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Aug 27-28
And then we were back in Ontario where the friendly hills of the Canadian Shield and the forests felt comfortable. We had been ‘out of province’ for 78 days.
This time we did not take the by-pass but decided to visit Kenora, on the north shore of Lake of the Woods. It is far from Milton, but so much like it. “Smalltown Ontario” has the same feel no matter which one you visit. Kenora has the added advantage of sitting by Lake of the Woods, a beautiful, very large lake. Kenora is worthy as a holiday destination someday.
We camped near Sioux Narrows on Lake of the Woods, on the slightly longer (and more southerly) route to Thunder Bay via Fort Frances. At the Laughing Water campground, our trailer was 10 m. from the water – and we went swimming. Later that evening the loons called - ‘welcome back’.
Fort Frances was disappointing – a town in decline; right across the US border from International Falls, Minnesota. Many stores had closed on Main Street, though the outside of town was well kept. The parks – on a Saturday – were surprisingly empty.

Aug 29 This time we by-passed Thunder Bay; westbound we had stopped for three nights. It still surprises us that the Atlantic Watershed and the time zone change is just west of Thunder Bay; almost 500 km east of Manitoba. One stop at a small campground and the next day brought us to one of our favourite sites, Agawa Bay in Lake Superior Provincial Park. Crystal clear water! And – warm enough to swim. It was just like our visit four years ago. (Lake Superior contains more water than the other four Great Lakes combined! ) Ontario provided four campgrounds with lakes for swimming, though these were the only times on the whole trip that we were in the water, except the feet in the Arctic Ocean and a dip in the hot springs.

On September 1st we arrived home; 1900 km from the Manitoba border to home. No injuries, accidents, tire punctures or other mishaps; only four windshield cracks to repair. We are very thankful. There is nothing we can add to the words of praise for Canada that you have read in this blog, and it is our sincere wish that you too can experience a trip like this at some time in your lives. We learned so much from and about the people who make up our land. We are different and yet we have the same love and pride in our country, and the First Nations people have much to teach us, if we could only learn to listen.

We are grateful to all with whom we shared great visits, to those of you kept in touch by e-mails and to all of you who travelled along with us on this blog!

Finally a few statistics:
• The car travelled 19,233 km (11,950 miles)
• The trailer covered 15,590 km (9,687 miles)
• Average fuel consumption 18.3 litres/100km; 15.4 mpg.
• Total fuel 3,520 litres; 774 Imp. Gallons; 930 US gallons.

Two interesting distances:
Milton ON to Nelson BC (all Canadian route) 3,750 km.
Nelson BC to Inuvik NWT (shortest route straight north) 3,880 km.
Just to give you an idea of how far north it is to Inuvik.

Latitudes and Longitudes:
• Milton, ON 43.51349; -79.88280
• Furthest north: Tuktoyaktuk (“Tuk”) 69.50
• Furthest west: Dawson City -139.405518

WE ARE THANKFUL AND HAVE BEEN SO VERY FORTUNATE !!

25 Ontario again

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Aug 22-26 We drove from Brooks in Alberta to Moose Jaw in one day – about half-way across Saskatchewan. We enjoyed the incredible prairies as we drove along the Trans-Canada. They are not nearly as flat and boring as many have said, rather we found them interesting and beautiful. The landscape is rolling, and we crossed small valleys where rivers had carved out their path. Along this highway it is the eastern part of SK and Manitoba that are truly flat, but even there the colours of the wheat and prairies grass blend beautifully with the blue and white above. The huge farms are amazing as they sit on the horizon surrounded by fields as far as one can see. Tall silos and trees surround the homesteads and from the car some looked like tall skyscrapers of a new town. It is almost impossible to judge distances. And we saw many trains – whole trains. For those who have not travelled or lived here, imagine over 100 cars where the twin locomotives in front and the last car is visible at the same time. Sometimes there is an engine in the middle which we suspected was to help the extra long train around curves as they climbed hills, and most cars were stacked two containers high. It was amazing how many trains there were; a good sign we hope.

