Day 145, August 24, 2019, Saturday. Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, ID (20 miles)
Although we slept good and late, this was the worst KOA I have experienced. I did manage to remove the tree branches from the roof and to pull out of the site without hitting any trees. There is one auto repair shop in Arco and the mechanic does not work weekends. The car battery had enough juice to start and we attached the car to the coach. Since the brake lights would not go off, we towed it with the battery disconnected. We arrived at the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve about noon and luckily there was a spot in the campground for us and we checked in. The campground was first come first served and there were only about 3 or 4 sites that would fit us. The site was newly paved dry camping but a bargain at $7.50. We spent the rest of the day seeing the park. First we drove the loop road which is about a half hour drive to get the car battery charged up. The we drove it again but this time stopping at the sites to see. Each time we stopped I disconnected the battery but fortunately, the car started with only placing the cable on the battery without tightening it. The park has lava fields, cinder cones, spatter cones and lava tubes from volcanic eruptions from about 15,000 to 2, 000 years ago. One stop was Inferno Cone, a beautiful black cinder cone which is a .2 mile steep hike to the top. In addition to the steep climb, the wind was probably blowing 40 to 50 mph. But the top of Inferno was an incredible view in 360 degrees. Another exhausting day but this time for good reasons.
Day 144, August 23, 2019, Friday. Arco, Idaho (307 miles)
We departed Helena and headed to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park about 75 miles away. The last seven miles was along a narrow winding road next to the Jefferson River in a canyon surrounded by mountains. We took a two hour guided tour of the caverns. To reach the caverns requires a hike up a trail gaining 300 feet in elevation. The caverns involves 600 descending stairs. Although there was damage to some formations when in the early 1900's, private tour operators let customers break off a piece for a souvenir, there were plenty of rooms with active formations that were very impressive. After a late lunch we headed to Arco, ID, to be near the Craters of the Moon National Monument which we planned to visit. We had a reservation at the Craters of the Moon Arco KOA (fhu 30 amps, back-in site) and made arrangements for a late arrival. We arrived at about 8:30 just as dark was setting in. Of course our check in packet was nowhere to be found but I knew our site number. So I walked around to find the site. When I came back to the coach to detach the car Rosemary noticed the car brake lights where on but very dim. The car battery was dead as somehow during the day the brake lights came on and did not turn off thus draining the battery. I could not get the car detached since the car was at an angle to the coach so I had to drop the hitch by unlocking it and driving the coach forward. Then I had to maneuver the coach in position to jump the car battery. All of this in the dark. Then I attempted to back into our site. There were trees which made it impossible to back in without the coach taking down a few branches. I was told the site was 45 feet for our 36 foot coach. However, it was more like 37 feet and we barely fit. We parked the car next to the coach near where the coach batteries are located. After hooking up the coach to the facilities, I then tried to get the car brake lights to turn off. I pulled fuses, manipulated the brake pedal, parking brake and other lights but no cigar. Finally, I detached the positive cable to the car battery and the brake lights went out. Then I found out that the car door locks do not function with the battery disconnected. A 10:15 pm dinner made for an end to an exhausting day.
Day 143, August 22, 2019, Thursday. Helena, MT (171 miles)
We returned the courtesy and did our grocery shopping and diesel fill up at Family Foods and Casino before we departed Browning. We headed to Helena, the capitol of Montana. We parked the coach at Helena’s Walmart and drove the car downtown. We visited the Cathedral of St. Helena, a gothic design began in 1908 but not fully completed until 1924 when the stained-glass windows were installed. The window installation was delayed due to WWI as they were made in Munich, Germany. The glass was actually buried during the war for protection. Next we visited the State Capitol, built in 1899-1902. The legislature meets only for 90 days every other year so the place was fairly quiet with just a few tourists present. We walked downtown along the pedestrian portion of Last Chance Gulch, now lined with shops where formerly prospectors searched for gold. We drove around the mansion district and viewed some of the homes dating to the late 1800's. We spotted a deer in the front yard of a house munching on the foliage. Around midnight we had to move the coach to another spot in Walmart due to a bunch of drunken and loud young folks that set up their party next to our coach.
