Wallace Island

What we would look like as cartoons

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

We arrived at the North gate of Yellowstone at about 1pm on the 12th. The first thing we noticed was that several of the campsites were full and a couple were closed for the season, so we drove straight to the campsite at Tower fall. The sign at the campsite read "FULL". We were a little concerned at this point. We stopped at one of the visitor centres and asked a Ranger if there were any sites available. "sorry all full". It seamed our only option was to leave the park for the night. If you're not familiar with Yellowstone, its quite large and these are substantial distances we were covering. As a last ditch effort we drove to the campsite at Norris to see for ourselves. The sign said full but with the caveat that sites may be available for hikers and bicyclists. I guess the Ranger decided to take mercy on us because he told us we could take the bicycle and hiker only site for that night.  The next morning we took the first drive up site vacated.

Our most exciting wildlife encounter was with this Bison.  When we were driving by he was on his back rolling in the dust.  We thought he'd make a good photo so we pulled into a nearby pullout.  Michelle jumped out and rested the camera on the back of the truck, as she brought him into focus, he jumped to his hoofs, head down, and charged.  Its surprising how fast they can move, he covered the hundred or so yards to the road in about the same time it took us to jump back in the truck and get the key in the ignition.  Michelle took the second picture after we'd moved to a safe distance and the Bison had called off the chase.  We could only surmise that he prefers Fords.

This morning we got up bright and early and went south through Grand Teton.  Unfortunately there are some serious forest fires burning and the smoke is quite thick.

Waterton and Glacier National Parks

Waterton National Park is an incredible place.  We spent two days trying to see as much as we could.  We hiked a few of the shorter trails, saw a Grizzly foraging at the far end of Cameron lake and met some interesting people.  Red Rock Canyon was interesting, and a couple geologists who were studying the red Pre-cambrian rocks were camping next to us so we learned a little as well (over a few bottles of wine).  Michelle wishes she had the time to hike all the trails in the park, but alas.....

After a brief interrogation and search by US Customs officers we arrived in Glacier National Park.The first night we camped at Rising Sun camp ground.  The next day we drove the Going-to-the-sun rd.  Its an amazing bit of engineering, and the views are spectacular.  Its the one place we've been in the rockies where you're looking down as much as up.  That night we camped at Apgar campsite.

Today has been a travel day, and all this has been brought to you by the free wifi at the Super 8 in Bozeman Montana.  Tomorrow Yellowstone.

Camping in BC and Alberta

Our primary goal being to spend as much time as possible in the National parks, we didn't spend a whole lot of time seeing sights in BC and Alberta. We did however, make some time to do a little wine tasting in the Oliver/Oosyoos area. some of the wineries we visited were Stoneboat, Black Hills and Platinum Bench. Each winery produced something that was to our taste and we left with a box of wine and couple hundred bucks less than we arrived with. One point of interest was Beauvais Provincial park in southern Alberta near Pincher Creek. We camped there one night but easily could have stayed longer. The lake was fantastic for watching birds and the there were lots of well kept hiking trails.

Road Trip 2012

We've set out in our old pickup truck with our ultimate goal being Yellowstone National Park. As I type this we are sitting in the parking lot of the McDonalds in Osoyoos, taking advantage of the free wifi. We set out on September 1 and spent a couple nights in Vancouver at the Sutton Place Hotel. On Sunday we spent the day at the PNE with our friends Avril and Barry and little Cam. That night Michelle and I had dinner at Shuraku Restaurant on Granville Street for some of the best sushi we ever had. Last night we camped by the Similkameen River just outside Princeton.