Day 11: Real Camping

July 3, 2012

We are in Alberta now, the second province of our journey. We have made Johnston Canyon campground the base for the 4 day period from Monday afternoon to Friday morning. We are on the Bow Valley Parkway about 20 KM from Banff and 40 KM from Lake Louise. We are also, presumably, quite close to a railroad line as every so often we hear to unmistakable click-clack of wheel on track and “Choo Choo” of train whistle. We cannot actually see any train though, which makes the whole experience a bit unsettling. I half expect an apparition of a train to come steaming through the trees as it makes its way along its eternal rails.

After about 2 hours here I came to the realization that THIS is real camping. I still am not quite sure what is different between the previous 6 camping nights and the 4 we are spending here that makes this a true camping experience but I have some theories.

1) The Location

We are in an alpine forest. The tall alpine evergreens are relatively sparse and they are very thin and tall. Most of the tree is a long trunk with bare branches sticking out. Just the canopy has needles. There is very little groundcover, just ankle high grasses and small shrubs. Compared to the dense rainforests of BC something about the alpine forest screams camping. The other difference in the location is that we are camping by a creek. The previous campgrounds have all been on lakes. Something about the faint rushing water noise makes it seem wilder.

2) The Tents

The camp is divided into two loops, a hook-up loop that is, according to Haifa (the only one brave enough to venture over there) full of RVs, and a regular loop that is about 2/3 full and almost exclusively of tents. Tenting is real camping and it feels good to be around fellow tenters. The first night at Kekuli Bay we were the only site out of about 40 occupied that had no RV. Compared with here, were our neighbours don’t even have a car, we feel much more at home.

On a side note, the family camping next to us tonight is a couple and their teenage sons; they have 4 road bicycles and seem to be on a Rocky Mountain bike camping trip. I am quite impressed.

3) The Campfire

BC Parks is either very concerned with the conservation of firewood, is running out of money, or both. If you want to have a fire you must buy a tiny bundle of wood for grossly inflated prices. While this makes sense from a conservation standpoint I greatly prefer the system at Banff that allows us unlimited wood. You simply pay a slightly higher charge per night and you are allowed to have a fire using as much wood as you want. The first afternoon was spent gathering firewood and we have a stock that is the envy of all our neighbours. We have had a campfire both nights, and even had one this morning to allow us some fire toasted toast and early morning warmth to fight the 5 degree temperatures. We had Jiffy Pop last night, sausages roasted on the end of stick tonight, and are planning on marshmallows tomorrow.

The boys sitting around the Campfire

We spent the rainy day in Banff village, walking along the streets packed with tourists, visiting a small Victorian era natural history museum, and playing for an hour at the playground. Luckily for Zaid, there was a small team of steamrollers, pavers, and loaders sitting next to the playground, waiting to be used to re-pave the tennis courts. So much of the time was spent instead oohing and aahing over the trucks.

There is so much to do in the national parks that we are worried we might have to cut some things out. We hope to visit Lake Louise, the Banff Hot Springs, Columbia Ice Fields, Yoho Park, and Radium Hot Springs in the next 2 days before we head to Calgary. I’m guessing some of these will have to wait for next time.

Roadside Bighorn Sheep

I almost forgot to mention the wildlife. On the way from Golden to the campground we passed a family of Mountain Goats on the Cliffside as well as a Grizzly Bear beside the highway. Then this morning, along the Bow Valley Parkway we came across a trio of male Mountain Goats RIGHT beside the road that were engaged in some playful sparing, in preparation for battle come mating season. We also came across, RIGHT beside the road, a black bear. Unfortunately,  it scampered away before we got a great view.