Edited Pics

I went through and did some quick edits on some of my favorite pictures.  You can enlarge any photo by clicking on it:

First view of the mountain.

What happens after the ranger scares the bear off.

Old Dream Fulfilled

Many years ago when Carol and I were so very sick, we had an important discussion about what was the one thing missing from our life that would make our life better if we could somehow do it again.  We decided it was backpacking.  There was no way we could backpack in the state of health we were in.  But soon we came up with the concept of "backpacking by car."  The idea was simple: create a very easy system for camping in our Toyota Tercel.  We did that and set off on our first "backpacking" trip.  We planed to stay just one night at each campground and be out about five days.  Well, the trip was a big failure.  Our bodies couldn't handle the weather and nighttime temperatures.  We ended up going home before dawn on the first day.  Undeterred, we came up with a new concept: camping in an RV (pickup camper).  We bought the camper for $200.  It was in bad shape, but it had

8,500 Miles

Looks like we traveled a total of about 8,500 miles on this trip.  We were gone about two months and spent all but four nights in the roof top tent.  With the Yellowstone trip, we have spent about 20 percent of the year in that tent and we are still married!  That says a lot about the tent.  The folks at CVT have an excellent product.  Several people we know are considering buying one.

Got nearly a quarter million pictures and videos transferred onto my good computer today.  The files that I accidentally deleted were all recovered using a great little program that I downloaded for free.  I'll post a link later.  Now I didn't personally take all 250K photos.  Most of that was the plot camera that we had running most of the trip out the front window.  I'll post those to youtube as soon as I get

Amazing year for bears in GNP

We left GNP today due to some bogus campground and road closures. We wanted to stay because this was maybe the best bear year ever. We only saw about 10 different grizzlies, but they supplied us with day after day of great viewing opportunities. We took more photos and video than ever before and got some great shots.  I'll try to get them posted after we get back home. Staying in Kalispell

Back to the lower 48

Resupplied in Calgary and we are now on our way to GNP.  Should be there this afternoon.  That means the phones will be working when we are in a place where we can hit a tower (which won't be all that often).  Btw, Carol figured out that it was only men taking all those showers.  This supports what an old friend of mine used to say: "If you meet a woman in the wilderness, she is probably furrier than you are."  There is probably a better explanation, but that's all I've got for now.

Pockets picked

You've got to have a good reason to be in the Alberta parks because they aren't cheap.  It starts with $19.50 PER DAY at the entry gate, then $27.50 for the lowest priced campsite, and $8.80 if you want to have a campfire. That was yesterday.  We'll see about today.!  At least the showers come at no extra cost. And man do these Canadians love to take showers!  All seven stalls were filled when we got here yesterday afternoon. I got up at 11:00 to use the bathroom and there were several people headed to the showers. Got up again at 3:00 am. The same thing.  Went to take a shower at 9:00 and had to wait in a line.

Oh well. At least I'm clean and it is a beautiful sunny day. Perfect fo sightseeing as we head south from the Jasper townsight.  It is looking more and more like we might be in Many Glacier by the 1st if not before.  Lake Louise is 145 miles and there is lots to see between here and there.

On our way to Jasper

After finding several more statues of bears in Smithers, we finally found out that the best bear viewing area was the Babine River about two hours away via dirt road.  Decided those bears weren't worth the trouble especially after an outfitter told us people weren't seeing as many bears this year for some reason.  So we headed down the road to Prince George.  Stayed the night there and today we should be in Jasper.  It's only about 250 miles away.  Could be in GNP in two days, but it may take a couple more days depending on what we find in the Canadian national parks.  Here's a pretty good picture of the Salmon Glacier near Hyder:

Remember that you can click on it for a larger view.  Sign said this is the 5th largest glacier in North America.  Kind of amazing that you get to it on a dirt road that has no signs telling you where you are headed.  There are some interpretive signs near the glacier an that's it.  We saw maybe half a dozen other sightseers along the 15 or so miles up to the glacier.

Striker will add Alberta to his list today.  So far he has breezed through Candian customs 5 times and American customs once.  Shoutout to Casey, Rusty & Mac.