Northern Jasper

We've spent the last few days exploring the Northern part of Jasper national Park while based in a campground just outside of Jasper town.

The Northern part of the park has some stunning geologic features including this miles long feature called Ashland Ridge. It reminds me of the glacial features in Yosemite but is actually formed by plate tectonics. 

Late in the day we visited Miette Hot springs for a nice soak on a cloudy and somewhat cold day. The photo above is the early 20th century building where the hot springs were housed. They have a very modern facility in place now. 

Of course, no photos at the hot spring facility. 

The next day we visited Moose Lake and Maligne Lake. This big guy is well camouflaged, but only a few meters off the trail.

Maligne Lake

Here was a visitor to our camp on Saturday night.

And his apparent love interest viewed from the driver's seat of the van at our camp spot.

More later about our adventure of the day on Sunday. 

Beginning Jasper exploration

After a great few days moving north and east, we're in Jasper NP in Alberta. Yesterday we did a short hike in the Valley of the Five Lakes while the weather was warm and sunny. Today is cloudy and cooler, so it's laundry day and will be spent exploring town and planning more hikes etc in the park. 

We overnighted at Mt Robson provincial park. This is the view of the mountain at sunrise. 

First glaciers of the trip!

Trying not to squint and face the sun and get both of us and the mountain.  Best attempt...

Short hike to Overlander Falls. Obviously glacier fed river.

Above few photos all from our Valley of the Five Lakes hike inside Jasper NP. The glacial waters feed each lake successively.Some red chairs are placed at a viewpoint at Third Lake. Canadian NPs so cool things like that...and allow dogs to join on many trails, making Juno happy. 

Waterfalls!

We stopped outside Clearwater BC at a provincial park called Wells Grays based on a single photo of a waterfall in a guidebook. 

Wow...what a great surprise!

First campfire of the trip! SoloStove Campfire model mini stove is great for the van!

Dawson Falls was a short hike from camp!

Helmcken Falls.  2.5x taller than Niagra!

Spahats Falls

We saw Chinnok Salmon making their way up Bailey's Chute on the Clearwater River. 

Moving on toward Jasper NP, but another provincial park tonight at My Robson park. 

More Vancouver Island and back to the mainland!

We moved north and west on the island to Tofino, Ucluelet and Pacific Rim NP. Lots of great scenery, but definitely colder than the southeast side near Victoria. 

First stop had to be at Goats on the Roof! Also took advantage of a local market for fresh veggies, baked goods, and the all important coffee (Rebecca). 

We tried to stop and view Cathedral Grove old growth trees enroute west, but it was crazy busy. Hoped to do it on the way back, but same situation. See the pics from there near the end of our 2014 Alaska trip below. 

Tofino is a great little town right on the northern tip of the peninsula and a surf bum base of operations. Crazy people who surf in water this cold!

Now that we saw this sign, we obviously have a goal to find the eastern version.  

The all important Canadian experience...to be repeated many times in the coming weeks. 

Juno...no so into the cold ocean and waves. 

Sunset at Qualicum Bay CG. 

Fraser river bridge in Vancouver...a wee bit bigger than anything over our Fraser River at home!

Heading to a provincial park today, on the way to Jasper NP for a couple or more days next before continuing the trek east. 

Vancouver Island, BC

On Monday we left our new friends place in Snohomish Washington and headed north for the border. Enroute we each successfully found a pharmacy with the new bivalent COVID booster and also got our flu shots for the season as we were not sure when or if either would be available to us in Canada. 

We crossed the border about noon and headed straight for the ferry to Vancouver Island. The only glitch was that both of us were randomly selected for an observed COVID test within 24h of entry. While not without complications of trying to do this via video call over a hotspot from camp, done!

We found camp at Gold Stream camp outside of Victoria and celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a hike and then a taco salad dinner generously made by our traveling friends the Carey's. 

The celebratory toast!

The Carey's at the falls.

On Tuesday we ventured into Victoria to wander around town and see some sights. Enroute we hit a piece of road debris and destroyed a tire on the van. We had to move through traffic and pulled off to a side street...and right into a Dodge dealership who advertised "Tires". Despite our vehicle being a 33 year old VW, and in typical Canadian fashion, they were happy to help.  A technician came and swapped on our spare while the parts guy got a tire on order, to be delivered in about an hour! We went on our way and dropped Juno at doggie daycare only about 30m later than planned and headed into town. 

We found a great pub for lunch and then visited Chinatown, city center, BC Parliament, and Beacon Hill Park. 

BC Parliament building

(Maybe more pics from Rebecca later)

We headed back in the late afternoon and picked up Juno, and our brand new tire was swapped for onto Byron so he's all matching again. 

Today we head north on the island to explore more of this beautiful place and meet more amazing people. 

Last full day in USA!

We're currently in Snohomish Washington at Celestine's relatives house enjoying WiFi, shower etc.  It is quite smoky here from some local and distant fires, and affecting our plans to visit North Cascades NP. Oh well, next adventure!

Since the last post, we explored Crater Lake NP where we met up with the Carey's, however it was smoky there as well. We had a good drive around the lake and we had some pretty good views, but definitely not as stunning as we can tell it would have been. 

Above is the "Phantom Ship" feature in Crater Lake.

Smoky view across the lake.

Look what happened to Byron while we were on the way to our next camp site! 200,000 miles and we're just starting the trip.

Sunset from camp at Haystack Reservoir in Oregon.

Summit of a short hike at Swauk camp south of Leavenworth in Washington.

Leavenworth is a small town east of Seattle metro area. Cool spot where we stopped for lunch and wandering around. 

And finally before Saturday's stop, Snoqualmie Falls.

We plan to get our vaccine boosters today if we can find a walk-in clinic, and then head up near the border and cross into Canada on Monday---a seemingly fitting marker for our 25th wedding anniversary!

Crater Lake!

Quick update... we're exploring Crater Lake NP today, but got out to one of the viewpoints in the moonlight last night. Some cool pics!

More later with good connection.