O Canada!

Our miserable weather has preceded us into Canada.  We crossed the border and stayed the first night in Cranbrook BC.  Overcast, gloomy, but not raining.  On to Golden BC the next morning.  More clouds, but no rain.  (Deming NM gets 350 days of sunshine a year.  I wonder how much this area gets.)

Columbia Lake

Found the park in Golden. It ties for the most dilapidated, unmaintained mess I've stayed in.  The guy at the front desk said he took over in April, found that someone had broken into the office, stolen everything, including the computer reservations system, and there you are.  Someone has used this place as a cash cow for decades, putting $0 into maintenance.  On the plus side, however, the WiFi works well and the laundry equipment is new. 

Front office guy said there is new management and things will improve.  I hope new management has a bunch of cash and a lot of patience.  There is so much wrong (including a surly, rude employee, not front office guy) that it will take a couple of years of very hard work to put things right.  

We tried to go to Lake Louise our first full day in Golden.  Since we got a late start, it was after noon before we arrived.  All we could see was cars, cars, cars, tourists.  There were cars parked along the road for probably over a mile from the lake.  When we finally got to the there, we turned around and left.  

Flags of Canada and Alberta

Years ago on a trip to this area, Mike found a pair of duck shoes (rubber waterproof slip-ons) at Canadian Tire.  Since there was a Canadian Tire in the next town, Cranmore, across the provincial line, we headed over there.  As our luck would have it, the inexpensive ones have been discontinued;  BUT there was one pair left in a sales bin, in Mike's size!  Mission accomplished. 

The TransCanada Highway is the main (only?) road traversing the country.  There are parts of it, especially locally, that look like the interstate in the US.  Canada is going to great lengths to protect wildlife in the vicinity of the highway, such as very high fencing, cattle guards, and wildlife overpasses. It gives the wildlife a way to safely cross the highway and makes the highway much safer for humans, as deer-elk-bear-car collisions are common and deadly.

Wildlife overpass on Canada Highway 1,

We started out to Glacier Park on Saturday,  As we went west, the clouds got thicker and thicker and thicker.  By the time we reached the park, the area was completely socked in and raining.  

The roof of the visitor center is planted with local flora.  Interesting and very attractive.  But that was all we could see, so we turned around and went back to the park.

Years ago, Mike traveled through this area so he has already seen all the sights and knows what is worth the time.  On Sunday, a decent day in the a.m., we tried Lake Louise again, as a neighbor said he had been there early and the traffic was low.  Off we went.  On the way, we stopped at a roadside pull-off to learn about the spiral tunnels.

Spiral Tunnels

Entrance/Exit to one of the tunnels. 

Lake Louise

Got to the lake the second time but still had problems with cars and parking.  Mike dropped me off at the entrance to the hotel while he drove around.  I wandered off to take the photos below.  And photos don't do justice to the magical color of this lake, a silvery turquoise blue.   A VERY EXPENSIVE HOTEL sits at the edge of the lake and the grounds are beautifully planted.

Fairmont Hotel

Lupines

Lake Louise

We still had the afternoon so we headed up to Jasper National Park.  Will write a new post, as this was a great adventure.  Have lots of photos.

The Downeys Assemble! And on to the great North.

We continued around the western edge of the Olympic peninula, staying two nights at Sequim WA.  Those of you who have followed the blog since the beginning may recognize the next stop:  Hurricane Ridge, above Port Angeles WA.  We had planned to take the ferry to Victoria BC but the weather still was crummy.  We figured that the worst that would happen is we would see more clouds at the top of the park.  We got a surprise.  Although the coast was overcast and drizzly, we broke through the clouds and got clear weather.

Above the clouds,

View from halfway up Hurricane Ridge, across the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

Mike at Hurricane Ridge.

For the past 20-some years, every two years,  my brothers, their wives, and I have met someplace for a few days.  We usually have some of our offspring joining us, depending on where we meet.  We have done Kansas City, Kent WA, Elephant Butte NM, Ireland.

This was our year to gather.  Brother Dick and his wife Marge met us in Kent WA where brother Mike and his wife Kathy have lived for years.  Our late oldest brother Larry's daughter, Dana, joined us this year, to our great surprise and enjoyment.  

Left Kent heading north to Northern Cascades National Park.  Our bad weather followed us.  We had no more passed the sign indicating the beginning of the park than the rain started.Gloomy and dismal for probably 20 miles.  

We noticed how little water was in the river which the road followed and wondered why, as there was still enough snow to generate snowmelt.  Then we saw why:  a big hydroelectric dam. 

Must look like a tsunami when they open the gates.

So it's a pretty drive if you don't have to avoid the bike event jerks who feel entitled to ride down the middle of the vehicle lane and REFUSE to move over.  Darwin Award candidates, all of them.

Next post:  CANADA!

Mt Rainier National Park

7 July

Arrived here yesterday in beautiful, sunny weather.  Today, not so much.  Overcast, drizzling, generally crummy but we went ahead with the first trip through the park.  Drove up to Paradise Lodge on the west side of the park and today (July 8) drove to Sunrise Visitor Center on the north.  See photos below.

Mount Rainier National Park

Even with cloudy, drizzly weather, this park is breath-taking.

