Breathtaking Canadian Rockies, Part I

August 21 2009 by Darrin.

Friday, August 21^st, 2250, secluded gravel pull-out, Jasper National Park

 

 

After passing many full campgrounds on the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93), we finally tried one with no “FULL” sign posted.  It too was packed and nothing we were interested in.  We reluctantly decided to camp at a little gravel parking lot next to the road.  We’re less than an hour from Lake Louise here, so we hope to get there early when the sun’s coming up.

 

Today was spectacular, but we did get off to a rough start.  The first park gate attendant told us we might not be able to go with our “truck” down the Icefields Parkway.  There’s a 4500 kg limit for trucks, but RVs are supposed to be exempt.  All the guys at Nortrux told us it was no problem, and the signs even said “recreational vehicles exempt”.  Missing the Icefields Parkway would have taken away our last chance at some nice Canadian scenery, AND routed us farther west before being able to drop down to Kamloops north of Washington.  Along Hwy 16 to Jasper, with me still worrying like crazy, we stopped for this family photo…

 

 

After rolling through Jasper, we headed south and entered the park.  This guard was a Lisa Loeb-listening college hippie who asked, “So, um, like, um, what’s the poooooint of something like this?”  I told her our camper was extra heavy duty for world travels, but was well insulated, could burn biodiesel, and incorporated solar power too.  She was all for it when I outright lied and said, “Yeah, and our futons are made from organic walnut shells.”  We were in.  Anna told me not to worry, but I’m a worrier.  What can I say?

 

A few miles into the park, we stopped at a random scenic overlook.  I heard a familiar German engine sound and noticed something pull up on the other side of our camper…

 

 

There we met Elke and Alex, from Germany.  They’d been traveling since 2006 in this old Mercedes 1017.  They even knew my last camper customer by name!  It felt good to say, “I don’t just know that camper, I built that camper!”

 

 Yeah – a tale of two trucks…  Brand new on the left, a relic on the right.  Their truck is 28 years old, and it gets 15 mpg.  They’ve had virtually ZERO problems with it, short of a weak door release latch spring, and a control wire off the starter.  And as we can predict, the simple mechanically injected MBz product is far superior in reliability AND economy – and is nearly three decades old.  This reminds me of my 5.0L 1986 Mustang.  With her five speed manual, she returned 30 mpg on the highway, 28 with the A/C on, and had the balls to put me in jail if I wasn’t careful.  Try that with one of the new modular multi-cam pieces of unserviceable crap.  And on the subject of deomstic vehicles, do we REALLY have to regress to a point of taking the cab OFF of a new pickup to service the motor???  Engineers are losing it, as am I.

 

Anyway, shortly after meeting Elke and Alex, we arrived at the crowded Athabasca Falls.  Here are a few couple photos of it…

 

 

When we returned to the parking lot, we saw this familiar sight…

 

 

Of course, it’s not fair to criticize, as we (Darrin, really) took many opportunities to photographs our own truck…

 

 

 

Heading south from the falls, the Icefields Parkway meanders along the Athabasca River, and it’s gorgeous!

 

 

 

 This shot was taken right off of Highway 93 as we approached Icefields Centre…

 

 

And here is the Athabasca Glacier, after a short hike up to it…

 

 

And a couple shots of Anna and Charlis-dog standing on it!  (Dangerous, and forbidden, but everyone else did it, so we did too.)  The big hole behind Anna and Charlis is a melted and collapsed opening in the ice, with the glacial river flowing under it.  Fall in and you’ll likely not come up before you’re long frozen!

 

 

Back at the trailhead, I’d parked the camper in a spot that had cleared out by the time we hiked back down.  That made for this shot of the AATREC in a really remote atmosphere…

 

 

Tomorrow, we hope to make Lake Louise early, as the sun’s at a good angle!  And tonight, we hope we don’t get kicked out of here.  It did NOT say “No Overnight Camping” here, so we think we’re okay.  A few miles behind us, there’s a guy with a fifth wheel trailer parked on a paved turn-out, satellite dish set up, and a fire going – on the bitumen!

 

We should be fine…

 

 

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