Tripometer – 5861 mi
Gas Gauge – 463.001 gal
Location – Lake Louise Campground, Banff National Park, AB, Canada
Lodging – $33 CAD
Cans of OFF – 4
Cloudy and cold with a drizzle now and again, it’s a moody day in the Canadian Rockies.
The Bow Valley Parkway is the old route up the main valley in Banff N.P. and consequently smaller, slower, and more scenic than it’s larger brother the Trans-Canada Highway, on the other side of the river. We really enjoyed our drive yesterday and decided to use this smaller road to drive the trailer from Banff to Lake Louise where we have reservations for two nights.
Lunch at a river overlook was a great way to save time and money in our travels. We’ve been doing this quite frequently when near park land around lunch time. We always try to have some road meals in the trailer for days like today.
Banff and Jasper National Parks both have healthy populations of Grizzly Bears. The campground we just left near Banff is so populated and noisy that bear visits are rare and as such we felt OK using the tent beds on our trailer the past two nights. As we move further into the national parks and further away from civilization the risk of bear encounters goes up significantly. Our campground for the next two days is ringed by an electrified bear fence so people who have tents, popups, and hybrid trailers can keep and cook food in their camping equipment without concern for attracting bears. We’re not sure what we expected an electrified bear fence to look like, but we weren’t expecting the dystopian, post-apocalyptic feel that this fence gave the campground. It was like summer camp in the gulag! When we move on to Jasper in the next few days we will have to sleep without opening the fold-away beds. Something both Kelly and I are somewhat less than excited about as this means we sleep together on a rather small collapsible dinette.
Paul’s cough has not improved over the past handful of days. As a precautionary measure we stopped by a clinic in Lake Louise to have him looked over. The Dr. confirmed allergies and listened to Paul’s chest before providing us with several different medications as options to treat symptoms as they might develop. From cough drops to antibiotics, we left the clinic with a better stocked medicine cabinet and a somewhat clean bill of health for Paul.
Technical note: We replaced our propane tank today for the second time this trip. We may not be completely empty but we also don’t want to run out of gas for the furnace in the middle of the night.