September 9-12, 2006 (Days 108-111)

Saturday:
This morning we got up early to wave good-bye to our friends as they left the campground. There are about six units, including ours and Waters’, left here. We plan to take the day to relax and clean our rigs. Sharon had to do laundry yet. Dan worked on cleaning Black Bear and Silver Tent. I wasn’t feeling very good, exhaustion I think, so I rested most of the day. When I felt better, I cleaned the inside of the trailer.

Later in the day, Dan and I drove into Prince George to get gas, now around $3.40/gal (U.S.), some groceries and find a Radio Shack. We drove up to a scenic point on top of a hill overlooking Prince George. It was a city park and there were lots of beautiful flowers there. We just drove through, as there weren’t many places to pull off and stop to look….just a drive around. We set our departure time with the Waters as 8:30 a.m. in the morning.


Sunday:
We left on time and started the drive to Jasper, Alberta, a National Park. We have reservations at a campground named Whistler’s. We awoke to the pitter patter of rain drops on the roof, a familiar sound by now. We drove out of the rain after about an hour and by the time we saw the mountains of the Canadian Rockies, it was a beautiful day.

The campground, with over 800 sites, was almost full. We were glad we had made reservations. It is in a forest of pine trees with level sites and most are pull-through. It is part of the National Park System of Canada. We couldn’t park with Waters, but we are about a minute’s walk to where they are.

We scouted the town of Jasper and found a pizza place for dinner before coming back to the campground. The town was full of tourists. They come by train and bus.

The campground has warned us to be watchful for elk, which frequent the grounds. They are in their mating season right now and the bulls can be very aggressive and attack. Supposedly, they wail in the night, but we haven’t heard them or seen them. I’m afraid I’m too tired to sit up and wait to hear them or wait to watch them frolicking in the night.


Monday:
Today we left with Darrell and Sharon around 10:30 a.m. to see some of the sights here around Jasper. We drove to Maligne Lake and Canyon. We walked down the steep canyon, which is one of the most beautiful gorges we have ever seen. Limestone walls plunge to a depth of over 165 feet. Darrell and Sharon went to the bottom; I only made it half way. I knew what went down, must also come up, and it would be taxing. Maligne Lake lays in its corridor of stately mountains. As we rounded a corner in the road, there before us was this 14-mile long lake, blue-green in color. It is the second largest glacier-fed lake in the world. It was breath-taking.

The next lake we came to was Medicine Lake. It is an intriguing lake which is a place of mystery and Indian legend. Due to a unique underground drainage system, the water level of the lake varies from season to season. Sometimes, it actually disappears. Early Indians once through that “spirits” were responsible for the dramatic fluctuation in the placid waters. It fills from glaciers melting on surrounding mountains. It begins to empty through a series of underground rivers when there is no more melting of the glaciers. We could tell it was very low, and evidentally emptying for this season has begun.

The drive was beautiful and we are thankful to once again have good roads!


Tuesday:
We left around 10:15 a.m. to see some more of the area with Darrell and Sharon. We drove about an hour to see Sunwapta Falls. Sunwapta is a Stoney Indian word for “turbulent river”. At the falls, the Sunwapta River abruptly changes course from northwest to southwest and plunges in a cloud of spray into a deep canyon. There was a walkway around the falls and river that we were able to walk and a bridge across the gorge for great picture-taking.

After leaving there, we drove to Athabasca Falls, which is one of the most powerful and breathtaking falls in the Rocky Mountains. The Athabasca River thunders through a narrow gorge where the walls have been smoothed and potholed by the sheer force of the rushing water carrying sand and rock. Watching it was mesmerizing.

The next stop was at Mount Edith Cavell. It has a summit of craggy mountain tops. A small, powder blue meltwater lake and beautiful Angel Glacier could be reached by a short trail. It had a beauty all its own. Before leaving, we had a picnic lunch on a bench. We found it strange that there were no picnic tables. I guess the parks take care not to draw in the wildlife.

When we came back to the campground, I spotted elk in the park just one inner road over from our trailer. We had been warned that the elk were in the area. It is mating season, and they find this campground a great place for doing “it”. With this huge bull elk were four other elk, we assumed females, as they did not have horns. The bull elk had a full, large rack. He was also enormous. He walked up to an area a couple camp spots from us, used his antlers to toss vines, bushes and moss, then pawed at the area with his hooves to made a bed to lie down. We first thought he was preparing to charge the people who were taking pictures. We were warned not to get any closer than three bus-lengths, because he would charge. The park official said he gets a little stressed at this time of year if he thinks anyone is a threat to his harem! The other elk soon layed down, too. We actually got tired of watching them and went in our trailers. When we looked out again, they were gone.

Dan and I went into town to have some dinner and get gas, as tomorrow we leave Jasper and head south.

Temperature was in the upper 50’s and lower 60’s today. It was pleasant when the sun was out.

Till Banff……