Day 142, August 21, 2019, Wednesday. Browning, MT (226 miles)
After a fun couple days in Calgary, we headed south on Highway 2 to go back to the lower 48. We saw three elk running in a field before we left Canada. At the border crossing into Montana, there were only 3 other cars, and as a tall rv, we had our own separate lane. The crossing was the easiest we have experienced and for the first time, the agent did not come on board the coach. We then drove to the St. Mary Visitor Center, the east entrance of the Glacier National Park. We parked the coach at the Rising Sun Boat ramp, about 6 miles in on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, the road which crosses the park from east to west. We then took the car along the road and stopped at the Sunrift Gorge and hiked to the Baring Falls. After experiencing Johnston Canyon, the falls here were not so impressive. We then drove to Logan Pass, the continental divide. Although there are a number of glaciers in the park, most were very small and high up, more evidence of global warming. We then drove the road along a cliff face, an incredible feat of road building, and the reason no vehicles longer than 21 feet and no wider than 8 feet including mirrors are allowed on this part of the road. We drove by the Weeping Wall, a fairly lengthy part where water drips through the cliff wall. After the weeping wall, we turned around at a pull off and headed back to the coach. Along the way we stopped to view the three mountain goats that wandered around the road for a spell. A 7:00 dinner on the coach and then we departed the park and headed south on Highway 89 about 8:00 pm. The thinking was we would find a pull off down the road a bit for the night. Well the road was curvy with lots of switchbacks and the few pull offs were far from level so we continued. Then we see a sign with a picture of a cow. Apparently there are free range cows in this area. We start seeing cows along the side of the road, all of which are black. By now its mostly dark and then I had to swerve to avoid a black cow in the middle of the road. Fortunately, I was going slow enough to avoid a collision. Then we see a sign “construction next 11 miles”. Then the pavement ended and the road was almost non-existent. It made the Tok Cutoff, the worst road in Alaska, look good. We finally made the town of Browning, MT, and pulled into a parking lot of the Family Foods Grocery and Casino at about 9:45 pm. I asked for permission to spend the night in the parking lot and was given the ok.
Day 141, August 20, 2019, Tuesday. Calgary, Alberta
Our first stop in Calgary this day was Bagelinos where Rosemary got her dozen bagels, NY style too, or so alleged. Then back to Chinatown for boba teas at Gong Cha. We then walked along the city’s Riverwalk which had several bridges crossing the river and lovely gardens. Lunch at Grumans Catering and Delicatessen where I had a smoked meat reuben, Zaidy sized! The meat was wonderful and melt in your mouth tender but the sandwich was a bit short on sauerkraut. Rosemary had chicken soup with matzo ball which surprisingly had no chicken. We then visited the Calgary Library and had a tour of the building. Opened in 2018 at a cost of $245 million it is a spectacular place with the latest state of the art electronics, including a bookscalator (that’s an escalator for returning books). Built over the C train allowed its placement downtown without destroying something else. It was also fully funded by the City by the time it was built as it was in the works since 2004 and the money was accumulated and set aside, something unheard of in the U.S. We then visited the Glenbow Art Museum which had some strange but interesting exhibits. It also had a floor dedicated to Alberta history but we ran out of time to do the history justice.
Day 140, August 19, 2019, Monday. Calgary, Alberta (117 miles)
We departed the Lake Louise Overflow Campground and the Canadian Rockies and arrived in Calgary and checked into the Mountain View Farm and Campground (fhu 50 amps). We drove to downtown, about 20 minutes, and parked the car. Our first desired adventure was to go to the top of the Calgary Tower, with an observation deck 626 feet above Calgary with glass floor and walls. When we got there a sign on the door indicated the tower was closed due to elevator problems. Although disappointed, we did not get to go, we surely did not want to go if elevator trouble. We walked along the pedestrian Stephen Avenue and stopped into the CORE Shopping Centre. On level four there is the Devonian Gardens, a nice indoor garden with some tropical plants. We walked around Chinatown and then walked to the East Village area for dinner at the Big Cheese Poutine. My smoked meat poutine was good - the meat was great but the curds did not squeak. A walk back to downtown and a stop at Otto Gelato for “artisan gelato”. We had the French vanilla cappuccino and the pistachio, both great.
