Alberta

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Google Embarasses Itself

I’m back to where I was in ’08, trying to decide how I’m going to get to the south Okanagan from Banff, and, of course, want to go a different route. I had thought to dip into Montana and Idaho, but there are too many reasons why I don’t want to cross the border with Miranda at this time.

So, I decided to see if I could hit Radium Hot Springs and the Crows Nest Pass in one fell swoop. I put into Google Maps the following locations:

A) Banff

B) Radium Hot Springs

C) Crows Nest

D) Osoyoos

Without asking for any clarifications, this is what Google spit out:

(I particularly like the part where it has me go to Australia and then come right back around to BC.)

At any rate, the Crowsnest Pass is out of my way, but I will be going through Radium Hot Springs and the Kootenays, a route a friend tried to convince me to take back in 08′. Let it not be said that I don’t pay attention to comments!

This route puts me at three easy days to Osoyoos while, not counting today, I have nine days left before I start paying rent. I’d like to divide the mileage up into shorter days and perhaps spend a day or two in another location outside of the national parks system.

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Quick Look at Hinton and Thinking About Jasper

I ended up driving into Hinton for dinner tonight and also to gas up the toad. Highway 16 shoots straight through town and on each side of it are the usual big box stores, including a Walmart and a Canadian Tire. There might be more to the town, but at first glance it doesn’t seem like much.

The restaurant choices were uninspired so being in the mood for shrimp I ended up at Joey’s Only Seafood. Never been to that chain before even though I have lived and traveled through many towns with one. The food was adequate, reasonably priced, and had generous but not not exaggerated quantities. It wouldn’t be my first choice next time I go out for dinner, but for tonight it worked. I had a shrimp and chicken combo with rice and veggies.

I then gassed up the toad, at 91.9! I will make sure to gas up both vehicles at the very limit of Alberta to take full advantage of the price here!

While I had planned to go to Jasper tomorrow, I may end up hanging out at home instead. Both vehicles badly need an exterior cleaning and I have a few things to troubleshoot. There doesn’t seem to be enough to do in Jasper to justify the 140km round trip in the toad, nor paying the park entry fee twice. I might take up Croft’s suggestion from 2008 and instead get up early on Wednesday, park Miranda on the edge of town, and then explore at my leisure. Decisions, decisions. 🙂 Whatever I do, I do not want to spend a night within the park borders; I simply cannot justify paying $40-$50 to boondock on Crown land!!!

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Faster Than a Speeding Bullet!

The Hinton KOA has wi-fi, but it’s of the satellite variety. They are upfront that it is ‘not high speed.’

I haven’t tried it. Why bother when there’s high speed cell service out here?

In Dawson, a good download speed was 1MBS, but I usually hovered around 985kbs. Well, I’ve been hitting more than 310mbs tonight in rural Alberta! It’s incredible! I had no idea I could get speeds like that from an aircard! I can even stream video! With these numbers, I’m definitely going to be hitting my 5GB limit in no time!

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The Big Horn Highway

Since I was going to lose an hour today, moving into Alberta time, I wrangled my butt out of bed by 8PST and was on the road within the half hour.

Gas in Dawson Creek was the cheapest I had seen since leaving the Yukon: 106.9. Having only a third of a tank left and heading into unknown territory I was going to take advantage of this low price when suddenly I remembered that several Alberta guests this past summer told me that gas is very cheap in Alberta. Having more than enough fuel to get to the next big town, Grande Prairie, I decided to see if this was true.

Immediately after Dawson Creek, you enter the oddly named town of Pouce Coupe. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the town lost its accent and is actually Pouce Coupé or Cut Thumb. As I said, odd name. 🙂

The first gas station after the Alberta border is a Fas Gas offering easy RV access, which is more important to me than price. Even when the price is 96.9. Ninety-six point nine. Ninety-six point nine. Less than a dollar a litre!!! I sure was glad I didn’t gas up in Fort St John (109.9) or Dawson Creek!