After an extra day in Moose Jaw for our third oil change since we left home, we continued east. The low pressure system north of us provided a tail wind of 40 km/h, gusting to 60 and the fuel consumption dropped significantly. One guy on a bicycle sat upright and rode the wind. He was going faster than he could have pedaled. Funny how on that day we saw almost no RV rigs going the other way! Their fuel consumption had to be more than twice ours. When we stopped to refuel before noon, the lady told us that a westbound motor-home had asked about the nearest campground; he was tired of using so much fuel. We made it all the way to Winnipeg that day. Aug 26th is our anniversary and we spent a relaxing day in Winnipeg, as we had two years ago when we stopped here on our train ride west to Vancouver.

24 Prairies

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Aug 16 The Mountains to the Plains. As you know, we have been surrounded by mountains of all shapes and sizes for the last two months. On this Monday, we drove almost 500 km from Nelson BC to Fort MacLeod AB and the transitions in the landscape were dramatic. It started with the longest free ferry ride in the world across Kootenay Lake, just east of Nelson. 35 minutes on a modern ferry with views that rivaled the Norwegian fjords. Then south on highway 3A to Creston – a road considered by many to be the best place for a motorcycle trip. A winding road with great vistas. Then we travelled west through the east Kootenay mountains covered in evergreens with productive farm lands in wider valleys. As we approached Crowsnest Pass (less of a mountain pass than we had seen before), the last of the high sharp-peaked Rockies stood there to say ‘farewell’. Suddenly the high plains of Alberta (1000 metres) appeared with almost no trees. The transition was sudden and remarkable – please see pictures. Gently rolling hills felt very friendly and there were hundreds of windmills in this breezy landscape. That night we camped in Buffalo Plains RV park, just 4 km. from ‘Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump’.

Aug 17-21 Alberta history. Fort MacLeod, named after the first RCMP Commissioner there when the fort was established in 1873. We enjoyed the exhibit because it helped fill in so much of Canada’s early western history. There was much information about Crowfoot, his respect for MacLeod and the famous ‘Treaty number 7” which was to provide the natives with much protection. Sadly, Canada has not lived up to this bargain.
“Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump” – a terrible name, but easy to remember. With many days of planning, several tribes would collaborate in the fall to drive 100s of Buffalo (properly called Bison) being panicked over a 20 m. high cliff. The meat, skin, hides, bones and internal organs were all used and helped them survive the winter. Because of white man’s interference (especially Prime Minister John MacDonald) the Buffalo were eradicated by about 1875.

Drumheller is the location of the world-renowned Royal Tyrrell Museum of dinosaurs. Our pictures show only a small part of this wonderful place and any trip west should include this stop. It is fabulous for kids, though it can take a whole day to see everything. It is fascinating to know that the work continues with new discoveries every year in the ‘Badlands’ area. Anyone interested could spend a summer here. The larger Badlands area in Dinosaur Provincial Park is also worth seeing because this is where many of the discoveries are made.

22 Mountains to Plains

23 Alberta History

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Aug 9 -15 This last week was so very pleasant that we forgot about the blog – and you. Westward from Lake Louise takes you through Yoho and Revelstoke National Parks with the famous Rogers Pass in between. Before the pass we saw the section of CP tracks and the spiral tunnels with two loops – one about 270 deg. the other almost 360 deg. By building the tunnels, the straight line hill with 4.5% grade (dangerous for trains) was reduced to 2.2%. There is much freight traffic on this line and that was obvious at our campgrounds in Golden and Canyon Hot Springs Revelstoke. One location had constant shunting of cars 300 metres away. The other campground had rails on a hill along two sides. As the engine increased power, pulling the squealing wheels of the long trains around the curve it was difficult to have a normal conversation. Luckily they did not run this stretch during he night. You have probably heard about Golden and Revelstoke as famous ski centres.

At Revelstoke we turned south and the drive was unusual as the road paralleled the Upper Arrow and Slocan Lakes. The views reminded us of Norwegian fjords and we even had a ferry ride providing excellent water-view.

