7/22/1991 - Monday

John:  Nobody came around this morning with change, so we split the scene... with a night of camping on the Great Province of Alberta... We continued down the road, but after five or ten minutes, came to the end of the road... in other words, we were lost in the wilderness.  There happened to be a place with a green eyed blonde cleaning the outhouses.  So I asked her where the hell are we?  She told me where we went wrong... (Remember the right turn on the blacktop?) We should’ve turned left... the dumb thing about this is there was a sign just before this turn that said “Important Intersection Ahead”... And we blew it!  Guess that’s what happens when you’re tired and it’s late!  We spotted 5-6 deer and another coyote...  We did see some bison and a lot of “wild beef” (as the area is open grazing land).  We saw more great views today.  We also drove through Waterton Lakes National Park.  we took the forestry trunk road off of Rt. 40.  It’s about 65 miles of dirt road... It was a pretty good road and went to Crowsnest Pass.  We went through customs and are back in the USA!  We are camped at a KOA in St. Mary’s, Montana.  Guess we have to get used to the campgrounds in the lower 48... For instance, this KOA cost 14.58 with not too many amenities... firewood cost 4.00 for like 4-5 pieces (up north wood is free and camp spots cost anywhere from free to 8 to 10 dollars... plus they are very clean).  We drove 228 miles today... we spent our last Canadian money on Gas... a total of $7.71.  That way we didn’t have to mess with finding a bank and converting back the US money.  We will go to Glacier Nat’l Park in the morning.

ODOM:  30674

Lost in the wilderness

Bison

Bison

Waterton Lakes National Park

7/21/1991 - Sunday

John:  After we woke up and had breakfast etc, we drove into the town of Banff.  We did our laundry (bummer) and found a place to park to have lunch.  We went to a free museum in town.  Right in town Kari spotted a giant bull elk.  It had a rack with over a six foot spread!  I was able to get pretty close to take pictures of it.  Guess it’s pretty common to see elk right in the town like that.  We also went on the Sulfur Mountain Gondola... very neat ride which provided super scenery of the town of Banff surrounded by very majestic mountains and rivers.  At the top of the mountain were lots of big horn sheep... some with little lambs.  After all this, it was getting to be late in the afternoon, so we decided to hit the road... just outside of town we decided to check how much Canadian money we had left and found we had about $29.00 left... so I whipped the truck around and headed back into Banff.  We found a money exchange place that does not charge a fee and stayed open till 10pm... (open today also which is Sunday).  So I cashed another travelers check and down the road we went.  We took a dirt road out of Canmore that eventually comes out on Rt. 40.  On this road we saw a mother moose with a baby, some white tail deer, and a coyote.  At the end of the dirt road (about 60-70 miles), we got to a blacktop road (which we thought was Rt. 40)... and took a right turn and found a nice campground called “Elkwood” in Alberta Recreation Area of Kananaskis.  It was a beautiful spot.  Turns out you needed the exact amount of money to put in the self registration envelope... and we didn’t have the exact amount.  The camp host was gone... After supper I flagged a park ranger down and figured he’d have change... but he didn’t.  He said if no one comes around before you leave in the morning not to worry about it.  So being a guy that doesn’t worry about too much, went to bed.  We drove 100 miles today.  

ODOM:  30446

Sulphur Mountain Gondola

View from the top of the gondola

Babies

Just chillin'

Giant Bull Elk right in town!

Giant Bull Elk right in town!

Momma Moose

Deer

7/20/1991 - Saturday

John:  The day started off being rainy, but cleared up by noon.  we went to the Columbia Icefields.  You go out on them on these monster six wheel drive snow mobile coaches.  They cost $375,000 each... they have 12 of them.  The ice fields (glacier) were huge... and cold.  The glacial ice is approximately 1200 feet thick.  The glacier deposits about 550 tons of silt and rock debris at the “toe” of the glacier.  The twelve tallest mountains in the Canadian Rockies are in this area.  It makes up a “Tri-Continental Divide”... which means the glacial ice melt flows into three different oceans... the Arctic, Pacific or the Atlantic oceans, depending which way the water goes.  There’s only one other place in the world that this happens... in Siberia some place.  Susan and I took a drink directly from a glacial stream.  The water is 99.9% pure!  They test it all the time and have never found anything in the water.  It was good and cold!!  That water came from ice probably 400 years old or older!!  The glacier was really something!  We then hit the road and headed for Banff... Went by some more great scenery, fantastic rivers and lakes, and more glaciers.  We also stopped to photograph a big horn sheep... more great pics I hope.  We also saw a coyote and a deer.  We visited Lake Louise (was pretty), then got a camp spot at “Protection Mountain” campground in Banff Nat’l Park.  We drove 99 miles today.

ODOM:  30346

Summary:  After five weeks we have spent a total of $2935 cash, plus $455 on gas credit cards... for a grand total spent of $3390.  The total mileage driven = 6484 miles.

Big Horn Sheep

Big Horn Sheep

Susan & Kari on the Athabasca Glacier

Kari, Karen & Susan in front of one of the monster snow mobile coaches

Glacier

Another Glacier

A tiny kid near the huge snow mobile coach

One of the old, retired snow mobile coaches

Susan, Kari & Karen in front of a Glacier

Glacier & scenery

7/15/1991 - Monday

John:  It rained all night last night and most of the day today.  It stopped around 4:00pm.  We decided to hit the road because of the rain.  We drove 373 miles today.  The road was pretty... started out a little bumpy, had some construction also which was muddy.  The truck is pretty dirty.  I went to a bank in Fort Nelson to convert 500 to 567.95.  (Wish we could do that back in the states).  During our drive today, we spotted a single caribou.  We were able to pull into the area and take its picture.  A while later we saw another caribou with a baby.  They split before we got our cameras out.  Later we found a large moose standing in a clearing on the right.  So we stopped and it started running along side the road... then crossed the road in front of us.  It then grazed on the left side of the road.  We took some more pictures of her... the moose started flailing her head around and kicking around... she did this several times.  When she got closer to us, we decided to go.  When we started on down the road, that moose ran along the side of the road after us!  So I kicked in the 454 and we left that mad moose in the dust... it was pretty exciting!!  We are about an hour away from Dawson Creek (the end of the Alaskan Highway... actually the beginning).  We are camped in a pull out along the Alaskan Highway.  We also saw a coyote.

ODOM:  29531

Moose on the loose!

Crazy Moose!

7/11/1991 - Thursday

John:  We drove 103 miles today to just outside of Whitehorse, Yukon.  We past some beautiful lakes (Little Fox and Fox Lakes).  The road was good, the weather nice and sunny.  We camped and soaked at the Takhini Hot Springs.  Nice spot.

ODOM: 28680

Kari:  We saw a coyote and I think I saw a wolf.  We went swimming.

Whitehorse, YT.

River.

Fox & Little Fox Lake.

Susan & Kari by large bridge.

Kari & Susan suited up for the Takhini Hot Springs.

Kari & Susan cooking over the fire, John snacking at the Takhini Hot Springs campground.