On Our Way North It rained most of the night, with a wind blowing directly at us off the glacier. We awoke Tuesday morning to 40 degrees, and a cold motorhome. After coffee, and nothing else planned at the Icefield Centre, we quickly made the bed (yes, we make it every day), withdrew the slides, pulled off the leveling blocks, and headed towards Jasper, AB. We saw three deer along this stretch of road. Clouds hung on the mountains, creating beautiful scenes, particularly reflecting off the many lakes along the highway.
Athabasca Falls, at about 100 feet high, was roaring, and the “pot hole” formed by the falls over time was ground smooth. We saw a cow elk just before our next stop, the town of Jasper.
Jasper is a small, RV-friendly town with lots of parking along the highway. It could have been the early hour, and perhaps these were workers for the shops and cafes, but all we saw were twenty year olds; very few people older than 30. After lattes and pastry, we filled up with gas ($1.022/liter) and headed towards our campground for the night, Pierre Grey Lakes Provincial Park (PP). It began raining shortly after leaving Jasper, and we opted to stop at Safeway at Hinton, AB, for some groceries, including makings for chili. On the way, we spotted a coyote jump up under a tree for a bird and begin eating it, and a big horn ram just running alongside the road. The road from the turn-off near Hinton to Pierre Grey Lakes PP was a somewhat remote, two-lane highway; parts had been recently paved while the remainder was pretty rough—preparing us for the Alaska Highway. Just after getting on this road, we made the longest and steepest ascent yet. Despite this road being a wildlife corridor, with elk and caribou both inhabiting the area, all we saw was a single whitetail deer. We missed the turn into our campground loop, but were able to drive to the end of the campground road and make a turnaround. Fortunately, our site was a rugged pull-thru, because it continued raining thru the afternoon and evening. We never exited the motorhome.
Kay’s Take I made homemade chili when we got to our campsite, though there was no Rotel to be found in Safeway in Alberta, Canada—what’s the world coming to! Donald uploaded photos taken during the day. I also bought a roasted chicken and deboned it so I could prepare Carolyn King’s Chicken Spaghetti in a day or two – probably at Dawson Creek as we will be there three days. The rain on our motorhome is quite similar to rain on a tent. It is very comforting and soothing. Imagine, we’ve been without TV, phones ringing, etc. for almost 10 days. What do we do in the evenings? Donald works on his computer; I read; we walk when it’s not bad weather. Tonight, I gave myself a pedicure and painted my toenails and performed some other feminine care necessities not to be mentioned. Ha! Well, tomorrow we all gather at the ‘real’ starting point of the Alaskan Highway, Dawson Creek, British Columbia. That’s Mile “0”! We will have traveled approx. 3,000 miles just to get to that point. Incredible, huh? And besides, we’ll stop at a Costco in Grand Prairie, Alberta, for food items, and in honor of our friends, the Simanks! It was fun being in Jasper today. That was my favorite place we stayed on our honeymoon. It’s just a great little town with lots of shops, quaint, western, more like the real Canada with a gorgeous river running beside it. We saw the little chalets (cabins) we stayed in when we were here. Good memories!
Campground Pierre Lakes Provincial Park, AB. This was a fairly rugged campground, with pull-thru sites, no hook-ups, and free firewood (too bad it was raining).
Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 11,615.7
Beginning Time: 6:50 AM MDST
Ending Mileage: 11,786.1
Ending Time: 2:00 PM MDST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 170.4
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 2,394.6