As you can tell by the photos, there is still a lot of snow in the high country.  We drove through a campground and saw big patches of snow everywhere.  The road to this campground (and Sunrise Visitor Center) just opened July 1.

Mike at Chinook Pass with the dogs.  That's SNOW!

 The wildflowers are incredibly beautiful and appear to be quite delicate.  Obviously, they are not if they can survive in this climate.

Independence Day in Midvale ID

We encountered another Lewis & Clark stop, Lolo Summit, on our way from Hamilton, MT to Kamiah, ID where we spent one night before going on to Midvale, ID.

We visited my long-time friends, Kathy and Bosco Bosler, at their ranch in Midvale.  Been planning to see them for some time, and it worked out that we arrived on the 4th of July weekend. Commercial or state parks are overrun on this holiday weekend with lots of rigs and lots of families with kids.  And, of course, some idiot has fireworks.   

Kathy and Bosco have been breeding and selling quarter horses and paints for decades.  Here are a few pictures, one of which is the new baby born in April.  (Note to Wyatt:  these are all descendants of Kathy's mare, Lady.  You may remember her from Kansas City.) 

The highlight of the weekend was attending the parade in downtown Midvale (pop. 187).  See photos.  
  

Note the flashy paint job.

 

The festivities wrapped up with a barbecue in the school gymnasium.

All of this reminded me of Fair & Rodeo Week in Coffeyville 60 years ago.

Idaho

We left Heber City headed north into Idaho.  I was very glad I made reservations at the park...booked up due to a boating event at a nearby lake.  After a one-night stopover, off north again to see the Craters of the Moon National Monument. 

Craters of the Moon

An eerie landscape, much like the volcanic scenery on the Big Island, Hawaii.  

Volcanic vent with ice in the bottom.

During the winter, water and snow collect in the bottom of these vents.  It's cold in these parts during the winter so it all freezes into a solid mass.  Since the sun rarely penetrates into the depth, the ice remains.  It's a strange feeling to be in 95+ weather and see the blue-green of the ice in these vents.

There are beautiful patches of flowers growing out of the volcanic rock just about everywhere you look.  I was surprised to learn that the volcanic activity was as recent as 2,000 years ago and that this field may become active again at any time.

North Fork and the Salmon River

We stayed in Arco at a small RV park one night and then pushed on to North Fork, ID, to a small RV park.  The owner and his wife do everything, including running a small restaurant on the property to serve park guests on an "as ordered" basis.  There are only nine spaces; the park backs up to the North Fork of the Salmon River, cold, clear, beautiful river which eventually feeds into the main Salmon.

This is what we saw from the park every day:

Mike and the dogs at Josephine's RV Park.  The North Fork of the Salmon River is right behind them.

There's a town named Stanley a couple of hours away which has both the Salmon River and the Sawtooth Wilderness as attractions.  Drove up there one day for lunch.

Speaking of lunch, Mike and I toss a coin to see who pays for lunch.  As it happens, we are using a Coffeyville Centennial coin given to me by a lady in the park who lived in Sedan for many many years.  Mike has lost two of the last three; he thinks somehow  I am cheating because it's a Coffeyville coin.  I just think he's a sore loser...

Our second day in the area, we drove a loop which took us north, then east, south, west and then back north, in order to climb to Lemhi Pass.

We took a shortcut, a gravel county road, to get to the main road to the pass.  No one but us and the cows, until we topped a small rise and saw two people on bicycles by the side of the road.  Mike stopped to ask of they needed help.  They were from New Zealand and had BIKED from Lordsburg, NM, 70 miles west of Deming, NM, to where we saw them in southern Montana.  Fun talking with them.  They had flown to El Paso with their bikes, taken a bus to Lordsburg, and headed out.  More power to them....I prefer the truck and a trailer.  Mike parted with two cold beers for them and they were on their way.

Lewis and Clark and Lemhi Pass

View to the west from Lemhi Pass.

Loved the color of these wild flowers at the top of the pass.

Lewis speculated that the rivers on the western side of the continental divide would be both larger and much wilder than the rivers encountered in the trek up the Missouri.  He was SO RIGHT.

Lewis and Clark started down the Salmon.  The early going was acceptable but as they got further down, the river got faster and full of rapids.  Not navigable with the boats available to them.

The last day in the area, we drove 47 miles from Highway 93 to a place called Corn Creek, following the Salmon all day.  The first 17 miles were blacktop, so not too bad.  And then it became gravel and washboard.  Took us four hours to get to Corn Creek, and we were dodging trucks, trailers, cars, ATVs, you name it.  At some points, the road is only one lane wide so you hope there's a turn-out you can get to if there's on-coming traffic.  

We thought it very strange that there was nearly no one on the river for miles and miles and miles on a day which topped 100 degrees.  As we got closer to Corn Creek, the road was lined on both sides with trucks/trailers, the pick-up teams for rafters/kayakers/canoeists coming down the Middle Fork of the Salmon.  

And one other hazard on the river road:  goats.  These charming idiots have no fear of humans or trucks.  One ran in front of the truck, down the middle of the road, for probably a mile or more. Every time he started over to one side and Mike tried to pass him, he moved back to the center.  

I have far too many photos of the Salmon River to post them all but here are a couple I can't omit:

The Middle Fork Joins the Salmon.