when we’re done in Canada and we hadn’t planned to.  We ate up all the meat and veges and fruit and did without for the last few days.  We drank up the milk and yogurts.  We did have more liquor than was allowed.  My plant wasn’t doing very well so I threw it out.  Jeff still had his little cactus and wouldn’t get rid of it.
I envisioned us getting pulled over for secondary inspection and having border agents go through our whole rig.  I read stories of that happening, going through cupboards and drawers and leaving everything a big mess.  UGH!  I envisioned forgetting about something or having them find the liquor and/or cactus and getting a big fine.  I even read one person who wrote that since they were from Texas the border agents wouldn’t believe they didn’t have a lot of guns and tore the whole RV apart looking for weapons.  YIPES!
So, when we pulled up to the border I tried real hard to be calm and relaxed.  It must have worked cause we got no hassles and just a few questions.  The man did ask what liquor we had, so Jeff said less than a fifth of whiskey, one bottle of wine and one beer.  He laughed and said “just one beer”? I think the border agent was able to pull up a file on each of us using our passports cause he asked our occupation and when we both said retired, he said what were you before retirement?  Then, he asked if we had any protection like guns, mace, etc.  We said “no”, so he asked if we usually traveled with protection.  We answered that we had 2 guns but had put them into a storage facility.  He asked for the receipt and I had it on my phone.  Then, he said “Have a nice time in Canada”.  Whew!
My advice to anyone travelling from the U.S. to Canada with an RV (or even for tent camping where you are bringing supplies) is to read the official website from the Canadian border on what you can and cannot bring, and be careful to adhere to that as well as you can.  Then, don’t stress and have fun!
145-Kalispell, MT, View from Front door

View from our front door in Kalispell, MT

We’re staying for a few days in Kalispell, MT before we head to Canada.  It’s real near Glacier National Park but we’re not visiting that beautiful park this trip.

We’re in the best site in the RV Park where we’re staying…at least I think so!  We’re at the back end of the park in a corner site with a great view of the mountain range in the background and forest.

Here’s a picture:

145-Kalispell, MT

Driving through Montana while so many fires were burning

We drove through Montana on 8/25/17 to get from Buffalo, WY to Kalispell, MT.  We did the drive in 3 days making two stops.

There are several fires burning in Montana; we passed several small burned areas near the freeway and could see a lot of smoke in the air near Butte MT.  While spending one night near Butte I didn’t go outside as the smoke was so thick.

Here’s a picture of how smoky the air was around Butte:

RV Parks We Stayed At

Our Travels – Year 6 (August 2017 – July 2018)

144-Buffalo, WY

Total Solar Eclipse August 21, 2017 – we were in the path of totality!

August 21, 2017 was the day of a total solar eclipse that passed through a band of the U.S. In the middle of that band was Casper, WY. We chose to view the eclipse from Casper as it was in an area with a good change of clear skies and indeed it was a clear blue sky the morning of the eclipse. There was a little haze in the northern sky due to the fires in Montana and Idaho.

Even though we made reservations in March we couldn’t find a place closer to Casper than Buffalo, 1.5 hours to the north. So, we got up early and hit the road to drive into Casper on the 21st.

I had signed up months ago for a newsletter from the “Casper Eclipse” group, as Casper was planning a 4-day festival to celebrate the eclipse and to service the thousands and thousands of visitors that were expected. So I had seen news of the downtown festival, events planned all around the city, as well as news about the crowds, shortages of bathrooms etc.

We decided to go to the Tate Geologic Museum at the southern end of town to see the eclipse. We’d been to the museum before and knew it was part of the Casper College campus. When we arrived at the campus about 8:30a.m. on the 21st we found that the college had opened several parking lots for free for eclipse viewing, had several buildings open for restroom availability, had several venues available for food and had lots of students, staff and security personnel available for first aid, selling beverages, directing traffic etc. It was PERFECT!

We had arrived early enough to get a good parking spot, right next to some grass and several trees, so we had shade to wait for the eclipse. We watched the parking lot fill up and saw lots of people set up canopies, chairs, tripods etc. Lots of kids were running around and playing. Lots of people were enjoying the cool weather (mid-70s).

Then it was time for the big event!! At 10:22 the partial eclipse began, and using cameras and eclipse viewing glasses we could see an edge missing on the sun. Over the next 100 minutes the missing spot grew and grew, until 11:42 when the totality began.

Until 11:40 it was still pretty bright out. But, at 11:41 it got dark real quick and cooled off. People started cheering, and fireworks were set off at various places around campus and around the city.

That, unfortuntely, freaked Laddy out! He started shivering and jumping around and I worked to keep him calm and not knock over Jeff’s tripod. I was able to get my glasses on and see it briefly when it just showed the corona, and then when the “diamond ring” showed. Poor Laddy!

Then, at 11:45 the totality was over and it started to get lighter and lighter. Laddy was still shivering and scared though. It really cooled off too, I had my jacket and Jeff commented on how cool it got.

As soon as the totality was over people started leaving. We stayed for a while, but then decided to head back.

Here are some pictures of the eclipse that we took:

143-Hermosa, SD

Jewel Cave in the Black Hills of South Dakota

While in South Dakota this year we visited a cave we missed last time. Jewel Cave is in the Black Hills, not far from Mt. Rushmore. We tried to see it last time we were here, but the tours were sold out for several hours and we didn’t have the time to wait.

This time we booked our tour a couple of days in advance so we wouldn’t have that problem. Good thing too; when we arrived the tours were full for several hours again. But, we got the one we wanted!

Jewel Cave, like so many other caves in the area, was discovered by accident in the late 1800s. At the time it was thought to be a small cave system, but in the past 30 years or so caving expeditions have discovered that it’s really one of the longest in the world. Over 190 miles of passages and rooms have been discovered and they aren’t done yet! The current caving expeditions have to crawl and wind their way through small passages for 15 hours to get to their base camp, then they spend a few days exploring, then they spend 15 hours crawling back out!

There is a ‘wild’ tour offered at this cave, but you have to be able to fit through a 24″ x 8.5″ opening so lots of people are not allowed on this tour. There’s a concrete ‘mockup’ of that size opening outside the visitor center, and while we were there we saw people trying to get through. Imagine how small that is!

We enjoyed our tour! It’s a bit colder in this cave than in others we’ve seen, at 49 degrees. Brrr! The steps and pathways are very nice, even stairs, flat paths, which is not like some other caves we’ve been in! We went up and down quite a bit, they say it’s over 700 stairs total (some up, some down). You start and end the tour in an elevator as the visitor center entrance is about 780 feet down. It’s not near the original and only natural entrance.

It’s named Jewel Cave because the men who discovered it were gold mining in the area, and on their first few trips into the cave they found formations that they thought were crystals which often grow near gold. Alas, what they thought were crystals were just calcite, formed from slowly dripping water leaving that mineral in the rock to collect.

Here are some pictures: