Birthday

I wanted to get back to Boise for my birthday. Turning 30, I wanted to be with friends and it just so happened my favorite band was going to be playing in town. On my way down, I checked out a couple sights I'd always heard about. First was the Grande Coulee Dam. It wasn't that impressive as I had thought. It is a mile across, but the size didn't seem to live up... But then I stopped by the dry falls from the prehistoric missoulan floods, and it was amazing. The idea of water pouring over the edge was hard to picture. Then I passed what has to be the smallest international airport I've seen. Must have a single flight to canada. When I got back to Boise we had a great time out for my birthday. We rode bikes down for a pre drink, then the Old 97's put on a great show. They were celebrating the 15 year release of their album Too Far To Care. They played the album straight through and I sang along to every song. They played for another hour and it was a great birthday.

Glacier/Revelstoke

From Jasper I headed south. I stayed the night in Golden so I could have a job interview on the phone. The real world was getting closer, but I still had exploring to do. I couldn't help but take a picture of the cut that was made to put the road through this mountain. Some camping neighbors said it was obviously done by a determined French engineer. I can't imagine what they did will all that rock. I stopped in Glacier NP, Canada version and it wasn't interested in any of the hikes, so went down the road to Revelstoke which had some nice evening wild flowers. I also needed to stop by the Tim Hortons in town which was becoming my wifi connection back to the real world. Free internet and doughnuts, what's not to like. The mountains were beautiful, extending in every direction. Revelstoke sits in the valley below glaciers in the mountains. It felt like an outpost on the edge of the untamed. There were no roads to the north, just continuous mountain tops. It is also a part of the headwaters of the Columbia.
The next day was grey and rainy. So I did a little hike around the valley floor. It was the site of an old rail road line and vacation lodge. All that was left were footings of the buildings and bridge towers of the rail line. It was kind of spooky, like a ghost town. But there was a picture of A.B. Rogers who had the most amazing facial hair imaginable.
I think the park is more popular in the winter, when trails are not as necessary to navigate the area. There was a really neat winter lodge at the base that was a great warming stop after the rainy cold day. I saw another awesome Canadian painted van. Then it rained that afternoon so I hung out in the car listening to the radio. The next day the storm was clearing and I went on a longer hike in Revelstoke. It was a nice hike with the clouds moving around the mountains.

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Jasper

This was one of the places I was looking forward to getting to most, but it was hard to match up after leaving Robson. I'm always a fan of hot springs, so I went to check out Mitte Hot Springs. The campgrounds at Canadian National Parks have a different take on camp fires. Instead of buying four over priced logs at a camp store like in the USA, it's a 5 dollar charge for a fire ring and an endless supply of wood. They just take all the wood they thin out from projects and buck it up in a pile. The hot springs were developed (which wasn't unexpected), but their remoteness meant they weren't as packed as the Banff hot springs that I've been to before. At the hot springs I met a former CDT hiker who was on a cross country bike trip, and had started two months before in Northern Alaska. The next morning I found a parked my car where I was going to end my hike and went to hitch to the beginning. There was another couple there from California that were going to do the same hike and they had paid a cab 90 dollars to take them around. They were nice enough to offer me a seat, so I didn't even need to use my thumb. It was a quick hike up to the ridge and down the skyline trail. As the clouds grew darker and taller, my hiking became faster. I almost made it to camp without needing my rain jacket, but ended up getting a little wet. It was the end of August and the first signs of winter approaching. In camp there was a nice social group of people. Some kids from Edmonton, a couple from Scotland who had hiked the CDT a couple years ago and I'd read some of their blogs from the trip. We had a good time sharing stories and adventures. There was a guest lodge just down from the campsite for those that want a little more civilization with their wilderness. Behind my tent was a waterfall filling a high alpine pond. The cold made for great sleeping, but woke up to rain and snow on the tent. I hung out in the tent till it let up about 10am. It didn't rain much of the day, but the clouds hung in the mountains Two shovels pass was totally enveloped in cloud, but made it feel like a martian landscape. The kids from Edmonton were there and were all taking a picture in a Bill Murray shirt, so I joined in on the meme. The rest of the trail was downhill from there. The clouds spoiled most of the views, but it never rained or snowed for too long. And even if the vistas were ruined, some of the shots were neat in a different way. Back on the valley floor it was warm and sunny. I stopped by Maligne canyon which was a lot neater then I was expecting. It looks like a slot canyon in Utah, but is cut through a much denser rock. It was hard to get a sense of the depth, but it was hundreds of feet. Back in Jasper, I ran into Antje on the street. Always good to make friends when traveling alone. We met up at camp and traded Jasper stories. I'm sorry I was only there for a short time because there is so much to do. Two younger Germans came over and asked us for help setting up their tent and if we had a stove they could borrow. Apparently they met at a hostel in Edmonton and decided to go to Jasper and go camping, without any idea what they were doing. The next morning I posted up in a coffee shop for three hours working on follow up questions to the job I was applying for. Not a bad setting for a job application, but a sign that my travels weren't going to last forever. After I finished, I headed south. I saw tons of rental motorhomes and one company had a graphic in the door window of two girls, and I always thought it looked like they were kidnapped and locked inside. There were so many mountains and glaciers and streams and waterfalls it was exhausting just to look at them all. I started taking pictures through the windshield while driving, and they still look amazing. I even saw some impressive big horn rams crossing the road. This ended up being one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip.
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