Day 19 - Drive to Kelowna and Wood Lake - 20/08/2013

We ended our brief stay at Lake Shuswap with a bit of a lay-in before setting off south towards our next destination, a lake on the outskirts of the city of Kelowna. The journey took us through farm country - passed huge fields and old-fashioned barns. It was another big change from the mountains and lakes we'd been used to.

Our campgrounds at Wood Lake were easy enough to find. We checked in at the office and went to find our plot only to find someone still parked in there! We went to the office and after failing to locate the owners, we were moved to another bay. Thankfully, this one was more open, much closer to the the lake shore, and had the showers and laundry facilities just opposite so we were quite pleased in the end!

The rest of the day was spent on the small beach next to the lake, and we were even brave enough to venture in for a swim. It was about 25°C today, so the water was just about a tolerable temperature once we managed to dunk ourselves in there! After lounging on the beach for a while, we went to the nearby pub for a meal (again battling against the huge portion sizes they seem to have over here) and called it a day.

Day 18 - Lake Shuswap - 19/08/13

Today got off to a bit of a false start. We had intended to drive along the shores of Lake Shuswap to the Cinnemousun Narrows Provincial Park on the tip of the peninsula our campgrounds are on. The sat-nav told us it was a quick 42 minutes drive away. What it failed to say is that the road that takes you there isn't exactly a road. We were about 2/3 of the way there before the tarmac behind our wheels disappeared and was replaced by dirt and stones. Now only a few miles from our destination, we decided to press ahead and force our poor RV clattering along this dirt trail. Eventually, about 30 minutes later, we conceded defeat at the foot of a steep, likely insurmountable, hill. This meant reversing back down the road until we had the opportunity to turn around.

Arriving back at the campgrounds, we had a short walk along the road, jealously eyeing up the houses that were situated on the lake shoreline, before turning back around. It seems that this area is much more residential than we'd anticipated. The main attraction is the lake itself, and many of our fellow campers were sat around on the small beach area next to the marina. Deciding to follow suit, we had our first full afternoon and evening of just relaxation, taking our chairs to the beach and just watching the world go by. The weather in British Columbia is notably warmed than Alberta, today reaching the mid-twenties. This is forecast to climb to the mid-thirties over the coming days so this'll likely not be our last easygoing day before we get more active again.

As the evening drew in, we went to the same lakeside restaurant we went to yesterday evening and enjoyed our meals whilst watching the sunset.

Today is already our last day here, and tomorrow we continue our winding journey to Vancouver by first heading south to the city of Kelowna where we'll be staying for a few nights before continuing west.

Day 17 - Drive from Golden to Salmon Arm - 18/08/13

Today we started on our trip that took us from Golden into Salmon Arm.  This journey took us through the Glacier National Park, and would in total take us 6 hours in total including stop-off (and one time zone change from Mountain to Pacific time).

Our route took us passed the Giant Cedar Boardwalk, where we stopped off for a bit of a walk. This led us around some centuries-old trees and was a welcome change from the noticeably busier roads since we'd left Alberta.

Our next stop was Revelstoke, at a roadside diner where Becky finally got the pancakes she'd been craving for days. After yet another fuel-up, we continued west passed the town of Sicamous. We were now leaving the mountains behind, and they were gradually being replaced by rolling hills and open fields dotted with individual houses. It looked and felt much different to Alberta.

Thanks to the time zone change halfway, our journey was an hour longer than we'd anticipated. After a few wrong turns, we arrived at our campgrounds in northern Salmon Arm at about 6pm. The site is a little compact, but we're next to the shore of Shuswap Lake which looked nice in the evening setting sun, with the lake off to the west. We sat down in a lakeside cafe, a few metres from our newly relocated doorstep to have a drink of Canadian Honey Beer with some dessert before calling it a day.

Day 16 - Kicking Horse Mountain Resort - 17/08/13

Hoping for a more relaxing day, we decided to visit the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, which is near our base in Golden, on the slopes of the next door mountain range. The resort is named after the river that we followed into British Columbia, and flows passed our plot on the campgrounds. It is primarily a skiing resort, but being out of season, we wouldn't be trying our hand at that activity today.

