In celebration of Canada's 150th Anniversary, they are offering free National Park Passes, and that was just too good of an offer for me to refuse. I took off 6 days and booked a flight. There are so many beautiful places in that region, so I planned a road trip that would take me almost 2,000 miles to new places and areas that I haven't seen in over a decade.
I found cheap flights into Spokane, rented an SUV to sleep in, and hit the road. I got really sick on my first flight (I think it was basically a migraine) and threw up 3 times. I'm not sure if it's caused by my anxiety or the pressure or what, but I've been so sick on the last few flights I've taken. And who knew that the planes don't have paper bags in the back of the seats anymore? I was in a window seat, so it was not pleasant. I managed to find Excedrin in the Salt Lake airport, and that helped immensely. The rental car company upgraded me to a full-sized SUV, which initially sounds like a great option for someone living in the car for a week, but it kind of backfired. It had 3 rows of seats, and it took me a solid 4 days to figure out how to get everything folded down flat. So, for more than half of my trip, I was shoved in one row or another with a headrest in my spine or a seat belt rubbing my cheek...not ideal. Once everything was situated, there was a pitch that caused me to slide down in my sleeping bag throughout the nights and end up in a wad at the trunk. On the last night, I used my pool float as a cushion, but somewhere along the line, it sprung a leak and I found myself on the hard ground once again. That plus the crazy warm weather, the insane amount of mosquitoes, and not showering for 6 days made for just around 4 hours of sleep a night. I saved a small fortune in lodging and checking luggage with all of my camping gear though, and since I couldn't even find a room in Banff, it worked out nicely. Needless to say, I couldn't wait to get home, take a shower, and a solid night's sleep in my own bed.
The first night, I slept in Coeur d'Alene for 3 hours and hit the road early for the Canadian border. I stopped for lunch at a Golf Clubhouse which took almost 2 hours. By 1 o'clock, I was on a super rugged dirt road leading to the trail head for the Bugaboo Glacier hike. It wound on for miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers ;)) I wasn't completely sure where I was going, my GPS lost it's signal, but luckily, I can read a map and I arrived after about 2 hours...much later than I'd hoped. I pulled into the parking area and promptly set up the chicken wire/rock/big stick barricade to keep the porcupines from chewing up the brake line on my rental. Who knew? Luckily, I'd done some research in this area or I'd had no idea and certain doom would have resulted. This process also took up a greater deal of time than I'd anticipated, so I was in a hurry to get going. The trail started out in the woods, crossing creeks past waterfalls, and then started climbing through boulders towards a huge meadow with the most glorious wildflowers I believe I've ever seen. Due to numerous wildfires burning in British Columbia, the sky was very smokey and the distant mountain range and glacier was not as clear as I'd hoped, but it was still one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
