Getting through Canada

As it turns out, driving through Canada and camping is alot of work. We've had 5 solid days in the car, the last one being between Jasper and Burns Lake BC which took 12 hours. Yes we took a lunch break by Slim Creek, yes we hiked 45 minutes through the short Ancient Forest trail East of Prince George, but still 12 hours in a car is enough to drive one crazy (I won't mention the mistake we made that added an extra hour to the trip). We are now pretty fast with setup and tear down, and usually work effectively as a team. Because we have chosen some long travel days, we've been able to stay 2 or 3 nights in Jasper Nat Park (AB) and Smithers, BC and take in some sights. Tomorrow we head to Prince Rupert (about 350 km)to catch the ferry to the Queen Charlottes where we will stay for 10 days! We can't wait to be contained within a small area; set up a camp and leave it there for days. All the big distances are now under our belt - so we are hoping for a bit more relax and chance to connect in local communitites. We can feel it coming. Today we head up to the Hazeltons to take in some native culutre. We are camped in the Smithers Municipal campground (16$/night!). Our tent has survived two nights of thunderstorms (and so have I with a fair bit of tapping). We had one night where we watched a double rainbow grow and receed over a lake with a hard-to-spell name for 90 minutes while we cooked a late supper. As Bar said the other day "it might as well be perfect". Next challenge - laundry. Who has time for laundry? Deb

...didn't get this posted yesterday due to a sd card failure, so here we are at a hostel in Prince Rupert just cooking up supper:  chicken breasts stuffed with esparagus and cheese! Wow are we living it up! We catch the ferry to Queen Charlotte Islands tomorrow and can't wait to get on the islands for some "down" time.

The Snow Birds....yes the planes, were doing an amazing show over the Skeena River in Prince Rupert just as we went for a stroll to buy a bottle of wine to have with supper. What an amazing thing to see....and unexpected. What a great way to get people  congregated down at the water's edge. By the way, the laundry is done now.

In front of the Canmore Hotel where we met in 1978

Morning at the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Icefield

Walking...illegally...on the glacier

Barry following Deb ....illegally onto the glacier!!

Melt waters on the glacier 4-5 ft long

Barry on the slack line in Jasper, helped by Claire and Laura - two sisters from Paris. We had a great time singing around the campfire. In particular "Fire's Burning", and "Frere Jacques" in rounds. They also knew some Fiest tunes!

Hiking to the Wilcox Pass in Jasper - 7000 ft.

We hiked about 14 km total - at least 6 through this awesome alpine meadow ringed by mountains.

A bit out of sequence - Jasper Nat Park. Tents only campsite.

More of Wilcox Pass

...and more Wilcox Pass

Ancient Forest Hike

Camping just south of Burn's Lake

Carrying steelhead (in the bag) up to be measured and tagged.

Women work this upper level, recording, tagging and releasing the steelhead back into the river.+

K'san Historical Village - long houses. All are replicas.

Barry in the entrance to the Wolf Clan house, which is also the feast house used in the winter months. No pictures allowed inside, but we had a very informative tour.

Finally - a yoga class in Telkwa at Full Circle Yoga Studio. This woman also teaches in Smithers BC.

The Skeena River along Hwy 16 heading into Prinve Rupert - our lunch stop.