After buying our tickets, we got onto a gondola that took us to the top of the mountain range. We started along the ominous sounding 'Terminator Ridge' trail, but we weren't far along before a big black cloud rolled in and brought with it our first major rainfall of our holiday so far. Rather than continue, we retreated to the shelter of the restaurant that was built on the summit. At roughly 7,700ft this should have provided some good views to enjoy over lunch, but these were blocked by the poor weather. Thankfully, as we finished, the weather began to improve and we were able to get a good look at our surroundings before rejoining the Gondola and making our way back down. On the way, we spotted the target of our next destination; a grizzly bear taking a bath in a pool of water on the slopes of the mountain!

At the bottom, we got on a ski lift which took us up to the bear reserve, which was the home of a captive grizzly bear called Boo. Boo, and his brother Cari (RIP), were rescued as cubs when his mother was shot by a poacher in the Caribou Mountain Range (hence their names). The guide told us about his two escapes and how they've continually had to upgrade security. Both escapes were during mating season, and both times he returned to the enclosure of his own free will once the season had ended. We got a better look at him than our first grizzly encounter on Day 10, but it wasn't quite the same experience. We are still hoping to get a closer look at a wild one (but hopefully not too close!).

After saying goodbye to Boo, we returned to our car and made our way back to camp for a relaxing evening of doing very little! Despite just arriving here, tonight will be our last night at Golden as tomorrow we head further west to our next short stop-off at Blind Bay, near the town of Salmon Arm, on the shores of the Shuswap Lake.

Day 15 - Drive to Golden, British Columbia - 16/08/13

Our day started with a long drive ahead of us, this would mean having to say goodbye to Jasper and Alberta for good! This would take us into British Columbia where we would then head across to Vancouver Island, a journey, which if we were to do all at once would be a total of 631 miles.

Instead of spending all our time on the road driving we decided to split this up into three stops along the way split across the week, our first stop would be Golden. This is a little town just inside the state of BC and is a distance of 182 miles from our previous campground, given the Rockies mountainous and windy road (and slow speed limits) this would take a lot longer than on our motorways our sat navigation says this would take us 4 hours, not including stops.

The drive was fairly uneventful along the Icefield Parkway passed all the glaciers and mountains along the way.  We decided that we would stop at The Crossing services, which was the only one we would encounter along the whole of the Parkway where we had lunch to keep us sustained for the rest of the drive.

Just after passing the Jasper National Park (the area where we saw our first Black Bear) we wondered if we would get a look at another, as luck would have it, in pretty much the same spot there was another (a cub) just foraging the bushes for berries. We managed to get a good spot at the side of the road to take some photos (not very good ones). Admitting defeat we decided to press on when not even 500yds away Becky spotted another Black Bear. This time we were the first ones at the scene and got a good view point and some great pictures, even a video. This was a larger bear so we assumed it was the cub's mother.

Continuing on we skimmed the North of Lake Louise and headed West into BC. As we headed into this new territory, we noticed that the mountains seemed closer together, making the valleys between much more dramatic. Our road often led us high along the edges of these valleys, with some scary cliff edges to one side and only a low and flimsy looking barrier between us and a big drop. Along the highway were also sections where the mountains were carved out to make way for the road.

We decided to stop off at a place called Field along the way, which was a tiny village with the train line going through the centre of it, and a little lake that people were swimming in, where we got out and stretched our legs.

Upon arriving at the campsite we checked in, found our plot, did some laundry and had a much needed early night.

Day 14 - Athabasca Glacier Hike and Jasper - 15/08/13

Rising early at 06:15, after about six hours sleep, we headed back south towards the Athabasca Glacier that we had visited a few days prior. Rather than being driven onto the glacier, today we would be hiking up it!

Today was the first occasion that we hadn't woken up to bright blue sunny skies. It was raining. We probably shouldn't complain given our run of luck with the weather so far, but since we were heading to a day traipsing around on a glacier, we were a little worried.

Still sore and tired from yesterday, we arrived at the rendezvous point and waited for our guide whilst making a nice cup of tea in the car park. Once everyone began arriving, we were equipped with an extra layer of weatherproof clothing (making four layers in total) and a pair of crampons for our walking boots.

