Week ending Jul 26, 2012

Obviously we got into McBride on Friday morning to post our blog for last week. We picked up some mosquito repellant stuff (a couple of cans of good muskoil type and two sets of coils). Some folks from McBride who were camping at the rec area told us that they burnt coils just inside the door, with the door and windows opened to the screen for ventilation. This would keep mosquitoes from coming in the door every time it was opened. We found out later that worked okay, but weren't really comfortable with the vapors in the trailer. We picked up some chips and cheese sauce and a few gallons of water. Then we went to the Beanery 2 to have lunch and post last weeks blog. The meal there was quite good, and the charge for the internet was only 1.50. After lunch, we drove back to the rec area. We stopped at the Goat River rest area to take a few pictures, and we stopped just short of our rec area, to walk down to one of the small lakes near us. When we got back to the trailer, we had a bit of a challenge finding a satellite signal, but were finally able to get one by placing the satellite dish right down at the edge of the lake, on a bit of peaty area that settled a bit every time I stepped too close to the tripod legs. A bit of effort for a few hours of TV a day (only when we have the generator running), but remember, this is home, not a camping vacation.

On Saturday, we took it easy around the campsite. We walked up the hill to the highway, to see how long it would take Joan to walk up (8 minutes) to stop any traffic coming down the hill, since the access road isn't big enough to share with another vehicle. We talked for a while to our neighbours, a couple with a one year old from Prince George who were out for one day. He told us that a friend had lost traction going up the access hill, pulling a tent trailer. That made me (John) a bit concerned. After we described what were doing in our retirement, he told us about SPOT Satellite GPS Messenge Service, (http://www.findmespot.ca/en/index.php) a facility that would let us notify people where we were located, even without cell service, or call for help in an emergency, particularly in a location like the rec area, where there is no cell service. We told him that we weren't usually far enough from a highway, or at least a reasonably well traveled road, for it to be an issue.

In the afternoon, John went for a bit of a dip in the lake, with a floater. He paddled back to the edge of the lake behind the trailer, but, as Joan had warned, the bottom was quite muddy there, so we had to rinse off his swimsuit before hanging it up to dry.

Then we set up the tarp that we had bought in Stewart so that the generator was sheltered. It was a bit of a makeshift deal with a concrete block on one corner on the picnic table, the middle over the generator tied to a tree at the edge of the site, the second corner tied to the ground with a tie-down and a 6 inch screw that is usually used for the satellite dish. The other two corners were tied to the ladder at the back of the RV, and the other to the door railing of the RV. This kept the generator nice and dry during the bit of rain in the evening.

It rained a bit overnight, but by the time we started packing up on Sunday morning, the weather had improved. We were happy that our first 3 day 'back country' camping stretch without any services had gone fairly smoothly until we had a problem running the living room slider in. It would start a bit, but not go too far. After trying the manual crank method, and running into the same problem, I decided to see if there was something between the slider and the floor that was causing it to stop. I couldn't see anything, but there was a bit of gravel that came out as I ran my hand along. We dug out the broom and brushed as much out as possible. Then I leaned on the slider as Joan run it in, and, voila, it worked. Phew! 

Then Joan walked up the hill to stop any traffic from coming down. After the appropriate time, I put the truck in 4-wheel drive, for the second time on the trip, and easily hauled the trailer up the hill. We were planning on heading for Valemount for the night, but decided to go the KOA in Hinton instead. We stopped and took a few pictures at Mount Robson and had a quick lunch. Back when I was young, my father and grandfather had a 'thing' about pictures of Robson. One, (I can't remember which) always got pictures of it with cloud on the top, and the other always had a clear view of the peak. 

After a quick lunch, we headed on through Jasper. We took advantage of the people along the way stopped to look at animals in the Park. We got shots of a couple of elk, 

and where even lucky enough to see quite a herd of mountain sheep, including a baby, at Windy Ridge (Joan has a drawing of mountain sheep at Windy Ridge done by a native lady). 

We then arrived in the luxurious setting of the Hinton/Jasper KOA, splurging with all of the services (except a swimming pool) after our 3 days with no utilities. Shower time!

Before lunch on Monday, we drove out to check out the campgrounds and facilities in William Switzer Provincial Park. Only the A loop in Gregg Lake Campground had sites that looked like it would handle the trailer. These sites were heavily treed, so there would be no possibility of getting a satellite signal. We picked up a few items from Hinton, and headed back to the KOA, in the rain.

Tuesday morning, we got up early, and were able to pack up without getting too wet. We decided to drive to the Bow Rivers Edge campground in Cochrane. The drive got a bit wet in several places. We actually saw a few animals. Just past Hinton, a bear started sauntering across the north section of the 4 lane highway. Once it got into the median, it started hearing traffic getting close (well ahead of us), so it loped in front of the traffic heading east, and made it into the bush on the south side of the highway. We tried, but it is tough to get a picture of a moving bear. Somewhere south of Drayton Valley, we saw a few deer with some nice antlers grazing on the fence line. We didn't get a chance to slow down enough for pictures, due to the traffic behind us.

We had a bit of an experience in Rocky Mountain House. We stopped at one gas station for diesel, and managed to squeeze out about 8 cents worth. The attendant didn't think that any of the other diesel pumps would work, so we drove across the street to another station. This one had a sign saying it was out of regular and plus grade gasoline, but it did have diesel. Then, we carried on to Cochrane, and booked into the campground for a couple of weeks to get a good start on watching the Olympic Games from London. They don't have internet access today, but are expecting new equipment to arrive any day.

The internet equipment arrived on Thursday morning, so we were able to update the blog.