Again, I've been procrastinating big time on a post for my massive road trip around Alberta, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. I came home to a mess at work...2 people quit so I'm working crazy long hours and we just started a whole new computer system that nobody knows how to use, so I've been kind of burned out mentally. I'm totally not motivated to blog right now, but I'm forcing myself because this has become like a journal for me, and I want to make sure I remember all of the little details before they get lost in a lifetime of adventures. Plus, I'm using it as a creative distraction from the mind-numbing software updates I've been studying all week. So, you'll have to forgive me for my strange rambling on...I'm just trying to get it out there and be done with it, if I'm being honest.
Last August, I booked a trip up to the Rockies for a fix of cooler temps, mountains, and wildflowers and something different. I always try to get out of Arizona in the summers when it's so hot and the kids are out of school and the cooler, wilder mountains are the perfect place to simultaneously energize and calm my spirit. I love it so much that I decided that I am pretty much going to go back every summer, between July and August, until the end of time. I planned out 9 days and used my Skymiles to book a ticket into Calgary. Right off the bat, my trip got off to a rocky start.
I'd reserved a rental car off-sight from the airport because it was, literally, 1/3 of the cost of renting one at the airport...a big deal when you're renting a car for 9 days. I figured that I'd just Uber to their location, pick up the car from there, and then Uber back to the airport on my way back. Well, I Ubered to their location, all right, and they were closed. I called Customer Service and was told that no other locations, including the airport, had any vehicles available, so I'd have to wait until the morning to pick it up. Luckily, I hadn't paid in advance for my rental, so I hopped on Priceline and booked another rental through a different company that was only about a block away and actually a bit cheaper than the original. I made my way over to the new rental company and was told that they didn't have any vehicles, that Priceline bases their availability on the airport location, and they would be closing before a vehicle could be transferred from the airport to the pickup location. I asked if I could go back to the airport and pick up my rental there, and they said that would be fine. So, I Ubered back to the airport and got in line. Upon reaching the lovely Customer Service Representative, I'm told that they do, in fact, have a rental there that I'm welcome to take, but they'd have to charge me the airport rate...roughly $500 US more than my confirmation e-mail quoted me. I explained to them that the other location sent me back to the airport to pick up the car that I'd reserved for the lesser price, but they wouldn't budge. Without any other choice (except to spend the night on the floor of the terminal), I handed over my American Express and was on my way.
This time around, I was given a Ford Escape...and I must say, it was pretty much my favorite rental car ever. It had a super roomy back cargo area (long enough to stretch my legs out in and tall enough to sit upright in), a panoramic sunroof, and a cigarette lighter in the cargo area that continuously charged my devices even when the motor was turned off (a very rare amenity, oddly enough). My personal car has the same feature and I love it. It means that I can watch movies without ever having to worry about the battery on my phone getting low and staying low until the morning when I start up the engine, and also that I can charge my external charger while I'm out and about or at a restaurant or something and I can be sure that it's always fully charged when I need it. The one downside to the Escape - Every single light on the entire vehicle lights up when you open the door - the headlights, taillights, dome lights, and even a strip placed beneath the door to illuminate the ground...not ideal when you're trying to discreetly pee on the side of the road.
I drove directly into Banff and hit up the local IGA for a few necessities for the road...a case of bottled water, fruit, jerky, granola bars, and baby wipes. Then, after stuffing my face with chicken nuggets, found a cozy spot in the woods to park for the night.
The next morning, I made my way to Lake Louise and then continued on a grueling climb up to an Alpine lake that was, possibly, my favorite part of the whole trip. The entire region was in the midst of a major heat wave, so I was drenched by the time I got up there and even took a little dip in the lake to cool off a tad. It wasn't horribly smokey yet and was just absolutely gorgeous.
Afterwords, I grabbed a BLT and piece of carrot cake in Lake Louise Village and then started driving north towards Jasper on the Icefields Parkway. Along the way, there were dozens of milky blue lakes and glaciers to explore, smaller hikes, and waterfalls. The drive took pretty much an entire day. I saw Bighorn Sheep, Elk, and even a Black Bear!
There'd been a big hike that I'd planned on doing for a couple of months into Berg Lake. I'd been working out and hiking like crazy to train for it and it was going to be the highlight of my whole trip. In order to camp there overnight, you have to apply for a permit, which were gone by the time I started researching it, so I was going to attempt it, round trip, in a single day...almost 27 miles in total. The lifesaver is that it's not particularly strenuous, you don't have to pack 30 pounds of gear with all of the your camping stuff, the scenery is so stunning that there are lots of breaks along the way ;), and that the sun is up from 5 am until 10 am, so you don't have to worry about losing daylight. Anyway, I'd failed to research exactly where the trail head was in conjunction with my driving schedule (or lack thereof), so I spent the day in Mt Robson completely oblivious to the trail being 5 minutes from where I was. I then drove all the way back down to Banff before realizing that the hike I'd planned my whole trip around was 4 hours back in the opposite direction. Feeling totally defeated, I opted just to continue west on my journey...I'll catch Berg Lake next year.
