June 1-3, 2009

June 1

This morning we drove to Lake Minnewanka and had to wait for a Rocky Mt. Big Horn ram to meander down the middle of the road. We got a picture of him along the side of the road about 6 ft from the truck.



After lunch we drove to Canmore to pick up the shock for the 5th wheel and find a grocery store. Rex was able to install the shock without any problems, so we will head towards the town of Jasper tomorrow morning. We have really enjoyed our stay in Tunnel Mountain Campground. There are 618 full hookup sites and 321 electric sites but isn’t very busy this early in the season. Every night we walk the perimeter of the campground (it doesn’t get dark until after 10 pm) and it takes us about 50 minutes. We have seen deer in the campground every night.


June 2

Today we moved from Banff to Jasper along the Icefields Parkway. About halfway we saw a bear a short distance from the road but because we had the 5th wheel there wasn’t enough room for us to stop. We arrived at Whistler’s Campground just outside of Jasper around noon. At the entrance to the campground sat a bear trap – makes you a little more cautious!! The campground is again a big one – 781 sites. As our dirty clothes pile was getting deep, we went into Jasper and found a Laundromat – doing laundry is not cheap in Canada, we spent about $20 for 3 loads!


June 3

Today we finished touring the Icefields Parkway from Jasper to the Icefield Centre. We stopped at Athasbasca Falls where the wide Athasbasca River flows into a very narrow canyon creating a beautiful waterfall.

The Icefields parkway follows the Athasbasca River and is surrounded by rugged mountains. Here is a picture of Mt. Christie. When we were stopped we saw 4 Mountain Sheep on the hillside across the road but they were too far away to get a good picture.



We also stopped at Sunwapta Falls – another beautiful waterfall along the Athasbasca River.




We returned to Jasper and took a side road to Medicine and Maligne Lakes. Medicine Lake’s outlet is underground and the water level fluctuates throughout the year. There was a herd of Bighorn ewes and lambs beside the road - we saw 3 newborn lambs.



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