More Ontario and a few days in Montreal

We had a great few days exploring Ontario province and the northern shores of Lake Superior and Huron. The weather has certainly changed to autumn temps with most mornings in the 30's (F).

We wanted to explore Montreal and decided to book an Airbnb for a couple of nights and give Byron a break. We didn't make it to the Olympic venues from 1976, but we did get enough of a taste of the city that we know we want to come back.

Lighthouse at Killarney, ON.

Sunset over Lake Huron with whitecaps.

The colors through Ontario did not disappoint!

Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal. 

Montreal hotel that caught our eye!

Poutine and a burger in Sault St. Marie. Good stuff. Bring on the AED!

Hike at Killarney Provincial Park.

As the weather got colder, pre-prepared coffee in the morning and a comfortable dog were very important!

We call these last few pics Selfies with Steeples.

Montreal skyline from Mt Royal Park, Montreal.

Clock tower and moon from Old City, Montreal.

Northern shore of Lake Superior, Provincial Parks, National Park, and our first KOA

The first couple of pix are ones I forgot to include in the last post. The leaning structure (failed implosion?) kinda summarizes why we didn't hang in Thunder Bay, and next is of our boondock camp from the night before...not so bad!

Sleeping Giant PP was one of the most expensive camp nights we've had so far! Total with a bundle of firewood was $68 CAD for a non-serviced site. Regardless, we were lakeside with a good view of the Sleeping Giant formation. Unfortunately, we discovered that all of the actual hikes onto the formation were an all-day affair. With the rain and colder weather, we opted for a more manageable hike to the "Sea Lion" rock formation. 

Next up was further driving along the northern shoreline of Lake Superior. We stopped at Ouimet Canyon PP and were surprised at the tremendous fall color both enroute and in the canyon, as well as the terrain reminding us of Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP back home. We then proceeded our destination for the night at Pukaskwa National Park. After making dinner plans during our drive, we were bummed to find that Byron's propane tank had run out and we were reduced to a 'cold' dinner. We made the best of our greens and veggies and settled in for a cool and rainy night. The morning did not look much better, but we hiked a couple of loops along the shoreline and got some great views before heading out to Sault Saint Marie where we refilled propane and headed for the 'easy' choice of a KOA we'd passed on the way in to town where we can do laundry and get a shower in the morning!

The leaning tower of Thunder Bay?

Boondock campsite

Sleeping Giant formation.

The Sea Lion at Sleeping Giant

Ouimet Canyon PP

Fall colors at Ouimet

A cool bridge along the route

More 'Red Chains' at Pukaskwa National Park.

Lake Superior views from Pukaskwa National Park.

Across the middle to Thunder Bay!

We spent the last few days crossing the great plains of Canada from Alberta through Saskatchewan, Manitoba to Ontario. We cut south at Kenora to visit Fort Francis and see the falls at the US border at International Falls, but were thwarted on that effort due to the layout of the border crossing preventing us from actually seeing the bridge and falls. 

Regardless, we had a great drive through the region and enjoyed the fall colors that reminded us of home. We had our first boondock camp outside of Fort Francis after having no luck finding an open campground this time of year. Alas, it was great to be secluded and get to see the Milky Way from even such a.liw altitude due to the dark sky. We continued on toward Thunder Bay and visited "Niagra of the north" on the way. Thunder Bay was a bit of a bust with no nice downtown that we could find, so we headed straight to our camp for the day at Sleeping Giant provincial park on Lake Superior. 

World's largest teepee in Saskatchewan

Sunset on Saskatchewan plains. 

Oops. That was close!

Night sky at boondock camp. 

Kakabeka Falls

Lake Superior from outside of Thunder Bay. 

Yoho NP and more waterfalls

Yesterday (Wednesday, I think) we completed our trip down to a Lake Louise from Jasper. Upon entering town, we discovered new protocols for visiting the lake and Fairmont hotel have changed due to crowds and limited parking at the lake. One pretty much must reserve and travel from town on the provided shuttles. Since we'd all been up there during our trip in 2014, we searched out new activities. We traveled slightly back into BC, and to the west side of the Divide to Yoho NP where we camped and explored another amazing waterfall. Sadly, we also said goodbye to the Carey's who were primarily traveling east of here for fall colors, but it seems the we are behind the timing of the change this year and will miss the peak colors in many areas. Alas, Rebecca and I will forge ahead as we have many other places to explore and people to meet and visit! Safe travels Carey's!

Takakkaw falls...second in Canada. 

Rainy day in Banff. Still amazing views. 

We plan to explore the town of Banff today and take a hot springs soak this evening. Calgary is next for some laundry and van TLC before heading east over the middle plains of Canada. We don't expect much stunning scenery, but hope to learn more about First Nation people and culture before our next bigger adventures near Thunder Bay. More updates to come when things get interesting again. 

Jasper south and into Banff

We proceeded south out of the town of Jasper in the Icefields Parkway. Along the way the fantastic scenery continued, and added in many more glaciers with closer views. We camped one night at the Columbia Icefields Centre, which was essentially a parking lot with campers, but with views far and above the typical boondock camp at Wal Mart. The following day we explored the Athabasca Glacier in the morning before continuing into Banff NP, finally camping at Mosquito Creek CG where we camped in the van down by the river...

Athabasca falls

Just a few hundred meters below the falls, a calm river. 

Canyon between the two pix above. 

The traveling group 

Camped at Icefields Centre.  Nice glacier view. 

Sunrise in the same glacier as above 

Hike to the toe of the Athabasca Glacier 

Weeping Wall reminded me of El Capitan in Yosemite. This one is probably only 8 or 9 pitches though. 

Shot down the valley heading to Lake Louise. 

Camped at Mosquito Creek... sunshine, knitting and thankfully no bugs. 

View from Mosquito Creek CG 

Maligne Canyon, Jasper Skytram and Mt. Whistler

From yesterday's outing I forgot to mention our visit to Maligne Canyon, formed by the Maligne River running out of the lake we visited. About 30km downstream, the river has cut a deep and narrow canyon, with numerous "potholes" formed when abrasive materials (rocks, sand etc.) swirl around and form vertical holes in the rock. It's hard to get a real perspective from the photos, but it was really cool in person.

We took the Sky Tram up Mt Whistler a ways. Still a hike to the summit though!

Juno got a dog ticket for the Jasper Sky Tram. A somewhat stressful experience for her. 

Jasper town from Mt Whistler 

Summit family shot!

Mt Robson from summit of Mt Whistler. Apparently this view is only visible about 30 days per year due to weather. 

Pyramid Mountain from Pyramid Lake.

Pyramid Lake

With that, we're heading south on the Icefields Parkway this morning to explore the southern part of Jasper. No cell or Internet expected for a couple of days.