I mentioned that Berg Lake was 4 hours from Banff but that doesn't explain the fresh hell that is driving in Canada in July. The strange thing is that, last year, when National Park Passes were free to the public, it didn't seem nearly as crowded and I had no issues with traffic or parking spots. This year, however, the parks were absolute madness. There were lines, half a mile long, getting into any of the parking lots...even at 5 am! I'm a morning person and I figured that I'd use that to my advantage in beating the crowds, but I underestimated everyone else trying to "beat the crowds". It was nuts. Everybody rents these little motor homes and have absolutely no business driving them or parking them, but they sure as hell try anyway. Can I also mention that the speed limit, pretty much anywhere in Canada, is 100 kph...the equivalent of 60 mph. But nobody drives 100 kph because it's scenic and there are lots of little stops to make and wild animals to check out, so you're essentially driving across half on Montana, the Idaho Panhandle, and the entire state of Washington at roughly 45 mph. I wanted to die. They don't signal, they double park, they don't pull over and let you pass...it's just the most frustrating thing ever. And there are THOUSANDS of them. Everywhere.
I made a pit stop in Yoho National Park for some hiking and then Moraine Lake as the sun was beginning to set and waited in line for a parking spot for about 20 minutes...missing sunset all together but still having enough daylight for a trail run around the side of the lake to the creek that feeds the lake. As I was running, I couldn't help but notice the strong smell of camp fire and, for a moment, thought some campers were actually having a fire, before realizing that the entire west half of North America is on fire. The smoke was settling in fast, and within an hour, completely saturated the air.
I continued on to Glacier National Park of Canada, just north of the Bugaboos that I was obsessed with last year. I was going to do the Glacier hike I did last time, but opted against it considering it was still super smokey and would likely look exactly the same as it did before. There was quite a bit of construction through the park making it slow going, so I took the first left I came across off into the mountains and found myself at the parking lot for a trail up to a glacier. There were signs everywhere warning of Grizzlies, and it just SEEMED like the kind of place where they'd be. I started my hike in a massive meadow brimming with wildflowers that I'd never even seen before. There were remnants of an old railroad along side a raging river that was the ice melt from a massive glacier perched up on the side of a mountain. I hiked along through the forest, along the river, and then crossed it a could of times on my way up into a boulder field. I was basically playing leap-frog with a group of older French men that felt the need to comment on everything I was doing...wearing Chaco's, not wearing a hat, not having trekking poles, hiking alone in Grizzly country...everything. sigh. I'm not sure why people have to give me their 2 cents like I have no idea what I'm doing. After about 2 hours I finally told them, "Don't worry about me...I do this all of the time, alone, and I'm not an idiot. I've hiked hundreds of miles all over the world in Chaco's, I've got sunscreen on, I've packed plenty of water and snacks, please don't worry about me, I'm an adult and I'm fine".
Upon returning to my car, I passed a group of hikers asking the Ranger how Grizzly activity was looking. She replied, "They've been really active lately, but I haven't heard of any encounters yet today". Great.
The drive between Glacier National Park and Whistler was a long one...slow and relatively uneventful, that is, until the Trans-Canada highway switched to 4 lanes and I immediately got a speeding ticket. I'd been cooped up at 45 mph like a caged animal for days, and once I finally got the opportunity to pass the slow RV's, got a little carried away. However, the speeding ticket was for going the equivalent of 80 mph in a 60 mph...what I'm used to driving the U.S, so it wasn't like I was being totally reckless compared to what I'm used to. The officer threatened to impound my rental for a week but decided against it because he assumed that I'd just rent another car and be on my way. Little did he know the ridiculousness that had I'd been through with rental cars at the beginning of my trip.
I spent the day in Whistler floating on my pool float in Green Lake, a beautiful glacial lake that's long and narrow and serves as the landing strip for seaplanes all day. Then I grabbed a burger in Whistler Village and hit the Sea to Sky Highway along the Straight of Juan de Fuca down through Vancouver into Washington.
Once back in the States, I made my way East, through the North Cascades National Park and then down into Mt Rainier. Unfortunately, it ended up being really rainy there, so I couldn't even see Mt Rainier, but I explored a little anyway and enjoyed the wildflowers.
The next day, I opted for another lake day in Coeur d'Alene on my pool float and then proceeded into Montana.
My first go round in Glacier was a bit underwhelming, if I'm being honest. It was smokey and crowded and nerve wracking, and I couldn't really wait to get out of there, but I wanted to give it another try. I woke up at 4 am, grabbed coffee, and made my way into the park. Again, I was shocked at how many other people had the same idea...it was bustling at 5 am. Traffic wasn't bad, but many of the trail heads were all ready packed, so the first spot I could find, I pulled over and started exploring. Right away, I saw a mountain goat, perfectly perched on a little overlook of the most perfect waterfall...it felt like a zoo attraction or something. He turned and posed and eventually nestled down, overlooking his kingdom.
^Of course, the park posted this sign WHILE I was on the trail that they were closing...^
I did a few different hikes that day, just looking for a spot to park and then winging it. Then, I drove back up to Calgary for my flight back home. Of course, the hotel that I'd parked my car at while I was away never sent a shuttle to bring me back, so after waiting on the curb for an hour and a half, I just Ubered to the hotel, grabbed my car, and drove home. All I have to say is, thank god for Uber.