Despite the still drizzly weather, the walk to the toe of the glacier was very warm due to the sheer number of layers. Once we got on the glacier however the temperature immediately plummeted due to the cold wind that blowed over the surface. After a few more minutes of sleety rain, the weather finally started to brighten before the main ascent up the glacier.

The glacier is currently in fast recession which meant there was a lot of meltwater following over the surface which had carved out channels in the ice. Some shallow enough to hop across, some deep enough that we couldn't see the bottom. As we saw on the previous tour, though not nearly as dynamically, the water sometimes disappeared under the glacier into large holes called millwalls. These went deep into the glacier and re-emerged further down. Our guide was careful to ensure we didn't go near these perilous holes without us first being held, by her, by the wrist. Not the most effective safety technique!

The path up the glacier changed in appearance as we ascended. The ice below occasionally went transparent, allowing us to see a bluish hue beneath which was a little unnerving since it just looked like a thin layer of ice covering water. Much like the deadly millwalls were we avoiding. Towards the top, the ice began to look like rolling sand dunes, due to the rolling shape and the layer of silt that was deposited by the meltwater.

The walk led upwards to the Columbia Icefield, which is a giant field of ice which spills over the mountain ridges to form the glaciers. Unfortunately our walk didn't lead onto the icefield itself. Instead we walked passed the lower of the glacier head and began our descent.

After reaching the bottom, we had narrowly beaten yesterday's walking time (about 7 hours) but with just 6.3 miles covered due to the slower pace. Although our feet were still sore from our trek yesterday, the crampons (which sat in the middle of our boots) meant that rather than walking on our sore toes and heels, we spent much of today walking on the middle of our feet!

Heading north again, we made our last visit into Jasper to restock our food, and refuel our vehicle. Tomorrow we will be heading South again, leaving not only Jasper behind, but the entire province of Alberta as we make our first drive west into British Columbia.

Day 13 - Maligne Canyon, Lake Edith, and Miette Hot Springs - 14/08/13

Today we decided to get a bit of an earlier start than normal, which meant that we were up for 9am :O

The parking lot was pretty empty by the time we got there and we walk along the designated walkway around the canyon (much like Johnston Canyon). The walk took us along the top of the canyon, which was much higher and narrower that Johnston Canyon. The current was also much faster, and it was more obvious of the powerful effects of the water that had eaten away large parts of the canyon walls with distinct spherical holes called 'potholes'. Also unusual was that much of the canyon river was being fed from underground rivers which could be seen erupting out from the cliff faces.

We decided to do the longer walk which takes two hours in total to a place called Sixth Bridge which took us through a dense forest. Upon arriving, we stopped for a bite to eat and looked at a map at local walking routes. Rather than go back the way we came, we decided to try and make this a circular walk and continue onto a nice little lake called 'Lake Edith' along the Athabasca River and through forests.  The walk was fairly easy in terms of verticality - it was mostly just flat paths. 

Once we got to the lake we quickly chose our way back. Upon reaching the path  entrance, we soon discovered it was closed due to bear attacks in the area. We then decided on our second route which was.. closed! After finding a route not closed of due to bears (but ran very close along the open space which was quarantined) we quickly headed back to our destination. After an hour or so of wondering where our next trail was, we consulted our tracking app to find that we had virtually done a full circle of the lake, and were back at the furthest point from our actual destination. Rather that backtrack, we decided to go back the way we came! After finally arriving at our origin, we'd covered 12.1 miles, and taken 7 hours to do so!

Tired, bruised, and blistered, and despite the late time, we decided to treat ourselves to a visit to the Miette Hot Springs to heal our broken bodies. On the way, we spotted someone photographing something in the trees off of the side of the road. We stopped to have a look, and on closer inspection we noticed it was an eagle just perched in the top of a tree.

On a map, the hot springs seemed to be just a few miles away. After over an hour of driving down a seemingly endless winding mountain road, we finally arrived. Thankfully the springs are open until late, and our late evening arrival meant that it was relatively quiet.

The hot springs are heated by natural springs, which are cooled from 54°C to a more comfortable 40°C. There was also a cold pool, which we were brave enough to dip in on one brief occasion. After a lengthy soak, we got something to eat from the cafe and headed back to attempt to salvage our planned early night, to be ready for an early start in the morning.