Entry 10 – Sept 25th – Sept 30th Our Motorhome experience heading to the Rocky Mountains.
Finally
we were heading to Canada’s number one attraction, the Rocky Mountains. We
needed to travel almost 1000 kilometres to get to our starting point, Jasper.
This entry is about our journey on route to Jasper.
Monday 25th
September was a long day for us with an early morning drive back to Vancouver
returning our hire car. Our projected route along a highway for nearly 50 of
the required 60 kilometres looked easy with a posted speed limit of 90
kilometres per hour. Unfortunately, it took close to 2 hours to complete in
wet, traffic clogged conditions where we seemed to be dawdling at around 40
kilometres per hour for quite a lot of the time. Without street maps we were
not game to deviate off the highway that our GPS was directing us along.
It was about
another 70 kilometres drive in a taxi to our Motorhome rental pickup, our means
of transport for the next 3 weeks, touring the Rocky Mountains. A couple of
times the taxi driver deviated through back streets avoiding traffic jams. It
was worth paying the taxi driver cash and no questions asked as we thought he
did a good job getting us to the motorhome hire destination in less time than
we were expecting.
Due to the
assumption of an expected decline in the volume of other tourists about after
the September long week-end (4th,) we hadn’t booked anything on the
western side of Canada, (other than our plane flight to Vancouver for 7th
September, prior to leaving Australia) remaining flexible for any possibilities
we identified during our time, in Canada. Whenever we had internet access we
still monitored the availability of accommodation and vehicles for the period
we were hoping to be in the Rockies.
Unfortunately,
it seemed we were going to experience, difficulty obtaining a vehicle and
accommodation options were drying up. As it turned out there was an unexpected
ongoing demand after the September long weekend for vehicles and accommodation.
Whilst staying with Judith and Corey (back in early August) we had good
internet access and managed to book a motorhome 2 ½ weeks later than initially hoped.
Unfortunately, most of the national park campgrounds were closing just prior or
at the time of our attendance. Once again, we would be travelling by the seat
of our pants in a foreign country, driving the opposite side of the road
(struggling with the give way to the right adjustment which was now give way to
the left,) and possibly experiencing icy road conditions entering the Rocky
Mountains with the onset of winter. The up side not travelling during the peak
season at a lower cost of about $70 per day instead of about $200 per day for
vehicle hire plus 40 cents per kilometre travelled regardless of the season.
We obtained
the smallest motorhome available, a 19-footer with forethoughts considering
ease of driving and parking when visiting many crowded locations. We were happy
with our motorhome other than having to sleep over the cab which was a slide /
wriggle in and out effort due to marginal space between the bed and roof.
After
collection of the motorhome our aim was to drive about 100 kilometres to the
town of Chilliwack where we would obtain our provisions from Walmart (a joint
store similar to Woolworths and Big W but combined together) and you could free
camp in the Walmart carpark overnight. As it turned out this was still a busy
and noisy location not appealing to us. We had some daylight available and
decided to continue driving to the quieter countryside environment at the
township of Merritt about another 150 kilometres. It was dark when we arrived,
free camping in Merritt’s smaller and much quieter Walmart.
On arrival
at Merritt we both slid into bed very tired. In the morning we assessed the
layout of the motorhome, transferred our belongings to various locations and
stored our cases out of the way. Our clothing stored easier in the overhead
cupboards but were a bit out of our reach. It was good camping in the Walmart
carpark, we located a $10 step in the store and our overhead cupboards were no
longer an issue.
Due to the
rugged terrain along the route we were travelling the train line and road
follow similar paths. At one stage we spotted the Rocky Mountaineer Train in
the distance.
We spent a
few more hours driving, arriving at our first planned destination, Wells Gray
Provincial Park near the town of Clearwater heading directly to the information
centre. Once we had obtained available information for the park we were on our
way looking forward to viewing great scenery.
Our first
port of call was at Spahats Falls and we were instantly pleased with the
scenery. Spahats Falls was 73 metres high and 9 metres wide in comparison to
Niagara Falls 53 metres high and 1204 metres wide.
Green
Mountain viewing tower located up a steep windy road provided a spectacular
panoramic view of Wells Gray. Our choice of a small motorhome was vindicated
due to most other larger motorhomes unable to negotiate the steep windy road.
Our camp
site for the next two nights was in one of the Wells Gray Provincial Park
campgrounds. We heard a little bit of activity seemly coming from near the rear
top of the motorhome late in the evening. In the morning we discovered evidence
of mouse activity where a lot of our dried food had been nibbled.
Frustrated,
we drove back down the mountain to the township of Clearwater where we restocked
our damaged food, bought mouse traps and mouse proof food storage containers.
Once our running repairs / shopping was completed we returned, back up the
mountain into the park, by then late afternoon resuming our viewing of the
plentiful features less around $100.
That evening
we ejected seven mice, with the assistance of two mouse traps from the
motorhome. Further conversation with the park ranger and other campers showed
no issues with mice, leaving us with the assumption the motorhome came with
mice.
Wells Gray
Provincial Park was a land of pristine forests, mountains, lakes, rivers and
with plentiful waterfalls. It had been closed for a period of time during the
season due to the ongoing bush fire emergency measures (state of emergency
declared the 1st week in July, lifted the middle of September) and
the walking tracks had only been reopened the week before our arrival.
The more
spectacular Helmcken Falls at double the height of Niagara Falls was great
viewing, the walk from the campground to Dawson Falls was very pleasant,
watching the salmon leaping out of the water during the migration season negotiating
Bailey’s Chute would have been exceptionally good viewing and we would have
loved to spend a few weeks immersing in this parks beauty.
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| Helmcken Falls 141 metres high, 23 metres wide |
There was a
large amount of road works happening along the provincial park roads along with
the lollypop people with the stop signs. We came across one lady a couple of
times who was very pleased to be able to have a chat with someone who spoke
English. It appeared this area attracted a large volume of German tourists which
explained the brochures being in English and German.
Wells Gray was
a lovely place with plenty to view and we virtually needed to shove ourselves
off the mountain continuing our journey towards the Rocky Mountains at 2 pm in
the afternoon. Along the way we stopped at the town of Valemount information
centre obtaining some information about the sights of interest to us further
along the road. We stretched out our bodies, walking along some of the town
board walks before resuming our driving.
We stopped at a couple of roadside stops where
we read about the endurance of Terry Fox, a young man who lost a leg from
cancer, who ran a marathon every day across Canada raising money for cancer. He
has a Provincial Park
named in his
honour. The stop for Rearguard Falls was well worth the short walk down to view
the falls an extremely satisfying afternoon.
We were now
travelling near the western side of the Canadian Rocky Mountains with
magnificent tall snow-capped mountains around us. As the sun was setting we set
camp at the Mount Robson Provincial Park and our surrounding scenery was exceptional.
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| Mary standing to right of raft |
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| Mt Robson - highest peak in Canada |
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| It was getting crowded with people - Steve standing in front of our motorhome |
We hiked the
4 ½ kilometres to Lake Kinney at the base of Mount Robson, the highest peak in
Canada. It was a beautiful walk providing great scenic views and a good work
out. The setting and conditions at the time may have been our most memorable
Canada experience.
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| Even Mary's legs were reflecting in the running water |
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| Squirel running across the path trying to trip us up |
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