Back to Jasper

Farm Fields and Mountains.

Cherie & Ben at the Rearguard Falls

Bob & Ben at the Path from the Falls


Birch, Pines and Mountains

A Grizzly in the Park

Saturday, June 11

We enjoyed our beautiful, clean campground in Vanderhoof by taking a long hot shower and doing some laundry.

We loved the countryside and could have been in northern Michigan or Wisconsin with the rolling green fields bordered with pine and birch and occasional lakes and streams.

Back on the road, we went through Prince George which was on the Frazer River and is quite big with every store and busy traffic. We stopped for gas and the machine wouldn't authorize us for more than $80. That should have been a clue that something wasn't right. We were going to have a nice lunch in town as we had only had oatmeal early, but with the traffic and gas station trouble,we just got out of town.

We were instantly back in the woods with no stores or anything but beauty. We stopped in a rest area and made lunch and saw the first dead moose by the side of the road that we'd seen the whole trip. They are so massive. Sad to see it there.

We started to gradually climb back into the mountains. We saw a young moose beside the road and one black bear back in the woods.

We drove through another beautiful valley with lots of small farms and horses and into the town of McBride, which was a sweet small ranch town.

We stopped and walked to Rearguard Falls. It was very impressive and a nice walk.

We went into Robson Provincial Park and read the sign that cautioned about weather changes in the high mountains. Up we went again. We drove into rain and then sun with fluffy clouds. We were in snowy, jagged peaks again as we drove across the BC/Alberta border into Jasper National Park we changed to mountain time and only two hours behind home.

Shortly after entering the park, we rounded a curve and saw people pulled over. They were watching a huge grizzly grazing in the meadow. My camera just couldn't capture it, but Bob took many pictures and the grizzly was fascinating to watch.

We finally left as the grizzly sauntered into the pines and we went into Jasper for gas. Jasper was a crowded resort town with most gift shops, restaurants, and gas stations on one side of the street and a park, train station and train tracks on the other. Mountains were on every side. We drove almost to the end of the street for diesel as others either didn't carry it or were out. After filling up, our Mastercard was rejected. I reminded Bob that we had our Visa, but that rejected too. Thank God we had cash. We couldn't imagine what had happened , but we had been without phone and knew we had messages we couldn't get and dreamed up all of the worse case scenarios.

We were dizzy with hunger, so decided to eat first and then figure out what to do. We picked a nice log cabin restaurant with a great view and the young man who was our waiter couldn't have been nicer. We ended up telling him our story and he even offered his phone as we had no service. He gave us a map that showed area campgrounds and made us laugh with biking and bear stories.

We had delicious salads, smoked salmon and warm french bread. In much better spirits, we stopped at a pay phone and called Mastercard. They let us know that all was well and they were just being careful because of out of the country charges. We had called them before we left, but they were still cautious. The released the freeze and we were on our way.

We drove onto the beginning of the Icefield Parkway and stopped at the first park campground and they had two sites left and they were full hook up. We were blessed. It was one of the more beautiful places we have stayed. We took a lovely walk in the pines and enjoyed the lodgey smell of campfires.

Note to self: Remember that things always look worse when over tired and hungry. Learn to let go and trust.