Fall 2023: The Canadian Rockies, Calgary to Vancouver!

In the words of John Muir:    

One of my favorite John Muir quotes!!

Tuesday 9/19:  106 miles, camped at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court, Banff, Alberta.

After 3 weeks and 2,500 miles from home, and we are finally entering the Canadian Rockies!

Rt. 2A to the 201 Calgary Beltway to Trans Canada Rt. 1.

Calgary in the distance.

Canadian Rockies in the distance.

And we're there, checking in at Banff National Park.

Site 446.

Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court is HUGE, with over 300 sites.  We had a pull through and the site was large.  When walking the dogs at night or early in the morning, I rarely found an empty campsite.  The weather cooperated and was chilly, but generally sunny, especially after the morning fog rose.

Venus in the early morning.

Wednesday 9/20 and Thursday  9/21:

  We spent some wonderful time in the village of Banff itself, and the town is beautiful.

We randomly picked a pub for lunch, Three Bears Brewery.  We sat at the bar and, on a whim, ordered the Elk and Kale pizza. It was amazing!  The menu describes it as: House made elk sausage, double smoked bacon, braised greens, chili crema, fior di latte, grana padano.  In fact, we went back the next day for the same lunch, except this time we ordered an extra pizza to go for future dinner at the camper.  We again sat at the bar and chatted with the young bartender.  He and his girlfriend are leaving in January for a year in Australia to work and explore.  Ahh, to be young and adventurous.

This young bartender was from Ireland.  We had a nice visit,
 and even ran in to him the next day at the grocery store.

On our second visit to Three Bears, a group of 4 young women who were out on a team building exercise for their company sat next to us.  They had so many minutes to visit x number of places to meet new people and strike up a conversation.  I agreed to be videoed as one of the girls to told me a joke.   "What does a fish say when it hits a wall?  DAM."  What a really fun time for the 15 minutes they were there.  I wish I had gotten a picture.

The campground was a great place to meet people, especially when walking the dogs.  On one of my many walks I met a 40 year man from Denmark.  Thomas was attracted to Parker.  Their 2 year old retriever was staying at his parents in Denmark while they are traveling for 2 weeks in Canada and then 2 weeks in Hawaii. They flew into Vancouver and rented a camper. He works in IT and is 100% remote.  We talked about work, travel, climate change and energy prices.  Their energy costs have increased drastically since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.   We had a wonderful conversation and I learned so much.  

I also met the couple across the street from us.  They live in Calgary and were camping in Banff for the weekend because their daughter was doing a 10K race on Saturday.  He retired from the Canadian Postal Service after 33 years.  We talked about campers, travels, and dogs.  We had several nice and chatty conversations.

The campers behind us were from Washington State.   They had purchased a couple of expensive chew toys that their dogs ignored, so they gave the toys to Parker.  They were heading to Albany, NY and we chatted about the best route to get there.

Everywhere you look, the Canadian Rockies are spectacular.  In fact, we wanted to stay an extra night, but the park was completely full and we couldn't.  But what we enjoyed most were the people we met.  People from other countries, people from other states, people with campers both big and small.  The visits might be long and chatty, or as simple as "Would you take our picture?"

Friday, 9/22:  247 miles, camped at Lamplighter Campground, Revelstoke, BC

Trans Canada RT. 1, except BC 93 and 95 detour around Kicking Horse Pass.

Our new RV friends from Calgary said we better check on the route for today.  Sure enough, there was major construction and we had to detour while the Trans-Canadian was closed at Kicking Horse Pass.  I found travel information on line, and wow!  Glad we didn't have to drive there.

Construction at Kicking Horse Pass.   YIKES!!!!!

It was a pretty drive to Lamplighter Campground in Revelstoke.

Wildlife Corridor Crossings.

Welcome to British Columbia.

Avalanche Snow Shed Tunnel.

Site 39.

Lamplighter was a small park that was full every night with mostly vans and Class C's.  And most of the vans and Class C's were rentals, with Cruise America, Cruise Canada, or CanaDream.  There seems to be a lot of Europeans traveling.  In fact, I met 2 German guys.  One was traveling in a rental C with his wife, and the other was riding a bicycle and tent camping.  I struck up a friendship with the bicyclist who was in his mid 20's and traveling solo.  His name was Tino, and he had taken a 2 month leave from work as a civil engineer.  He flew into Vancouver, traveled the Canadian Rockies, and had 2 weeks to get back to Vancouver to fly home.  Talk about being adventuresome.

Our time in Revelstoke was damp and rainy.  We did go into town for a bit of grocery shopping, but otherwise stayed put.  The Columbia River flowed through the town, and I was able to take Parker for a short walk to the river for play.

Monday, 9/25:  261 miles, camped at Alpine Canyon RV Park, Boston Bar, BC

Trans-Canadian Highway 1 all the way.

We left Lamplighter Monday morning, which incidentally was their closing for the season day.  Initially the drive was pleasant along the Intermountain region of Canada and the Thompson River Valley.  However, at Lytton, The Thompson joined the Fraser River and we turned south into the Coastal Mountain Range.  What looked to be a pleasant drive on the map along the Fraser turned out to be a nightmare drive along the narrow Fraser River Canyon.  Between construction, constant light rain, sheer drop-offs and curved roads, it was white knuckle driving.  We arrived at Canyon Alpines RV Park exhausted!!  So much for my highway preplanning.

 The Fraser Canyon is where we started to see evidence of the summer Canadian wildfires.

We arrived at Canyon Alpine RV park exhausted.

Site 4.

We had planned a 2 night stay, but with rainy weather and no places to eat out or shop, I called our next stop, Peach Arch RV Park in Vancouver, and we were able to get in a day early.  So we took it.  However, the 130 mile trip was going to have to travel another 60 miles of the Fraser Canyon.  Might as well get it over with.

Tuesday, 9/26:  130 Miles, Peace Arch RV Park, Surrey, BC.

We left Canyon Alpine by 10:00 and back on the "dreaded" Fraser Canon.  The trip wasn't as bad as yesterday, mostly because we were mentally prepared for it.  The canyon route took us through some beautiful scenery and a series of tunnels cut through the mountains.  About half way to Vancouver, the canyon flattened out into a wide valley all the way to Vancouver.

Site B-7.

City lights of Vancouver light up the clouded night sky.

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