Border Crossing

Bright and sunny, Canada also greeted me with wind. This is the most significant wind I've experienced in Gravytrain. White-knuckling the steering wheel, and keeping her on the road.
5/31/24

Moose Jaw, Saskatachewan 

Harvest Host stay at the Tourist Information Center. The moose spying on Augie is 30 feet tall. The plane is one of the "Snow Birds," Canada's military performance-flying team. Think "Blue Angels." They are based here in Moose Jaw - in fact, every Canadian military pilot trains here.

Whitetail Crossing Golf Club, Mundane, Alberta 

HH golf stay. Arrived around 2pm, as is my MO. The course was jam-packed, with the first available tee-time being 7:30pm. Since the course was full, it would have been a slow nine holes - possibly not finishing before dark. I decided to watch season one of HBO's "House of the Dragon" instead. Season two starts soon... 😬
6/1/24

Banff National Park, Lake Louise Campground, Alberta 

I covered more ground than I had planned on my first two days in Canada, so I decided to treat myself to an overnight side trip to this amazing place.
6/2/24

Banff National Park, Lake Louise Campground, Alberta 

This northern flavor of Rocky Mountains is wildly dramatic, with nonsensical, jagged, irregular peaks, and incredible cliff faces all along the 50-mile drive up from Calgary...

Banff National Park, Lake Louise Campground, Alberta 

The Colorado Rockies are older and much more majestic, but I think of these peaks like teenagers - all rough edges and extremes.

Banff National Park, Lake Louise Campground, Alberta 

I was lucky enough to snag the last spot in the primary campground. Got in and set up around 3pm. It was a sunny afternoon, so Augie and I went on the loop trail around Lake Louise. only two miles and pretty flat, But it wore us both out. Beauty!

Jasper National Park, Alberta 

Morning brought a cold wind, fog, and rain. Heading north out of Lake Louise, I cut across the SE corner of Jasper National Park...
6/3/24

Jasper National Park, Alberta 

That's where I saw these two big Grizzly Bears about 50 yards off the road. Then about a mile down the road...

Jasper National Park, Alberta 

...this one walked out of the brush. I hope spotting these bears portends good luck in Alaska too. 

Allstones Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta 

Next up was this amazing turquoise lake. It's actually just a wide spot in the Cline River - a very wide spot.

Allstones Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta 

Not sure what got into me, but I took a fairly tame-looking two-track, about 50-feet down to the huge lake shore...

Allstones Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta 

...where snapped this pic of Augie the explorer. Then I faced the climb back up to the road. There were a few tense moments as I lost traction in the gravel on one of the steep parts of the road, but I down shifted Gravytrain, and she pulled herself up to the highway, slinging gravel and dust as she went. Lesson learned? Doubtful.

Rainbow Campground, Edmonton, Alberta 

This place is right on the edge of downtown Edmonton. It's a ski hill in the winter and a target golf park in the summer. Pretty disappointing tho, as the laundry - or the target golf - were neither was open 😡. Those were the only reasons I drove back to Edmonton rather than straight up to Dawson Creek... mile zero on the Alaska Highway.