Day 139, August 18, 2019, Sunday. Lake Louise, AB (Banff National Park)
We got an early start as we wanted to do the Johnston Canyon hike and were told it is very popular and the parking lot fills up. We got there about 9:30 am but the cars were already lined up along the road in both directions. We parked along the road and hiked about 10 minutes to the trailhead. The canyon hike to the lower falls and the upper falls was about 3 miles. The trail included many areas where a catwalk was built on the side of a cliff with some spots single file only. In spite of the large crowds, the hike is not to be missed. Many waterfalls all along the way in addition to the two featured falls. At the upper falls, the cat walk was built half way across the river in order to see the falls around the corner. There was about a 5-10 minute line of people on the cat walk to get to the end. The trail also went to a platform at the top of the falls offering a great view of the 100 foot drop of the falls. The view was so great even Rosemary braved going on the platform. When we returned to our car, the line of cars parked along the road was out of sight. We then drove the Bow Valley Parkway with mountain scenery all the way into the town of Banff. We walked along the shops on Banff Avenue and had gelato at Beavertails. We visited the Cave and Basin National Historic Site which was the first Canadian National Park dating to 1883. It is a small cave but within it is a hot springs (although the water is a not very hot, merely 85 degrees, to the Canadians in 1883 it was like a godsend). Animal sightings today: two deer.
Day 138, August 17, 2019, Saturday. Lake Louise, AB (159 miles) (Banff National Park)
We departed the Jasper Overflow Campground and headed south along the Icefields Parkway, a 232 km road through both Jasper and Banff National Parks. The road is entirely lined by mountains, glaciers and lakes and it happened to be the best conditioned road we have been on this trip. We stopped to view the Stutfield Glacier and then visited the Icefield Centre and viewed the Athabasca Glacier. We entered the Banff National Park and saw a grizzly bear roaming along the Parkway. We also saw a family of four elk along the way. We stopped to view the Bow Glacier and then arrived at the Village of Lake Louise. It RV parking lot was too small and crowded for us so we ended up leaving the coach in a pull off 3 km south on Highway 1. We drove the car to Lake Louise with ridiculous traffic and people everywhere. We lucked out and got a parking space as someone was pulling out. We walked to the lake and part way around it. The spot is incredibly beautiful but the crowd made it feel like we were at Disney World. The park pushes everyone to take shuttle buses and not drive into town but we saw the line for the shuttle and it must have been over an hour wait to leave on a shuttle. We walked through the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel and then went to the visitor center in the Village. We got information about the Lake Louise Overflow Campground about another kilometer further south than the pull out where we parked the coach. We then went to the overflow campground (a parking lot with no facilities) and spent the night with many other rvs.
Day 137, August 16, 2019, Friday. Jasper National Park, AB
We started our day with the Maligne Canyon Trail, a 2.75 mile hike. The trail follows a deep gorge carved by a roaring river. The gorge is crossed by bridges allowing spectacular views. We did bridges 1 through 4. Our next hike was the Path of the Glacier Trail, about a mile in length, uphill on Mount Edith Cavell. The hike was to a glacier with a beautiful blue glacier lake formed below. We then visited the Athabasca Falls, one of the most powerful falls in the Canadian Rockies. A truly powerful falls. The hike included an abandoned river path and a path down to the shore of the Athabasca River. Still not done, we went to the Sunwapta Falls, another torent of plunging water. On the drive back to the campground, I spotted a coyote in a very prideful pose with its head fully extended upright. Another fun and exciting day as we really did a good job of covering a lot of the Jasper National Park
Day 136, August 15, 2019, Thursday. Jasper National Park, AB (208 miles)
We departed flat and sprawling Edmonton and headed to the mountains. On the way we saw four big horned sheep. We arrived at Jasper National Park and checked into the Overflow Campground (no facilities and limited generator hours) near the Snare River. We then drove the car to the Jasper Skytram a nine minute gondola ride from 3,000 feet to 7,000 feet up Whistlers Mountain. At the top of the tram, we started the trail to the summit up another 600 feet but the wind was blow you over strong and it was very cold so we turned around before the summit. The views where fantastic of the mountains and the town of Jasper. However, the orange/brown color of the trees is not fall color but dead pines due to the pine bark beetle. Lots of dead pine trees and the guide estimated that in five years most pines will be gone. The beetle is not exotic but usually most die out in the winter. With warmer winters, the beetles don’t die and the trees are the victims. The reduction in trees taking in carbon dioxide furthers the warming.
