Aug 01, 2021
Back in time
We so enjoyed our site at the Riverview RV Park in Rocky Mountain House, great place to spend our anniversary. Monday morning, the 19th of July, we should have been on the road earlyish.
But the girls did not want to leave our bed. Well neither did I as it was only 56F and still smoky. They do not sleep in bed with us. However they do wake Colin between 5 – 7AM to do their business and he just started a few days earlier to let the girls into bed with us ( because they were so cold he said ) before we get up for the day. In a very short period of time they have come to love getting into our bed. Me not so much as they lick and kiss us non stop ( literally ) for the first five minutes before they settle down. Now they don’t want to leave the bed. We had already made the bed but they got back in. Back home here in real time they are no longer coming into our bed.
We were on the road by 10:15. Nothing but smoke.
Just after Nordegg, the smoke lifted a bit and we saw that there were mountains out there. There are so very many RVing areas along here. Really nice area if the sun is shining.
This is the North Saskatchewan River. I was very disappointed with the lack of signage, no indication at all of a pull off ahead. I would love to revisit this area. We are nearing the Saskatchewan Crossing where this road joins the Banff Parkway.
I was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta where the North Saskatchewan river divides the city into the south side and the north side. But where did this river start? The North Saskatchewan River originates from the Saskatchewan Glacier in the Columbia Icefields 1800m/5905ft above sea level. The North Saskatchewan is a majestic and beautiful river winding northeast through Edmonton. It originates 1,800 metres above sea level in the massive 325km2 / 125 square mile Columbia Icefield. It flows across Alberta and Saskatchewan to Lake Winnipeg, into the Nelson River and eventually into the Hudson Bay.
So many glaciers along here.
Too bad they were not totally visible.
This is the area called the Saskatchewan Crossing, where the river begins as it trickles down from the Saskatchewan Glacier. It was named “The Crossing”, when travellers and fur traders used this spot to cross the North Saskatchewan River on their way to British Columbia in the 19th century. I would have loved to stop but there was no space for us along the side of the road.
There is glacier after glacier in this part of the Banff Parkway. Colin was fortunate to glimpse four bighorn sheep along here. As navigator I was reading the map (:
When the sun poked through we were treated to spectacular vistas. We have decided that Banff is much more scenic than Jasper.
The girls were content to lounge on the dash.
I have been here many times over the years. I even skied at Sunshine once. It is all so much prettier when the sun shines. Long ago I also spent a full summer studying art and drama ( in French ) at the Banff School of Fine Arts. I even successfully directed a play, performed entirely in French. We also recreated the performance in Calgary one evening. So many memories. Oh to be young again.
We arrived at the Banff Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court about 2PM. We sat in a long lineup idling and then found out that the computers were down. I had a hard copy of our reservation and we were in our site 35 minutes later.
A lovely location but a bit tight because of the trees. We made do easily.
We did have a great view but it was mostly covered in smoke. Lots of space between RV spots.
Great location and it was even warm enough that we were required to turn on the air conditioning. The girls loved the area. After we relaxed for a bit and had a late lunch we all went for a walk.
Towards the end of our walk, just before six pm we saw elk.
Even a little one.
And then there were two. One popped up from a nap in the tall grass. Lovely surprise.
A great end to the day.
The girls obviously were ecstatic to be here. So many new sniffs and things to see including other campers passing by. We had to put a tarp down on the ground under the dog pen as they were eating everything like pine cones, pieces of wood, sticks and anything else that had been dropped. There were many mosquitoes here but that was the only negative. How do you keep mosquitoes off dogs? We drove a total of 194 miles this day.
Back to real time. Today August 1st, we had close to 90 minutes of rain this afternoon. We even had puddles on the road. The temperatures went down but the smoke never stopped. Around 4:45PM the Kelowna International Airport was shut down because of smoke and an increased behaviour in a certain fire nearby that is affecting all landings and take offs. In other news one of our vets in Mazatlan just passed away due to COVID. So very sad. Thanks for checking in, hope to have another post for you tomorrow. I genuinely appreciate all your comments for the past few posts 😀
<< Older Posts Home Newer Posts >>
That is very sad about your vet in Mexico 🙁
The White Rock Lake fire has my nephew evacuated from the new house they just bought and the alert goes to the area just up the road from us … fingers crossed the fire doesn’t grow more towards the south or I think we will once again be on alert.
Isn’t it fun reliving memories from the past when you travel to your old towns, thanks for sharing those!
He was so good to us four years ago when we lost the last two. So now his family is left with huge debt because of medical bills incurred trying to save him.
I am aware of the fire being closer to you. These are trying times.
“do Terra” oils is a wonderful brand with a lot of science behind it. It’s the only company I trust. Colin can research 🙂 check out YouTube. Some safe oils are Cedarwood and Lemon Eucalyptus. Arborvitae is great for people, not sure about the girls though.
ThanksPauline, I will check it all out. We can get a spry product from the US called Cedarcide. I actually use it myself in Mexico.