Nelson was our goal because my good friend from high school in Smiths Falls, Gordon Gray, lives here with his wife Moe. We sat on their veranda high above Nelson with a view over the Kootenay River, walked the steep streets and shopped. Several good meals and much good company completed the visit. Just south of the campground we also visited Mark Cochrane and Yvonne. With their family they live in Ymir (‘whymir’) with their children. The mountains almost too close for us but it is a beautiful place nonetheless and it was great to see Mark and meet Yvonne. These were good times and very relaxing for us, and being able to leave the trailer in one location for 5 nights is always special. Kline’s RV Park is one of the nicest campgrounds we have visited on the whole trip. Not modern, well laid out or full of conveniences - actually none of these. Instead we backed on to a bedroom view of a good sized creek with crystal clear water. Power and sewer connection plus the water from the tap was clean enough to drink and good-tasting. We also had free cable TV and Wi-Fi. All for $20.00 per night!

From here we shall complete the circle and drive east to Alberta.

21 Lake Louise to Nelson

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Sorry - we know this map is getting a bit cluttered. But it helps to zoom in a bit.

Aug 3-7 Mt Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, lies almost right beside Highway 16, also called the Yellowhead Highway. 3954 metres (12,970 ft). We stopped at the wayside rest to admire for a while.

Then Jasper National Park – The Whistlers Campground. No ‘hookups’ means that for these days we live off our water tank, solar panel and propane tanks. It works well and with a small inverter we charge computer and camera batteries. To save on water, Einar took showers in the community shower building where there are also electrical outlets for razors. One day, a young fellow sat on the bench between sinks and waited for his iPhone to charge! He was camped in a nearby tent with his family.

Mountains, mountains everywhere – and we could get a bit blasé – except one never tires. They all are magnificent, different and awe inspiring, especially when you come from Ontario. We hope some of our pictures demonstrate this and that you will enjoy them too.

One day we took the Jasper Tramway up towards the top of Whistlers Mountain. Jasper and our campground are at 1050m (3,400 ft), the tramway starts at 1200m (3.940 ft), tops at 2250m (7,380). From there (well above the tree line) one could hike to 2470m (8.105) at the top. It doesn’t sound like much more, but at that altitude the thinner air made it a struggle for us. Pausing every 50m or so we made it to about 2400m (7,875) - and threw a snow ball for fun. The rest of the way to the top was quite a distance away; we chose not to do it. It is easier going down - for the lungs - but tough on the ‘quads’. In some places the trail crested and then disappeared from view because it was so steep. (Have you discovered how difficult it is to illustrate steep inclines with a camera?) We were glad to have our hiking boots though care was needed because of the loose shale and pebble-like gravel. Low vegetation and many flowers blended beautifully with the rocks where it was almost impossible to see white-tailed ptarmigans resting 2 metres away. And then there was the view. Spectacular sharp topped peaks, one range behind the other, all with some snow and some with glaciers. We rested well that evening and think our pictures are worth a look.

Another day took us to Maligne (pronounced ‘Maleen’) Canyon. In some places the river was 50 metres below in a canyon which at its narrowed measure 3-4 metres wide. One could only capture this with a wide-angle lens and camera turned 90 degrees. It is amazing what water can do to limestone.

Aug 8 – The Athabasca Glacier is right beside the highway – that is the ‘Icefield Parkway’. It is an arm of the giant Columbia Ice field and is located about mid-way between Jasper and Lake Louise. The large welcome centre provides information and has an informative display about how glaciers are formed. We booked the tour and a normal bus took us to the edge where a special one with huge soft tires and lots more horsepower drove on to the glacier. Cracks and deep holes were everywhere but the bus negotiated a well prepared ‘road’. Walking on it wasn’t as special as we had expected because it was raining gently and the ice was very slippery. Good shoes kept us upright! The location is spectacular so please look at the pictures. There was lots of room in the parking lot so that’s where we spent the night at 1940m elevation. And then the morning view as the sun hit the top of the mountains !! What is so special about this drive is that most of the road lies between 1500 and 2000m, yet we are still looking up another 1500m to the mountain tops.
Onward to Golden, BC.

20 Jasper & Glaciers