Alaskan Adventure: Days 23-26. Internet was real iffy in the National Parks. Signs along TransCanada Highway 1 say “No cell service next 350 Kilometers”. I’m way behind on posting pics so this post will cover several days.

June 23 – Tuesday: Another beautiful sunny day. We were still ahead of the rest of group from church so we decided to do the drive up through Banff and then up toward Jasper on the Icefields Parkway. We would see this again on June 26 when we moved from our campsite at Banff to our campsite at Hinton but would not be able to stop at the overlooks with the RV and tow car. Also looking at weather ahead it was forecast to be rainy on our travel day which turned out to be true so we were glad we did the drive on a sunny day.

Breathtaking mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, turquoise rivers and lakes! This is a beautiful drive.

Such a variety of different mountains. I didn’t keep track of place names, just enjoyed the drive and took a few pics along the way. Really wanted to get up to Sunwapta Falls near Jasper. Next group of pics and videos is of Sunwapta Falls.

Tourists enjoying one of our favorite places on earth.

The “Weeping Wall”

The Banff Visitor Centre at Lake Louise. We stopped here on our way back. There are some shops nearby and a small grocery where we picked up some sandwiches for dinner.

We stopped at Johnston Canyon Campground and had dinner with Damon and others who had arrived that afternoon. Enjoyed seeing everyone from home after 23 days on our own!

Sad to say I have no pics of the evening at camp. But I did take this pic of the tallest, healthiest dandelions I’ve ever seen… We said our goodbyes for the day and headed back to our campground about 30 minutes away. Very soon after leaving the campground Becky says “Oh! I thought I saw a bear but it’s just a culvert” We drove right by and both went “It WAS a BEAR!” so turned around a got a pic. This bear was headed in the direction of the campground, looking for a pic-a-nic basket no doubt.

The “Culvert”

The Bear.

June 24 – Today was a day of errands. We both needed haircuts so drove into the nearby Town of Canmore for that and some groceries. While there we checked with Aspen Glass to see if they could fix the crack in our RV windshield. They said yes, if we could be back with the RV in an hour. So we rushed back to Banff and got back to Canmore with the RV. They worked for almost an hour to inject some kind of glue into the crack. Some went in but not as much as Brian (the shop owner) would have liked. I was shocked when he would not accept any payment for his time and materials. Highly recommend Aspen Glass and thank Brian for his help and generosity!

After getting back from Canmore we drove up to visit with the Johnston Canyon Campground group and have dinner with Damon. We had purchased some baby back ribs in Canmore so Damon heated those up on his grill. It was a good time together.

The only pictures today are from our campsite. As we were getting ready to drive to Canmore a herd of elk were walking through. They walked right by. We had to wait for one of them to move so we could back out of our parking spot.

Waiting in the car for elk to finish grazing so we can back up and go. There were lots of baby elk who made cute squeaky noises amid a few bellows from the bull elk watching over his harem.

June 25 – This morning we drove back up to the Johnston Canyon Campground. We picked up Damon and headed for the Lake Louise ski area where all the buses come and go for visits to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Becky and I paid for a bus trip to Lake Moraine and back so pics that follow are all Lake Moraine. Damon had a ticket for both lakes on a different bus line.

It’s called “Moraine Lake because it is held back by a moraine of rocks blocking the valley and creating the lake. At the lowest spot the melting snow runs out of the lake here where there is a stream under all those logs. Each winter avalanches drag trees down into the frozen lake. In the spring they all float to here in a big log jam.

While waiting for Damon’s bus we walked along the lakeshore path and enjoyed views of the clear water and turquoise colors.

View from the parking lot where we met up with Damon.

Becky waited for us at the Cafe/Gift Shop area while Damon and I went to climb “The Rockpile”.

Damon really wanted to see a bear. Making the best of things by befriending two pet bears.

Getting ready to climb the Rockpile.

Moraine Lake from the Rockpile.

Mug shots from “The Rockpile”.

This is “Castle Rock”. Below the front edge of that mountain in the valley is Johnston Canyon and the Johnston Canyon Campground. Damon (the mountain goat) climbed a trail that ended just above the tree line at that front edge.

Hanson’s said “we’re going to Banff for vacation; if anyone wants to tag along you’re welcome” and look what happened!
Photo credit goes to Haley Ney. Herding cats credit goes to David for getting everyone together for this shot. I don’t know all the names so not even going to try. If anyone wants to send me a list I’ll post it here.

“The Hoodoos” rock formation near our campground.

Elk at the turn-in to our campground. Obeying the stop sign and checking traffic before crossing…

June 26 – We left Banff and traveled through Jasper to Hinton. It was a rainy day as expected but the views were still beautiful with low hanging clouds in the valleys. Below are three pics for the day, all from the dashcam.

Wildlife overpass bridges look much more natural. We saw them 10 years ago as they were just being built.

This is the “Welcome to Jasper” sign with the entire area burned by massive fires. Very sad after seeing this area 3 years ago before the fires.

The massive smooth black rock here has been rubbed over by a glacier. I think that’s cool.

We arrived in Hinton at the Jasper/Hinton KOA. That’s it for this “Part 1” of the trip. We will do laundry and shopping in Hinton before heading up the “Scenic Route” to Dawson Creek where we will meet the rest of our RVAdventureTrek group for the next two months in Alaska.

Favorite Bible verses for today: Matthew 6:25-34

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.