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We left Joffre lakes heading toward Duffy lakes to camp but we could not find the campground! We found a boat dock but no campground so we kept going until we got to Seton Lake. We were so happy because it was really hot and I wanted to go swimming! We inquired and found out that there was a FREE campground on the other side of the road! Sweet!
We drove over and got our site complete with a picnic table for mommy to do her stretches and rolling. We can’t believe how fortunate we have been with free camping.
We have been gone exactly 3 weeks now. We have paid for camping 2 times for a total of $50. With fees. The 2238 miles has equaled $630. In gas for an average daily expense of $32. We are pretty happy about that!
We had a super cool neighbor at the Seton Lake campground from Germany. He was panning for gold in the river. Mommy asked him about gas prices cause she needed to get her first fill up in Canada. He had a spreadsheet dating back from 2012 of all of the gas prices in Canada and Alaska! Now that is organized!
The next day, we took the SUP over to the lake but it was starting to get smokey from all of the forest fires. It seems that most of Oregon and Washington are on fire as well as part of Glacier so we are surrounded! It was a shame because it would have been a very pretty paddle but we cut it short and got on the road to head east.
We were going to stay in Revelstoke but mommy got tired of driving so we ended up staying in the Picadilly Mall Parking lot in Salmon Arm. It was like a RV park there. We counted 10 RV’s spending the night AND they had a free dump station. It was so crazy. Mommy found free internet and was working on her blog and a man walked up to her and asked if she took donations for Jack’s Journey USA. She said “Thank you but no, UNLESS he wanted to buy a book” so he did and gave mommy her first Canadian money! How cool is that!
The next day we drove east to Glacier. It was a very sad day as Revelstoke and Glacier were so smoky that we could not see anything! We stopped at the visitor center and picked up our FREE Canadian National Parks pass. That was a nice surprise!
Double bummer that we can’t see anything in the National Parks. The good news is that dogs are allowed on the trails in the National Parks in Canada so we did take a walk in the Revelstoke National Park to stretch our legs.
The drive through Glacier was really bad. We could not see anything….
We kept driving until we got to Lake Louise. Mommy was here exactly 20 years ago and she has a picture of the green grass, blue lake and white glacier in the background. The area is built up a little more and now there are patios with beautiful flowers.
The glacier and lake were covered in smoke……
The hotel is so nice but that didn’t fit in to our “free” camping so we kept going…
We spent the night at our friend, Rae Lynn’s house in Canmore. She lives in a beautiful area. The Three Sisters Mountain Range was our view for the night…
Mommy was so excited to get up the next morning and wash all of our towels, sheets, and clothes and vacuum out Spirit. It really made her so happy after her frustrating travel day of road construction and smoke.
It was supposed to be sunny and warm so we headed north toward Jasper in hopes that we could see something since it was supposed to start getting cloudy and raining the following day. The drive was pretty smokey..
We stopped at the first lake that we saw so I could go SWIMMING!
We drove north an hour but the views kept getting worse. It was sad to see how low the water is in the rivers too. They really need rain in this area.
The best part is that we saw a bear on the side of the road! Mommy got on top of the RV to get a good view of him eating berries…
So we turned around and inflated the SUP and paddled on Bow Lake.
It was smoky but still very pretty….
I was happy to swim in the very blue water….
We got up close to the glacier and could see it but it didn’t’ show up very well in the picture…
It was a fun 4 mile paddle. We always seem to find an island to paddle around!
Mommy had an issue with starting the RV when we left so we drove straight back to Rae Lynn’s house and parked and went out to a nice dinner to catch up with Rae Lynn since mommy had not seen her a few years.
The next day, Spirit was acting cranky again so we drove to the Visitor center in Canmore to try to find a mechanic. You are not going to believe this but as mommy was looking on her computer, a guy in a tow truck pulled up next to her. She got out and asked him about any local mechanics. He told her that she could go to Canadian Tire. So mommy decided to eat and get ready and went to empty her trash and he was still there so she asked him something else and he ended up helping her! This is the funny part. His business name was “Two Dogs Towing” and he had his “helpers” with him.
He was like an angel sent to help mommy cause he ended up going to Canadian Tire with us to get a gas filter and gas cleaner and they didn’t even have a mechanic!
While we were following him there, mommy called my Uncle Randy to see what he thought it was and he confirmed everything that Andrew said. That made her so happy! Plus, his dogs were very cool. The black one is the the brown ones daughter!
Andrew fixed us up right there in the parking lot! Then he told us about a hike to go on and a free place to camp so we were on our way!
This hike was crazy. It started on a mining road and somehow mommy found the single track! It took us up this cool trail through the trees.
Then next thing you know, mommy is using ropes to get up the rocks.
Then we come to a cave! It was so cool even though there was a gate and we couldn’t get in it.
We saw a bunch of bags and thought that they were the rock climbers so mommy being who she is decides to go look for them!
We headed up this “trail” that was really the dried up river bed….
We hiked all of the way up to a clearing…..
There was no signs up the rock climbers on the rock wall but there was another cave up there!
We were two miles in and there was no sign of any sort of trail so we turned around..
Mommy had to carry me a bunch of it because of the rocks…
I am getting used to it and mommy gets a double workout so she is happy. She is just so relieved that I am here to enjoy this journey with her. It was 11 months ago that I was diagnosed with a brain tumor so she feels every day is a blessing!
We headed back to the parking lot and wondered where all of the people were that had cars there. Mommy took a shower in Spirit and was getting all clean for her dinner date with Rae Lynn when she saw all of the people coming back!
She went out and asked where they were and they were in that cave! They had a guided tour of it and the crazy part is that they were all from California!
We headed into Banff and met Rae Lynn for dinner. We went past a fancy hotel that was really cool.
Then after dinner we walked through Banff and mommy got ice cream! First one on this entire trip!
We have been making the best of the smoke and honestly, we are grateful to even be here together. It could be worse. Our friends in Oregon and Washington are dealing with horrible fires and our friends in Florida are dealing with a scary hurricane so we don’t want to complain.
What do you think this guy is thinking about traveling on this bike through the smoke and now it is supposed to rain. (which they desperately need!)
The good news is that we parked in the free spot and woke up to blue skies so let’s pray the next post has some beautiful photos for you!
Sorry for the long post. We hope that you are enjoying our journey with us. Remember that you can follow along on Facebook and Instagram as well!
Have a happy day!