I pulled out the GPS for the first time in so long that it thought the nearest Walmart was in Fairbanks, 400km away! I put in the town of Hinton so that the GPS could give me an estimated ETA time. It said 2:30ish PST which felt like a reasonable driving day.

Out of Dawson Creek, one takes BC highway 2, which becomes Alberta highway 43. At Grande Prairie, you need to turn south to highway 40, The Big Horn Highway, and then it’s a straight shot to Hinton, gateway to Jasper. Thanks to Mile by Mile I knew to expect a good, but isolated, road with some steep grades.

Except for some rough patches near the end, the road was a dream to drive! The grades were all short and sweet and the landscape was amber and verdant as far as I could see. Which wasn’t far seeing as I drove straight into fog and snow all day. The conditions weren’t bad enough to pull over since the snow wasn’t sticking to the road, but the limited visibility meant for a slow pace. A lot of people honked at me today. With only a tiny handful of places to pull over, there wasn’t much I could do to soothe their impatience.

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The RV park I’d picked ended up being closed for the season even though the website said they were open well into October! I was not pleased since there was no way to turn around. After driving hard for six hours, the last thing I wanted to do was unhook the car and figure out how to turn the motorhome around. At least, I did that instead of pushing on down a tiny road hoping to find a place to turn without having to unhook!

There were a couple of other options, the nearest of which was the KOA which I knew was open. Like many RVers, I avoid KOAs since they are very pricey, but I decided to check out this one. Lo and behold, a FHU site was just $30.90, taxes included. It must be an off season rate! I paid up for two nights, but won’t be hooking up the water and sewer tonight since it’ll probably go down to freezing. I’ll just finish off my fresh water tank with an indecently long hot shower and then refill the fresh water and dump the black and grey tomorrow… after I get back from visiting Jasper!

For tonight, I am debating driving into Hinton and having dinner… but staying home with a movie and leftover spaghetti sounds sooo appealing.  It seems that the more I settle into my RVing life the less of a tourist I become!

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Kluane Country

Kluane National Park is one of those regions that, like Kananaskis Country in Alberta, has inflamed my imagination for years. While I would love to explore the region in depth and camp there, just a brief day trip into those fabled peaks was enough to satisfy the itch.

After the car repairs, I headed west on the Alaska Highway and, for the first time, pushed past the turnoff to the North Klondike Highway. The landscape became arid, with soft round peaks rippling through, grey and weathered, reminding me of elephant skin. The road imitated the mountains, with one frost heave after another threatening my suspension. I would not have enjoyed this ride with Miranda!

And then, just like that, they were before me, the Kluane Ice Ranges, just as I had always envisioned them. Pointy, slate grey, and snow covered. Beautiful.

I only went as far as Haines Junction, heart of Kluane Country, and turned back. And it was enough for this current incarnation of my traveling life. I would love to come back that way again, in another version of this life where I have more time to explore the territory, but it was enough.

pushing west on the Alaska highway

pushing west on the Alaska highway

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Takhini Valley

Takhini Valley

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Takhini Valley

Takhini Valley

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first glimpse of the Ice Ranges!

first glimpse of the Ice Ranges!

info about Kennedy and Hubbard peaks

info about Kennedy and Hubbard peaks

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You can clearly see the Hubbard peak in this photo, but the Kennedy peak is very faint. They are the white bit between the darker mountains.

You can clearly see the Hubbard peak in this photo, but the Kennedy peak is very faint. They are the white bit between the darker mountains.

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entering Haines Junction

entering Haines Junction

downtown Haines Junction set against the Ice Fields

downtown Haines Junction set against the Ice Fields

Haines Junction, by the way, is tiny, little more than a swell on the highway, and should not be confused with Haines, Alaska. Alaska Highway travelers headed for Fairbanks should note that they should turn right at Haines Junction for Fairbanks rather than going straight to Haines. I think that someone was trying to confuse the tourists. 😀